Lang Lang's early Chopin connection; Chopin's Affair of the Heart

Click Here for the Chopin Currency for Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Chopin Currency - May 12, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Sejm declares 2010 Year of Chopin
Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland

The Polish Parliment makes an Official Proclamation, preceded by "lively debate." And just what DID happen to the Piano in the House?

The Sejm, Polish lower chamber of parliament, has unanimously passed a bill declaring 2010 the Year of Frederic Chopin.

The vote on the bill was preceded by a lively debate. Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski stated that the primary objective would be to celebrate and popularize the work of Chopin, adding that the celebrations around the Year of Frederic Chopin, which also marks his 200th birthday anniversary, will require a certain amount of organized effort.

Zrojewski concluded in saying that some work is already in progress, like renovating the seat of the Frederic Chopin Association (TFIC) in Warsaw.

Wide-ranging preparations for the Chopin Year also include a thorough refurbishment of the manor house in Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw, the composer's birthplace, and the opening of a Chopin Centre in Warsaw.

MP Tadeusz Cymanski from the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition reminded his colleagues that there was a piano on display in the parliament's building since 1989 but it was sold last year in what could be regarded as rather unclear circumstances. Cymanski expressed hope that the instrument will return to the Sejm.

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Chopin: 10 steps to greatness
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

Coinciding with the launch of the BBC Radio 3 Chopin broadcast extravaganza - a Top Ten-type list of reasons of what makes Fryderyk so distinct:

4 Conquering the world

Chafing in Warsaw, the 21-year-old Chopin set off round Europe, pitching up in 1831 in Paris. Within a few months he was friendly with writers such as Victor Hugo, painters such as Delacroix and of course musicians including Liszt and Berlioz. All these arts were becoming more "poetic", but what Paris lacked was a "poet of the piano". Chopin was attractively melancholy, always à la mode, and had impeccable manners.

5 Being the perfect romantic

In 1832 Chopin gave his first concert in Paris. He hated the experience, and in all his life gave no more than 30. But those were enough to make him the perfect image of the romantic pianist. One critic said: "Nothing equals the lightness, the sweetness with which this artist preludes on the piano." Chopin's Nocturnes and Waltzes are the perfection of the Romantic miniature - but small doesn't mean negligible. "Guns buried in flowers" is how Schumann described them.

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Whatever Happened to Michal Baranski?
All About Jazz - Philadelphia,PA,USA

A check-in on the careers of a trio of teen prodigies from Poland, including jazz/classical pianist Mateusz Kolakowski:

Nine years ago, the clarinetist, improvisational whistler and musical educator Brad Terry hosted in the United States three young musicians he had worked with in Poland. I mean young.

Mateusz Kolakowski, the pianist, was thirteen. In this picture from that period, we see him with Terry. Bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Tomek Torres were fifteen. Terry toured the country with them in his old Dodge van, overnighting in RV parks and driveways and playing whenever they could, sometimes in paying gigs.
[...]

As for Baranski's former trio mates, Kolakowski is still pursuing Chopin, Paderewski and jazz. Torres, though he is Polish, is exploring his Latin heritage.

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Pianist Hamelin sets high bar
Denver Post - Denver,CO,USA

A preview to a Denver recital appearance by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, where he reveals his Chopin-inspired composing ambitions:

In addition to a couple of Haydn sonatas, two Chopin works and Leopold Godowsky's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Johann Strauss' "Wine, Women and Song," Hamelin will perform two of his recently composed etudes.

"They are part of my soon-to-be-completed project to compose an etude in every minor key," said the virtuoso, who began his piano studies at age 5 on the urging of his pharmacist father. "I was much younger when I started the project, but then, composing was never the preponderance of my work. I think of myself as a pianist who writes, not the other way around."

Hamelin describes his compositional style as "tonal with lots of chromaticism."

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The Chopin Currency - May 9, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Concert review: Young Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz dazzles ...
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

A Bay Area reviewer isn't quite ready to hand the Chopin crown to the hot young Polish pianist....

His performance May 4 at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose, which concluded with the Preludes, the full two dozen, was very, very good: Blechacz has an awesome command of the keyboard, plays with a stunning ease.

But he also seems to realize - I'm projecting here - that he needs to transcend his mechanics, to plumb the depths. So, at least on Sunday, amid the stream of jaw-dropping technique, he kept making these stabs at introspection. They didn't exactly seem premeditated; in fact, they were charming. But they didn't reach their marks.

He needs seasoning, in other words. And it will be interesting to follow him the next few years, to see where his huge gifts and his intuition lead him. [...]

After intermission came Chopin's Preludes, exquisite and familiar.

In the first dozen, comprising Book I, Blechacz didn't get past what we already know about them. For instance, No. 4, the famous E minor "Largo," was all cliche: earnest melancholy.

But before beginning Book II, he drew out a handkerchief and wiped off the keys. It wasn't meant as a symbolic gesture, yet, from that point on, his performance gained traction: pointillist bursts in No. 18, the F minor; anvil chords and brokenhearted lyricism in No. 20, the C minor; scary agitation in No. 22, the G minor.

No. 24 in D minor, the closer, ran out of drama; Blechacz seemed tired. But he recovered for the last encore, Moszkowski's "La Jongleuse" ("The Lady Juggler"), a crazily difficult piece through which he flew with the greatest of ease. The amazing young man may as well have been pulling taffy.

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Magnetic Poles
guardian.co.uk - UK

Another glowing review for a journey through modern Poland by Australian author Michael Moran, who "had no links with Poland, other than a death bed pledge to his uncle to try to understand the patriotic roots of Chopin's music."

When Moran escapes the crumbling school, the book is lifted on to another plane. By following the course of the Vistula – one of the last great natural rivers in Europe – and then criss-crossing the country during the first international car rally in generations, he begins to fill the absences in our knowledge. On the road he relates – for example — the history of Partition, when thousands of intellectuals were forced to walk to Siberia – an 18-month journey – where they were chained to wheelbarrows night and day and worked to death. He considers our debt to the 8,500 Polish airmen whose élan and tactics helped to win the Battle of Britain. He details the iniquity of the Katyn massacre and betrayal of the Warsaw Uprising. He celebrates Chopin and the "frisson of close Polish dancing". His breadth of knowledge is profound, his views opinionated, his writing passionate and heart-felt. The result is the best contemporary travel book on Poland, reminiscent in its finest moments of Patrick Leigh Fermor's masterful Time of Gifts

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Gilmore Festival performer Stephen Hough masterfully executes ...
Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com - Kalamazoo,MI,USA

The British pianist (recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant) writes the notes, then plays the program, to memorable effect...

The printed program notes, written by Hough himself, explained the first half of the concert centered on "Variations," the second on the Waltz. He opened with Mendelssohn's "Variations Serieuses," Op. 54, comprised of two dozen very different variations. Quickly evident were Hough's incredible hands and touch. Master of pianissimo and presto, he also commanded double fortes and andante passages; meanwhile his octave runs were unfailingly prodigious. [...]

Wed to his sensitive insights was extraordinary keyboard technique, evidenced further in the remainder of the program featuring Weber, Saint-Saens, Chabrier, Debussy and, fortunately for all, Chopin and Liszt.

Two familiar Chopin Waltzes --the C-sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2, and the A-flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1 -- were gorgeously played. Each note was given full attention, as though never heard before. In the A-flat Major waltz, Hough showed uncanny ability to sound different melodic lines, played by a single hand. The effect was astonishing.

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Recital shows pianist Ohlsson at top of his game
Akron Beacon Journal - Akron,OH,USA

Whenever Garrick Ohlsson plays, Chopin is never very far away. First line says it all: "Garrick Ohlsson makes a virtue of middle age."

Continuing in the key of C-sharp minor, Ohlsson knocked out a thrillingly fast and accurate version of the Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 4. It was a wild ride that could only make you smile.

''One more?'' Ohlsson silently mouthed to someone at the front of the audience, grinning as he asked. He proceeded with the Chopin Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2. Here, he dazzled with the delicacy and lightness of his playing.

Oh, yes, there was more before the encores. [...]

Finishing the first half with Chopin's Sonata No. 3, Op. 58 was a move well calculated to get everyone buzzing with oohs and aahs. This was not the Chopin of a delicate aesthete but of a full-blooded romantic, with jaw-dropping fast runs and a galloping rhythmic drive in the finale.

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Ohlsson's performance (above) also inspires a video posting on the blog below:

Chopin Prelude Op 45 Prelude No.16 Op.25 Garrick Ohlsson
By Cheryl and Janet Snell(Cheryl and Janet Snell)

Janet took our mom to see this pianist last night. He played three encores after a finger-crunching program. The Chopin was a sonata, not this Prelude, but you get the idea.
Scattered Light - http://snellsisters.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency: April 27, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews & Previews:

A remarkable pianist on a curious quest
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA

SF Critic admires the passion, but is not enthralled with the substance of a "fascinating but frustrating demi-recital" presented by Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin that is devoted to 19th-century pianist -composer Leopold Godowsky.....

Sometimes, as with someone who wants to show you his bottle-cap collection, you just have to smile and nod appreciatively.

For at least one listener, Hamelin's barnstorming run through Godowsky's splashy oeuvre - seven of his 53 famous Etudes based on Chopin, and the Symphonic Metamorphoses on Johann Strauss' "Wine, Women and Song" - was just such an occasion.

To be sure, Hamelin's execution was never short of amazing. Playing from memory, he tore through these intricate showpieces with dexterity and an extraordinary control of weight and voicing. Textures emerged from the thickets of notes with surprising clarity, and a few of the etudes - in particular the two for left hand alone - boasted a melancholy beauty that was striking.

But unless a listener is already committed to the cause, these are not pieces that benefit from being heard in large quantities. The approach is often similar - Chopin's music is adorned and then adorned again - and the ratio of notes to music can seem very high. The Strauss paraphrase, without even Chopin's genius underlying it, felt endless.

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Largo by Frederic Chopin
By Jeremiah Jones(Jeremiah K. Jones)

Advice for how to play Chopin in church...

This is another recording from the book, Classical Music for the Church Service: Volume 2. Although Frederic Chopin wasn't really known for writing music for worship (unlike Johann Sebastian Bach), you will understand why this selection was included in a volume of music for worship services. It has a very hymn-like feel and structure. It is a simple melody moving in a series of chords

Sign My Piano - http://www.signmypiano.com/

The Chopin Currency - April 13, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Wagner without the words
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Newark,NJ,USA

Emanuel Ax plays "a concerto by a composer who never wrote an opera but was deeply influenced by bel canto vocalism (Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2)."

For the Chopin concerto, the soloist is Emanuel Ax, always welcome.

With his avuncular presence belying an acute touch, Ax knows the Chopin concertos inside out, having even recorded them both on a period instrument. Orchestral writing wasn't this composer's thing, but Ax made the keyboard lines shine like a buffed pearl. In the melodic Larghetto, he coaxed sighs without ever being fey, the minute hesitations seeming like dramatic inflections in an unspooling aria.

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Pianist flexes mastery with daunting program
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

Cult-figure pianist Konstantin Lifshitz plays an ambitious program that starts with Bach. "He then tackled all 12 of Chopin's Op. 25 Études - and when was the last time you heard a pianist play the full dozen, and from memory? before conjuring the dread of midnight with some Schoenberg and wrapping up with Brahms' gargantuan Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel...."

The dozen Chopin studies, each demanding mastery of a particular technical concern, began with racing arpeggios, butterfly-soft, and ended with more racing arpeggios, stamped with a murderous clout. In between came galloping tempos and visits to windswept, desolate landscapes - and, except for a few short instances of over-pedaling, all of it was super-clear, voiced and colored to tell stories.

How the pianists in the audience felt listening to Lifschitz, it's hard to imagine. Because he was not only whizzing through Chopin's impossible sequences of parallel thirds (Étude No. 6 in G-sharp minor), hand-splitting sixths (No. 8 in D-flat major) and octaves (No. 10 in B minor), he was journeying through emotional worlds.

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Microphone Exhaustion
By GN

Pianist Grace Nikae blogs about her recording session....

Recording of the Schumann G- minor sonata was completed in the past two days, and due to scheduling conflicts for all the parties involved, recording of the Chopin third sonata will take place next month. If all goes well, ...

The Chopin Currency - April 4, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

ISO hands pianist Chen the keys to Chopin piece
Springfield State Journal Register - Springfield,IL,USA

Preview of Illinois Symphony Orchestra performance featuring Chinese pianist (and "Crystal Award" winner (3rd prize) at the 2005 Van Cliburn Competition) Sa Chen:

With the ISO, she will perform Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor. Chen sees what’s often called a light orchestral accompaniment as a dialogue between soloist and ensemble.

“It’s sentimental, dramatic and operatic, and it’s, in many ways, like a conversation with a lot of musically folksy elements,” Chen says of the Polish composer’s work.

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Warsaw city Chopin piano stunt
Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland

Could this be a late-breaking April 1 story?

The PR department at Warsaw city council is thinking of throwing pianos out of windows as a public relations exercise to publicise the capital.

During the anti-Tsarist Uprising of 1863, Chopin’s piano was thrown out of the window of his sister’s apartment by the soldiers of the Tsar and smashed on the street below.

The PR Department in the Warsaw City council has come up with an idea of drawing on that historical episode in the promotion of Warsaw to tourists.

Vienna has its Mozart, London has its Sherlock Holmes, why not throw replicas of grand pianos out of the window as a promotion gimmick, Warsaw PR people say....

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Celebrated pianist Lifschitz draws inspiration from natural forces
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

Preview and profile of pianist Konstantin Lifshitz, as a prelude to his April 10 performances and masterclasses in San Jose...

He's including the 12 Études of Chopin's Opus 25 in preparation for a week of master classes at Aix-en-Provence, and concludes the recital with Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel. In between he's slipping in Schoenberg's Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, the composer's early, bracing venture into atonality. While he commits most of the music he performs to memory, he'll have the Schoenberg sheet music on hand. Lifschitz may be a genius, but he's not foolhardy.

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Pianist prepares for weekend of favorites with PSO
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA

Emanuel Ax comes to Steel City to play and share some thoughts about his "musical first love:"

Ax recalls that he began playing Chopin when he was 7 or 8. "I'm Polish by birth. All Polish pianists play Chopin, quite apart from him being a large part of every pianist's life, really.

"I certainly love Chopin as much as any composer. He was probably my first love in the sense that I also grew up with (Arthur) Rubinstein, who was known to me as 'the Chopin pianist.' He played a lot else marvelously, too."

Ax's family moved to Canada in 1959 and settled in New York City in 1961. After studying at the Juilliard School of Music and Columbia University, he began winning piano competitions. But his career really took off after winning first prize in the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in 1974.

"After I won, he was very kindly. When he came to New York several times a year, he always found a little time for me. We had a few lessons, among them the Chopin F minor Concerto. He had a lot of stuff to say, unbelievably exact and instructive. I got to have dinner with him a few times, too. I was moving in high circles," says the modest pianist.

Chopin and Debussy "are the most astonishingly original composers I know, Ax says. "With Beethoven, you see it's incredible music, but you can trace connections to Mozart and Haydn writing at the time. Chopin comes from Warsaw and explodes on the scene. It's a pretty revolutionary way of hearing music."

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'Forever' Celebrates Life
OhmyNews International - South Korea

Glowing review of director Heddy Honigmann's documentary "Forever"

Shot at the world famous Pere-Lachaise cemetery, the largest in Paris, the film explores the thoughts and feelings of those who have come to the gravesites to pay tribute to famous people such as Chopin, Modigliani, Apollonaire, Balzac, Proust and Oscar Wilde as well as ordinary folk who lived and loved and have been remembered. It is a moving experience that engages both the mind and the heart.

The film opens with the story of pianist Yoshino Kimura, a young Asian woman who performs the work of Frederic Chopin as a means of connecting with her deceased father who loved his music. Scenes of Kimura playing the pensive melodies of Chopin's Nocturnes in concert are shown as the camera offers loving close ups of the pianist, the emotion revealed in her eyes.

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Prestigious Gilmore Music Festival brings pianist to Albion
Battle Creek Enquirer - Battle Creek,MI,USA

Preview of April 26th concert featuring Gilmore Young Artist (and multiple Chopin award-winner) Naomi Kudo:

Although she's only 20 years old, the Asian-American Kudo is a veteran of numerous international competitions. During the past three years alone, Kudo is the 2007 winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, too second prize at the 2005 U.S. National Chopin and was the only American finalist at the 2005 Chopin Piano Competition in Poland. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Fukui Symphony Orchestra and numerous other U.S. ensembles.

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

SPOTLIGHT: Marjorie Vincent, "Fantasie-Impromptu" by Frédéric ...

By Ike(Ike)

From the "Fly Funky Diva" blog, memories of a Miss America with some major Chopin mojo....

Marjorie's piano rendition of this Chopin masterpiece went down as one of the most brilliant talent performances in Miss America history. She also looked incredible! Marjorie Vincent was crowned Miss America this year making her the fourth african-american woman to hold the title.

Fly Funky Diva - http://flyfunkydiva.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - April 2, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Project Launch to host Autism Benefit Concert
Woodlands Online, LLC - The Woodlands,TX,USA

A preview of a benefit concert by Dariusz Pawlas for Project Launch - a Texas-based organization that While the April concert centers on Autism, the overall target population of Project Launch includes children and adults with myriad conditions that significantly impair their ability to learn fully, encompassing those with ADD/ADHD; Dyslexia; Autism; Aspergers; Depression; Bipolar Disorder; Tourette’s Syndrome; Mental Retardation; Cerebral Palsy, etc.;

Now a teacher of piano at both Rice University and the University of Texas in Austin, Dr. Pawlas is famous for performing in Frederyk Chopin’s home at the Poland International Festival. Dr. Pawlas has performed in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Holland, Italy, and Chopin’s birthplace in Zelazowa Wola, as well as the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C. He is the winner of the prestigious Estrada Mlodych Polish Piano Festival and recipient of the Frederyk Chopin Society of Warsaw scholarship.

Dr. Pawlas was born in Poland in the Silesian city of Rybnik, where he began his musical studies at age five. He graduated with the highest honors from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, and Rice University in Houston. Earning recognition internationally for his extraordinary talent, Dr. Pawlas has played with the Silesian Philharmonic of Katowice and Artur Rubenstein Philharmonic in Lodz.

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Art Talk: Ax, von Stade show why live music is better than recorded
The Capital Times - Madison,WI,USA

More praise for Emanuel Ax's performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Madison Symphony Orchestra....

But the heart of the MSO concert for me, a avowed piano fan, was Ax (whose picture by J. Henry Fairfax is at the top). The quicksilver fleetness of the notes, the delicacy of the articulation and lightness of the touch, the rich tone, the lyrical legato - it all made for an experience that was memorable and nothing short of extraordinary.

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Participant extols virtues of festival; Amanda Salvati returns to ...
Orillia Packet & Times - Orillia,Ontario,Canada
"My parents can attest to the fact they have woken up to Beethoven and been lulled to sleep by Chopin on more than one occasion." She'll never forget being ...
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Lang Lang: Subtlety in absentia
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA

L.L. Flails in Fort Worth, to the dismay of a Dallas critic...

Subtlety isn't Mr. Lang's forte. With Liszt's chattering and booming octaves sometimes pounded within inches of the Steinway's life, with the simple little tune so pushed and pulled that it was sometimes barely identifiable as such, this was vulgarity in excelsis.

In the Chopin E major Etude, [Op. 10 No. 3] played as an encore, excessive rubato distorted the main tune, and the middle section was crudely banged. It sounded like a parody of Liszt parodying Chopin.

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Étude in E Opus 10 [No. 3]: Frédéric Chopin
By Ralph(Ralph)

Speaking of Lang Lang's encore...

The main theme to this work, popularized as "No Other Love," and the one translated into "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," are the two most well-known of Chopin's melodies. If you've never heard the lovely real thing, here it is. There was a time when I could play this thing, except for the middle part. Most avocational pianists will say the same thing.

Days of Transition - http://daysoftransition.blogspot.com/

Pastor: Homenaje A Chopin for Guitar
By guitartuitionbooksdvds

Fresh posting of a piece by Spanish guitar composer Segundo Pastor.....

click here to learn more.
Guitar Tuition Books Dvds - http://guitartuitionbooksdvds.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 29, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Horszowski: CASALS: Prelude; CHOPIN: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor; Mazurka in B-flat Minor...
Audiophile Audition - USA

Review of a CD compendium of two recitals (in 1984 and 1987) given by the venerable Polish pianist at the Aldeburgh Festival:

If ever a musician could be “venerated,” it would have to be Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892-1993), the Polish virtuoso who excelled as solo pianist, teacher, and accompanist, and whose “staying power“ at his chosen instrument lasted 80 years. A pupil of Theodor Leschetizky, Horszowski mastered every degree of nuanced keyboard playing without percussiveness, and the entire Slavic-German repertory lay under his command. [...]

Horszowski opens with an homage to his dear friend, Pablo Casals - an extensive Prelude that plays like a nocturne, dramatic in parts with touches of what sound like Rachmaninov’s famed C-sharp Minor effort. Horszowski takes a broad tempo for the first movement of the Chopin B Minor, allowing Chopin’s modal counterpoint to shine through as well as the second subject to bask in burnished space. The development becomes thick without succumbing to metrical sag or emotional pretentiousness. Horszowski has a few finger slips in the gnarly Scherzo, which he takes rather gingerly. Despite the flaws, the music enjoys the contours of a water-piece, Debussy not far away. The third movement Largo seeks a balance of nocturne and barcarolle, in which Horszowski imbues the repeated arpeggios and colored chords with timeless, singing reverie. Herculean efforts move the Presto movement forward, Horszowski’s attacking the galloping figures with the audacity of one two generations younger than he. At the last chord, the audience whoops its appreciation for the gallant efforts.

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'Chaos' comes to Beirut for the first time
Daily Star - Lebanon - Beirut,Lebanon

Review of a Beirut recital by Lebanese composer-pianist Rami Khalifé:

Khalifé began Wednesday's concert with a selection of Chopin "Etudes." Presumably he wanted to shake off the nerves and warm up his hands. Having the contemporary centerpiece prefaced by the work of one of the best-loved composers of the romantic period also satisfied those especially fond of a better established repertoire - indeed, the audience erupted with applause after each etude.

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For piano lovers in Madison, this is a week to savor
The Capital Times - Madison,WI,USA

Emanuel Ax comes to the Wisconsin capital, Chopin in tow....

It starts with three performances by the Madison Symphony Orchestra with Emanuel Ax soloing in Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor. (Actually it was Chopin's first concerto, but was published second.) The first might be more virtuosic and sophisticated in its composition, but the second has tender beauty to behold, nowhere more so than in the opening of the slow second movement, a love song by the 20-year-old composer.

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The Chopin Currency - March 28, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Vivid tribute show transforms theater into old Paris salon
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

Another glowing review for the San Francisco production of "Pauline Viardot and Friends," with special praise for soprano Melody Moore...

"Pauline Viardot and Friends" traced the outline of her life, from her early training under her strict father, Spanish tenor and voice teacher Manuel García, to her friendships with Chopin and George Sand. As her fame grew, so did her circle; she often entertained friends such as Charles Dickens, Henry James and Ivan Turgenev.

Despite her marriage to a much older man, Turgenev, explained Horne, became her lifelong amour.

"He became part of the family," Horne said. "It's hard to say which part, exactly - there's probably a word for it in French."

[...]

Moore, who has sung capably in small roles with the San Francisco Opera, gave a performance suggesting she is ready for center stage. After the big vocal leaps of "Coquette," Viardot's arrangement of a Chopin mazurka, Moore finessed the composer's "The Oak and the Reed" and "Hermione," and returned with a powerhouse performance of "Gods of the Styx" from Gluck's "Alceste."See all stories on this topic

A night of solo Chopin with Louis Lortie
Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, Canada

Preview of Canadian pianist's April 1 performance of the complete Etudes:

"Better Chopin playing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere," wrote a Financial Times critic after star Canadian pianist Louis Lortie performed Chopin ...

Chopin's complete Études are made up of the Twelve Études, Op. 10; the Trois nouvelles Études and the Twelve Études, Op. 25. Lortie's recording of the Études was cited in a special piano issue of BBC Music Magazine as one of "50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists."

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Chopin Videos:

Road Songs (Richter plays Chopin Revolutionary Etude)
By CubanInLondon(CubanInLondon)

From the "CubaninLondon" blog, a breathtaking Sviatoslav Richter performance:

When in 1831, Chopin's étude opus 10, number 12, saw the light, Russian troops were about to crush the 'November Uprising' in Poland, The musician, unable to assist his fellow countrypeople, resorted to the only weapon he had, his piano. To me this piece is representative of a feeling that encompasses not just the love for one's homeland, but disdain for those who try to keep it down. Intoxicating.

CubanInLondon - http://cubaninlondon.blogspot.com/

Chopin in the Blogosphere:

On Chopin, Vanguard, and Bosomy Winged Avengers
By Adam Tiler

The importance of good music in gamecraft...

I appreciated the Chopin in Hellfire Peninsula, and wish Blizzard would do more like that, but the rest is B quality at best. Vanguard, for all its faults, had beautiful music (under Media). Todd Masten is a master of thematic music to ...

Mahogany Finish - http://www.mahoganyfinish.org

my heart aches
By alyson.(alyson.)

Piano memories from a Portland blogger...

I fell in love with Debussy, twisted my fingers learning Brahms, and wanted to learn every Chopin waltz written. every year, I competed in a local and state level for piano. each year I played in the solo competition, ...

unruly.things - http://unruly-things.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 27, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Rubinstein Piano Competition / The heat that shuffled the deck
Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel

Bravos for the competitors, brickbats for the orchestra, in the latest dispatch from Tel Aviv:

Contestant Irina Zahharenkova, for instance, chose Chopin's Concerto No. 2. Based on her interpretation of the slow movement of Mozart's Concerto no. 23, a tender and unconventionally expressive performance which attempted to transcended plain technique, her interpretation of Chopin is likely to be more skillful and interesting.

[...]

The one participant that no one feels like hearing at this stage any more, is conductor Uri Segal and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. Listening to Segal lead the solos was a nerve wracking experience as it sounded as if the musicians were walking on thin ice: Will they fall due to the incorrect balance? Can they get passed the missed entries, unstable tempo and lack of rhythm?

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Ferdinand Hiller: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3
Musical Criticism - London,UK

Review of a new CD of piano concertos by Chopin contemporary Ferdinand Hiller, featuring pianist Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra:

Once again, Hyperion uncovers the work of yet anther 'unknown' composer who possessed deep ties with the great and the good of nineteenth-century music. Indeed, a highly curtailed biography of Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) proves to be nothing more than a gross exercise in name-dropping: pupil of Hummel, protégé of Cherubini, acquaintance of Rossini and Berlioz, friend of Liszt and Chopin, deputy conductor of Mendelssohn's Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and composition teacher of Max Bruch (amongst others). He was a vaunted pianist in an age of burgeoning virtuosity and a composer of great potential, though his creative legacy has now been largely forgotten.

[...]

Even the early, bravura F-minor concerto is full of deft wit and charm, its finale a magnificent and forward-looking crossbreed of waltzes by Chopin and Johann Strauss that allows Shelley to exploit his magnificent pianism to the full.
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Chopin Videos:

Chopin FTW
By djsunkid(djsunkid)

More Chopin for Math geeks....

Hey, I think I like chopin! Check out these awesome reasons why! Mostly this is just a reminder to myself to get more Chopin. Woo!
raHr! - http://djsunkid.livejournal.com/

Valentina Lisitsa Chopin 24 Etude Op. 25 No. 6
By www.japanvideogames.com(www.japanvideogames.com)

Embedded Video. This piece is soooo hard to play at that speed, if you've ever seen the notes on sheetmusicarchive.net, it's a straight killer, major SKILLS, insta-watch when DONE. Blogged with the Flock Browser.
Interesting Things For you Late @ Night - http://yayyuh.blogspot.com/

Lang Lang plays Chopin with an Orange!

Citrus-flavored performance of the "Black Keys" (Op. 10 No. 5) Etude...

The best musicians in the world have great sense of humor and tend to be pretty easy going. Here's an example.
Amore is in the Aire - http://prplppleater.multiply.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 23, 2008

Today's Yundi Li Installment:

Yundi Li, pianist
Financial Times - London,England,UK

From the Financial Times, Yundi Li shares his fashion faves:

I wore this today because it's comfortable but tonight (in Hong Kong to accept the South China Morning Post and Harper's Bazaar Style Award for Performing Arts) I will wear a Gucci suit. I like Gucci because it's fashionable and modern. I also buy Dior Homme because it has a unique and special look that I love. A classical musician has no choice but to wear a traditional outfit when performing. Armani sponsors the tailcoat I wear for performances....

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Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews (Besides Yundi Li):

Frederica von Stade sings Pauline Viardot
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA

After all of the advance stories, a bona fide review of the Pauline Viardot program:

After performances in London and Paris, "Pauline Viardot and Friends" had its U.S. premiere Thursday at Herbst Theatre. With Marilyn Horne serving as armchair narrator and host, a la Alistair Cooke, the program unfolded as a genial, if sometimes labored, introduction to a figure who is surely new to most listeners. The emphasis landed where it belonged - on the variety of sweet-natured, charming, sometimes melodramatic and occasionally gripping music Viardot wrote.

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, soprano Melody Moore and baritone Vladimir Chernov performed 14 selections by Viardot, and three by other composers. The Viardot pieces ranged from airy meditations on nature and a winsome Chopin mazurka transcription to a feverish "Incantation" and a love duet from her operetta "Cendrillon.

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Canadian piano virtuoso Louis Lortie performs Chopin Etudes on the ...
Ottawa Start (press release) - Ottawa,ON,Canada

Preview of the Canadian pianist's March 31 appearance in Ottawa...

Following a recital by Canadian pianist Louis Lortie of Chopin Etudes in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Financial Times wrote: “Better Chopin playing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere...."

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Review: Chopin Vodka

By cnull

From "The Essential Blog for the Discriminating Drinker:"

You’re a famous 19th century composer. What are the odds that someone is going to take your good name and turn it into a vodka 150 years later?

The connection is Poland, where Chopin lived and vodka was (allegedly) born. Chopin is a traditional potato vodka, from Polish potatoes. Despite the fancy, frosted glass bottle, it has a very traditional flavor for potato vodkas, too. ...

Drinkhacker.com - http://www.drinkhacker.com



eternal sonata

By david carlton

Another review of the video game...

I pretty much decided I had to play it as soon as I heard that it took place in the imagination of a dying Frederic Chopin; they didn’t do as much with that theme as they could have, but there were other compensating virtues. ...

malvasia bianca - http://malvasiabianca.org

The Chopin Currency - March 17, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Lauded opera legend Viardot honored in tailor-made show
Examiner.com - USA

Rave review for theatrical/music program dedicated to Chopin amie Pauline Viardot (see previous entry):

Their combined brilliance is astounding. Two of America’s greatest living mezzos, Frederica von Stade and Marilyn Horne, are about to join forces with superb Verdi baritone Vladimir Chernov, stage director and former San Francisco Opera General Manager Lofti Mansouri, fast-rising gifted soprano Melody Moore and San Francisco Symphony’s own Peter Grunberg to present two evenings of “Pauline Viardot and Friends.” These will be nights to remember.

So great was her artistry that Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns, Schumann and Fauré all composed or dedicated works for her. ...
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Li builds slowly, dazzles fans in Troy
Schenectady Gazette - Schenectady,NY,USA

More of the Yundi Li - Lang Lang traveling road show. First, Yundi Li at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall:

"Chopin’s famous Nocturne in E-flat Major, known to every pupil who’s played Chopin, was interesting in his softer tone, blurred images and introspective mood. Rather than knock out the final page as most pianists do, Li spun out the notes with a fluid nonchalance but kept the dynamic within the pensive range. It was a rather lovely choice."

In four of Chopin’s Mazurkas from his Op. 33, his tone had a hard edge, but his pacing, technical cleanness, emphasis of the inner voices and pedaling were ...
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Subtleties to Showmanship: Pianistic Duality on Display
New York Times - United States

....and Lang Lang plays Manhattan:

A particularly telling example of this duality was Mr. Lang’s single encore, Chopin’s Étude in E (Op. 10, No. 3). He played its outer sections with a ...
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