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 10, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Felder completes composer trilogy with 'Beethoven' premiere
North County Times - Escondido,CA,USA

Really having more to do with Ludwig than Fryderyk, a preview of Hershey Felder's new one-man show in San Diego...

Like the other two plays, "Beethoven, As I Knew Him" is a roughly 100-minute, intermissionless play with music written by and starring Felder (a piano prodigy who grew in Canada's Yiddish theater circuit) telling the composer's story in words and music from the piano bench.

"Gershwin Alone" features the brash, Brooklyn-born Jazz Age composer recounting his life up until his tragic 1937 death from a brain aneurysm at age 38. "Monsieur Chopin" finds the Polish composer Frederic Chopin in his Parisian salon a few years before his 1849 tuberculosis death at age 39, explaining his struggle with "melancholy" (bipolar disorder), his love affair with George Sand and his life and music.

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From disparate halves, a thrilling whole
Buffalo News - NY, United States

Gabriela Montero's first half gets the better grade in Buffalo, though Chopin still suffers...

The two halves to Montero’s concert were vastly different. The first half was all classical — the Bach/Busoni, then Chopin’s Ballade No. 3, then the Sonata No. 1, by Alberto Ginastera.

You would have to have been dead not to have been thrilled and excited by that Bach. Busoni knew how to work a piece for showmanship, how to bring out its contrasts and climaxes, and Montero played right along. Besides drama, the piece had depth and emotion.[...]

The Chopin sounded a bit frantic, not as romantic as it could have been. Poor thing. It was sandwiched between that Bach and the stormy Ginastera, and Montero might have worked herself into a bit of a lather...

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Montreal pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin wows crowd at the Gilmore Festival
Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com - Kalamazoo,MI,USA

Meanwhile, in Kalamazoo, the parade of A-list pianists continues, with generous amounts of Chopin on their programs:

The Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 presented a different set of challenges in its stark contrasts between virtuosic outbursts and tender, thinly scored romantic tunes. Hamelin displayed remarkable control at the lowest dynamic levels, caressing every note of Chopin's beautiful melodies.

The second movement Scherzo had incredible drive as a result of his very ambitious tempo and meticulous articulation. The precious nature of the scant two- and three-part writing of the third movement Largo was nurtured along with the utmost care. Then, Hamelin unleashed a hitherto unheard power in the "Finale: Presto" non tanto that proved a perfect foil to the delicate third movement.

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Chopin Downloads, Legal and otherwise...

Chopin - 24 Preludes op 28, Grigory Sokolov

By admin
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin Grigory Sokolov, piano Live Paris 17th June 1990. Grigory Sokolov (born April 18, 1950 in Leningrad) is a Russian pianist. Sokolov began studying the piano at the age of five, entering the Leningrad ...
Music-Download.cc - http://www.music-download.cc

Jorgeous : Tributo a Chopin
By Jorgeous

Starts off sounding more like Satie than Chopin...

Jorgeous - Tributo a Chopin. Jorgeous - Tributo a Chopin.
Jamendo - http://www.jamendo.com/

Chopin Photos:

Chopin.
By nobody@flickr.com (ianharrywebb)

Click on the link to see the row house in the Scottish capital...

ianharrywebb posted a photo:. Chopin. Chopin's home while in Edinburgh.
Uploads from ianharrywebb - http://www.flickr.com/photos/iansdigitalphotos/

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 -- March 25, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Marc-André Hamelin: No Limits
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada

Review of a new DVD of the Canadian artist in concert:

This DVD combines extensive background interviews with a recital at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Essen, Germany, last summer. It's an extraordinary interpretation of a textbook solo-piano program: sonatas by Haydn and Chopin, the 12 Preludes in Book II by Debussy and fun encores by Gershwin and Hamelin himself....

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

“The World’s 50 Greatest Composers”
By Review Editor

The audio-library branch of the Mormon Church unveils its new series on composers....

Frederic Chopin was quite a tragic tale. My students remember well the “skinny composer” who never weighed more than 100 pounds. His devotion was solely to the piano, and the melodies shared are most beautiful. My students were amazed how such a small man could pound such incredible songs out! His life is one of continued digression as years of suffering finally lead to an early death at 39.

In all of these MP3 downloads from “The World’s 50 Greatest Composers” , the narrator’s voice is ALWAYS enjoyable to listen to and very lively, even story-like at times.

LDSAudio.com - LDS Music, Talks... - http://blog.ldsaudio.com

The Chopin Currency - Jan. 29, 2008

Chopin In the News:

Chopin, With Progenitors and Progeny
New York Times - United States
In a brief program note Mr. Goode called the concert “a kind of homage to Chopin.” In practice, this meant surrounding Chopin’s works with music by German ...
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Hamelin takes his piano off-roading
Boston Globe - United States
The second half began with some beautifully supple Chopin (Barcarolle, Op. 60 and Ballade No. 3) and proceeded with Liszt arrangements of more Chopin and ...
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Why hospitals make you sick
Independent - London,England,UK
Colin Ludlow is not so sure There is a scene in one of Ken Russell's musical biographies where the consumptive Chopin coughs up blood over his piano. ...
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Art Talk: Which is the best single piano piece ever written?
The Capital Times - Madison,WI,USA
Lately, my music of choice has been the Ballades of Frederic Chopin (in a photograph, taken near the end of his life in 1849, at left). ...
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Premiera "Living With The Classics"
Onet.pl - Poland
Fryderyk Chopin "Sonata No. 2" in B-Flat Major, Mvt. 4 (Presto) Flavio Varani, piano 11. Modest Moussorgsky "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" from Pictures ...
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Chopin In the Blogosphere:

CHOPIN - Thru Chopins' Eyes
Lecture & Piano Recital: Classical Romantic Music:Chopin: Join us for an unusual view into the history of Poland and Paris through the eyes of Chopin in the 1800's. Through his aristocratic Polish friends, Chopin knew the influential ...
Massachusetts Performers & Programs... - http://www.semls.org/performer/index.asp

Music calms dogs in animal shelters
By Therese
For dogs, a growing body of research indicates they bark less and suffer fewer anxiety attacks when listening to Bach, Schubert and Chopin. In the Inland area, piped-in chamber music, concertos and sonatas waft through county animal ...
The PetsitUSA.com Blog - http://petsitusa.com/blog

Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58
By The Avant Gardener
Martha Argerich: Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58 - I. Allegro maestoso (composed 1844, recorded 1965), from the Martha Argerich Plays Chopin: The Legendary 1965 Recording (EMI, 1999)
Good Vibrato - http://goodvibrato.org

The Chopin Currency - Jan. 26, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews & Previews:

A certain sameness mars an otherwise fine recital
Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia,PA,USA
His Chopin mazurka had a preestablished framework that would encourage dynamism: The choice of mazurkas encompassed the composer's Polish nationalist side ...
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A virtuoso strives to outgrow his niche
Boston Globe - United States
"But at the same time, Mozart and Chopin and Schumann and Schubert and Haydn and Beethoven are just as essential a part of me as a musician. ...
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Gustavo Romero: The measure of a sonata
The Desert Sun - Palm Springs,CA,USA
The (anniversary) of Chopin's death, I played a Chopin cycle. Then there was the Bach in 2000. It was an outgrowth of these anniversary years that I did the ...
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EG CLASSICAL, WITH PETER PALMER: JANUARY 25, 2008
This is Nottingham - Nottingham,England,UK
While studying in Paris he met Berlioz, Chopin and Liszt. He visited England in 1843 and settled here five years later, becoming the first to play all ...
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