The Piano Music of Fryderyk Chopin – from the Studio of Arthur Greene
Posted in Arthur Greene, Etudes, Nocturnes, Performances on Aug 27th, 2008
Chopin Project Artistic Director Arthur Greene calls Chopin’s last nocturne a curious, but moving, work:
“It is rarely played. Its absolute simplicity of texture may lead performers to experiment with ornamentation, but I believe that it is an expression of Chopin’s new…
Posted in BBC Radio 3, Chopin Bicentennial, Chopin Currency, Chopin Experience, Etudes, Marc-André Hamelin, Mateusz Kolakowski, Poland, Sejm (Parliament), jazz on May 12th, 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…
Posted in A Country in the Moon, Chopin Currency, Etudes, Garrick Ohlsson, Gilmore Festival, Michael Moran, Piano Sonata No. 3, Poland, Polish History, Preludes, Rafał Blechacz, Stephen Hough, Videos, Waltzes, books on May 9th, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Etudes, Leopold Godowsky, Marc-André Hamelin, worship on Apr 27th, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Emanuel Ax, Etudes, Grace Nikae, Konstantin Lifschitz, Piano Concertos, Piano Sonata No. 3 on Apr 13th, 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…
Posted in Arthur Greene, Etudes, Performances on Apr 10th, 2008
Smack-dab in the middle of Chopin’s Op. 25 Etudes lies this unique and memorable piece that is unlike any other Chopin creation. And one that has generated a considerable amount of ink over the decades.
Sometimes it’s called the “‘cello Etude,” due…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Emanuel Ax, Etudes, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Forever (movie), Gilmore Festival, Konstantin Lifschitz, Marjorie Vincent, Miss America, Naomi Kudo, Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Sa Chen, Warsaw on Apr 4th, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Dariusz Pawlas, Emanuel Ax, Etudes, Lang Lang, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Project Launch, Segundo Pastor, guitar on Apr 2nd, 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…
Posted in Aldeburgh Festival, Chopin Currency, Emanuel Ax, Etudes, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Concertos, Rami Khalifé on Mar 29th, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Etudes, Gaming, Hellfire Peninsula, Louis Lortie, Melody Moore, Pauline Viardot, Sviatoslav Richter, World of Warcraft on Mar 28th, 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…
Posted in Artur Rubinstein Piano Competition, Chopin Currency, Etudes, Ferdinand Hiller, Howard Shelley, Irina Zahherenkova, Israel Philharmonic, Lang Lang, Valentina Lisitsa on Mar 27th, 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.…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Eternal Sonata, Etudes, Frederica von Stade, Louis Lortie, Marilyn Horne, Mazurkas, Pauline Viardot, Yundi Li, fashion on Mar 23rd, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Etudes, Frederica von Stade, Lang Lang, Marilyn Horne, Pauline Viardot, Yundi Li on Mar 17th, 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…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Etudes, Joyce Yang, Marilyn Horne, Pauline Viardot, Piano Concertos on Mar 16th, 2008
Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Chinese pianist hits all right notes in concert
Colorado Springs Gazette – Colorado Springs,CO,USA
Glowing review of pianist Joyce Yang’s appearance with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic…
But it was her performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 that proved that…
Posted in Chopin Currency, Dance, Etudes, Heroic Polonaise, Jerome Robbins, Lang Lang, Martha Argerich, Mazurkas, New York City Ballet, Oliver Sacks, fiction, journals on Mar 14th, 2008
Kicking against convention: a scene from The Concert, a clever and …
This is London – London,England,UK
Another one of Jerome Robbins’ famous interpretations of Chopin, from the New York City Ballet performance at the London Coliseum….(be sure to read the Comments…
Posted in Byron Janis, Chopin Currency, Eternal Sonata, Etudes, Nocturnes, Videos, Waltzes, Yundi Li on Mar 8th, 2008
Posted in Alexander Tharaud, Artur Rodzinski, Chopin Currency, Etudes, Eun Joo Chung, Frederic Mompou, Hans Graf, Impromptu (movie), Lang Lang, Paul Badura-Skoda, Piano Concertos, Preludes, Vienna State Opera Orchestra on Mar 7th, 2008
Chopin News, Previews, Rants, and Reviews:
Yesterday we brought you two views of Yundi Li; today it’s the “other” superstar Chinese pianist’s turn. Mark Swed of the LA Times is both impressed and appalled:
Tuesday night, he [Lang Lang] returned…
Posted in Auckland Philharmonic, Chopin Currency, Christian Knapp, Etudes, Halo3, Mûza Rubackyté, Peter Jablonski, Piano Concertos, Raindrop Prelude, Simon Trpčeski, Thomas Pandolfi on Feb 25th, 2008
Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Review: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at Auckland Town Hall
Lithuanian pianist Mûza Rubackyté getting some nice attention from the Kiwis: “The opening pages of Chopin’s E minor Piano Concerto can be worryingly stolid, but not on this occasion, with…
Posted in Chopin, Etudes, Musicology, Recordings, classical, piano on Jan 29th, 2008
The world of music had never before known any études as original, as musical, or as difficult. — Frank Cooper
This is one of the best-known (and arguably, the most difficult!) of the set of twelve études Chopin dedicated to Franz Liszt. The…
Chopin 2010: Chopin in the News
