The Chopin Currency - June 10th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Rafael Viñoly's Musical Refuge
New York Sun - United States

The world-famous concert-hall architect somehow finds time to practice, practice, practice...

The Uruguayan-born Mr. Viñoly is no mere collector. He is a bona fide musician who once contemplated a career as a pianist; he attended a music conservatory before switching fields, and knows how to finger those 88 ivories.

"Amazingly, I should confess that I still do consider sitting down to work out something as it deserves to work out," he said. Scores by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Schumann clutter his pianos.
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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

All Robbins
By Philippe Boucher

Ballet-loving blogger goes to the Pacific Northwest Ballet program and finds more fulsome praise for Our Man Jerome and his unique take on Chopin...

In the Night was stunning set to the Nocturnes of Frederic Chopin, my favorite composer. Nocturne in F minor Op. 55 was played (a piece that I know how to play). What the program said about In the Night: Jerome Robbins' rapturous In the Night features three couples, in varying stages of relationships, who eventually meet in a dance for six. Each couple's pas de deux possesses a distinct character and in the end, all drift offstage in each others' arms like stars fading at dawn. Mesmerizing.
Last, but definetly not least The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody): A Charade in One Act.It was just hilarious and gorgeous. The curtain lifts up and we see another curtain with a drawing by Edward Gorey. It lifts again. An empty stage with a grand piano to the left. From the right comes the pianist....

Le blog d'Anne - http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/leblogdanne/

Celebrities and Depression
By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader

It's "Celebrity Health Week" on the Mental Health Notes blogstie, and Fryderyk finds himself A-listed on the Celebrity Depression List amongs Buzz Aldrin and Abe Lincoln...though what is this composition called "Nocturne" she speaks of?

Frederic Chopin, often regarded as the greatest Polish composer (I absolutely love Nocturne and am, as a matter of fact, listening to it right now) battled depression before his death 1849.

Mental Health Notes - http://www.mentalhealthnotes.com

The Chopin Currency - June 2nd, 2008

Chopin News, Views, Reviews, and Previews:

'Chopin Manuscript' wins top Audie
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA

And the winner is... The Audie Awards (the so-called "Oscars of the Audiobook Industry") hand out the top prize to The Chopin Manuscript -- a "serial thriller" named Audiobook of the Yearat the 13th annual Audie Awards banquet Friday in Los Angeles.

But don't go looking for "The Chopin Manuscript" on the bookshelf.

There is no print version.

For the first time ever, the top audio production is available only as a download from its producer, Audible Inc. Read by Alfred Molina, this World War II-era thriller revolves around the search for a document that may or may not have been connected to composer Frederic Chopin.

It is reported to have been hidden by the Nazis in Kosova. Nine best-selling mystery-thriller writers, headed by Jeffery Deaver, wrote "The Chopin Manuscript," which came out in serial form starting last September. This is very much the way Stephen King's "The Green Mile" debuted in 1996.

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Eternal Sonata Review
Game Reviews - Phoenix,AZ,USA

The Chopin-based video game gets high praise from the major game-review site TGM (8.5/10 overall)

Eternal Sonata, developed by Japanese studio tri-Crescendo and published by Namco, is a JRPG with a difference. It takes you on the final journey of famed Polish classical pianist Frederic Chopin through his final dream when lying in his bed just before dying in his house in Paris in 1849. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that the design team behind this captivating game are all musicians. Hiroya Hatsushiba is an audio programmer who has worked with fellow tri-Crescendo founder Motoi Sakuraba, who is in fact a composer, on many other JRPG’s including the likes off Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile for parent studio tri-Ace.

Eternal Sonata is one of those rare and wonderful games completely based on musical history. Throughout the game you will hear wonderful music from the famed pianist that the game is based on. In addition, there are some original songs that round off an amazing soundtrack....

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All-Robbins program doesn't miss a step
Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA

Another rave review for the Pacific Northwest Ballet production of two Chopin-based Jerome Robbins creations: "Into the Night, and "The Concert:"

One of the opening gambits of Peter Boal, as PNB artistic director, was "In the Night." It is among Robbins' most memorable ballets for its limpid moodiness and subtle shifts of tone. Three couples dance to Chopin's evanescent nocturnes, played with nuance by pianist Dianne Chilgren. The first is young and perfect; the second more formal and restrained, and the third restless and troubled. Pantastico and Olivier Wevers, who danced in the original cast, repeated their performances. They were a perfect realization of idealized love. The second couple, Ariana Lallone and Stanko Milov, were new to the roles, at least to me. They are a distinctive couple, and they offered distinctive dancing. The action of the third couple is realized more with the woman than the man. Nadeau, who danced in the original cast, was turbulent yet appealing. Karol Cruz was her able partner.

"The Concert" was given its PNB premiere at the fall gala. It was a sensation then and is so now. There is so much that is amusing or outright hilarious. It is supposed to be a parody of a concert, thus the name, but goes so far beyond those perimeters that one easily forgets the premise....

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All Robbins Showcases PNB's Acting Chops
Seattlest - Seattle,USA

Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Best Audio Book Of The Year
By M.J. Rose

Amazement at the Chopin Manuscript victory: "As one of our esteemed authors said - beating God and Harry Potter is one thing -- but beating Colbert? Now that's impressive."

The Chopin Manuscript is an original serialized thriller created exclusively for audio by a stellar list of thriller writers -- for a joint project between Audible.com and ITW - a project that Steve Feldber and I only imagined would ...
Buzz, Balls & Hype - http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/

The Chopin Currency - May 31st, 2008

Chopin News, Views, Reviews, and Previews:

"All Robbins" is all pleasure at PNB
Seattle Times - United States

The Jerome Robbins Chopin-dance fever juggurnaut rumbles on in Seattle, with acclaimed productions by Pacific Northwest Ballet of "The Concert" and "In The Night."

Making its PNB premiere, Robbins' 1956 comic work "The Concert" is set to sedate piano works by Chopin, played onstage by Dianne Chilgren and witnessed by a motley crowd in pale-blue leotards. The ballerina (a funny, loose Miranda Weese) practically embraces the piano in her joy, while a pair of hatted ladies (Lesley Rausch, Maria Chapman) cross their legs in exaggerated precision. A wife (Carrie Imler) scolds her cigar-chomping husband (Jonathan Porretta) — not noticing that his eye is on the ballerina.

And from these character vignettes, Robbins sweeps us into fantasy: a dimly lit umbrella dance that's both melancholy and lovely; a cast transformed into gossamer-winged butterflies, suddenly lighter and sillier than air. It's a wacky dream ballet, performed with airy precision, and the giggling opening-night audience rewarded it with a standing ovation.

"In the Night" is also set to Chopin (also played beautifully by Chilgren), but its velvet mood is a world away: three romantic pas de deux on a starry night. As the most tempestuous of the couples, Louise Nadeau and Karel Cruz were mesmerizing; though they initially seemed physically mismatched (he looks at least a foot taller than she), their shared recklessness and dramatic ardor cast a powerful spell. Ariana Lallone and Stanko Milov, arms reaching to the sky, brought regal strength to their more formal dance. Noelani Pantastico and Olivier Wevers, in their effortless lifts, personified youthful, sparkling love.


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Chopin Downloads of Apparent Legality:

Free Download of the Week: Chopin's Nocturne No. 1 in B Flat Minor ...
By Laura(Michael)

From the new site Musopen, boasting "copyright free classical music."

In the mood for a more melancholy tune? Take advantage of music in the public domain and download this beautiful piece by Chopin, courtesy of Musopen.com. Click to download Chopin's Nocturne No.1 in B Flat Minor, Op.9 ...

Fastcase - Accelerated Legal Research - http://fastcase.blogspot.com/