A Chopin extravaganza
Times Online – UK

Nice Times of London summation of the BBC Radio 3 Chopin Experience:

After the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky Experiences and the Bach Christmas it’s time for Frédéric Chopin to sit in a deckchair in the Elysian Fields, sip a piña colada and wince as Radio 3 exposes every recorded note he ever wrote (including the bad ones, as only a mediocre talent is always at its best).

What’s different about The Chopin Experience (from today, 7am) is that Radio 3 has not redrawn its usual programme schedule to accommodate it. Which throws up a few apparent anomalies. Take, for example, The Early Music Show (today, 1pm). Or, in this instance, the Earlier Music than Now Show, since Chopin, era-wise, is no John Dowland.

That aside, it’s a fascinating listen in which three piano performances are compared – one Chopin’s, one by a pupil of his, and one given on a restoration of a Pleyel square piano similar to one that he might have played.

The cultural documentary strand World Routes (today, 3pm) is a better fit, in that Lucy Duran is in Warsaw, exploring some of the traditional folk forms associated with Chopin. Then, in programming guaranteed to further enrage those listeners who tune in to Radio 3 only to be enraged by it, Jazz Lineup (today, 4pm) includes a talk with the foremost proponent of classics-to-jazz, Jacques Loussier. He’s best known for reinterpreting Bach, but his trio has dabbled with Chopin, and his thoughts are illuminating.

See all stories on this topic

Fancy a Romantic weekend with Frederic Chopin?
Times Online – UK

Accompanying sidebar essay about “why many pianists find him too weepy.” Worth a read! And check out the recommended recordings (Perahia, Cortot, Rubinstein, etc) at the bottom…

Is the man worth this much fuss? In principle, yes. Chopin may not have had any imitators, but that’s only because his individuality as a composer is so strong. His melodies curl about and stick in the mind like no one else’s. His harmonies waft a pungent perfume all their own, and invite you into an imaginative, mercurial world unique in music history.

True, he wrote no epic symphonies, no operas, no oratorios, no sacred passions – none of the period’s usual outlets for lofty musical thoughts. But he used his preferred short forms with such a degree of innovation and imagination that even people who feel distaste at his music’s emotional atmosphere respect Chopin for his craft.

Well, not everyone respects him. In a 1981 radio interview the notoriously eccentric Canadian pianist Glenn Gould brashly announced that Chopin (and Liszt and Schu-bert) “had no idea of how to write for the piano”. On another occasion, Gould called Chopin “not a very good composer”. Heavens above, you might think, if those keyboard composers couldn’t get past Gould’s pearly gates who could?

Such idiosyncratic opinions should not be rejected completely. Chopin, for all his wide popularity, remains a complex, often misunderstood, figure, and if this weekend’s bonanza helps us to peer into his many-sided character and find a man who wrote much more than pretty music, the world will be a better place.

The truth is, Chopin is a tricky customer. Even pianists in full sympathy with him approach his music with some trepidation. The British pianist Stephen Hough, the veteran of a fine CD of the Ballades, declares his music to be so fearfully perfect, so polished, lacking a single ugly bar, that “if a piece doesn’t naturally sound beautiful it can only be the performer’s fault”.

For Simon Trpceski, responsible for one of the most volcanic of recent CD Chopin recitals, playing this composer also carries risks. “There’s a Macedonian saying,” he says, “about going with your hat to break a wall.” And we should remember Tamás Vásáry’s comment to Jeremy Siepmann in the 1990s about Chopin leaving nowhere to hide. “With Chopin,” he said, “you often feel quite naked.”

See all stories on this topic

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 the tonal finesse that conductor Christian Knapp brought to them. The themes having been given out, pianist Muza Rubackyte proved the ideal muse to realise their poetry. Totally at one with Knapp’s orchestral blend, the Lithuanian came up with matchless octaves, glittering passagework and, above all, the most soulful of rubato….”

New Zealand Herald – New Zealand
The opening pages of Chopin’s E minor Piano Concerto can be worryingly stolid, but not on this occasion, with the tonal finesse that conductor Christian …
See all stories on this topic

Simon Trpceski, Perth Concert Hall

Another rave review for the much-buzzed-about Macedonian pianist. “His performance of Chopin’s Sonata No2 in B-flat minor was breathtaking – fresh, beautiful and simple.”

The Herald – Glasgow,Scotland,UK
Performing the works of Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, Trpceski’s technical ability was inspiring while his slower, sensitive playing was …
See all stories on this topic

Swedish pianist to perform in Istanbul

Peter Jablonski has got Chopin on the bill for a March 20th recital in Istanbul’s Lutfi Kirdar Convention Hall…

New Anatolian – Ankara,Turkey
Jablonski will play a selected repertoire from Haydn, Grieg, Szymanowski and Chopin at Istanbul’s Lutfi Kirdar Convention Hall. Jablonski is recognised as …
See all stories on this topic

Chopin in the Wired Weird Web:

chopin-op-25-01-a4

From the document-sharing site Docstoc, free downloads of Chopin sheet music. Latest installment is the Etude in A-flat, Op. 25, No. 1
By whitefang
1 13 Et ude As DurFrederic Chopin 1810 1849 Opus 25 Nr 1 3333 3333 4 5 33 2 333 3 4 104 sostenuto Allegro p3 33333 3333 2 4 2 2 3 2.
Docstoc feed for: creative – http://www.docstoc.com/documents/most-recent/

Thomas Pandolfi gives piano recital of Liszt, Scriabin, Chopin …

DC blogger reviews concert featuring several Chopin works, including the Etude Op, 10 #8 in F “sounding almost unplayable on white keys…”
By Bill Boushka(Bill Boushka)
The pianist offers several CDs, one of which (“Polish Masters”) includes the Paderewski Piano Concerto, and Chopin’s variations on the march theme from Bellini’s “The Puritans” which I had discussed on this blog Sept. 4, 2007.
Bill’s Drama and Music News and Reviews – http://billsdramareviews.blogspot.com/

Chopin: Prelude 15 Opus 28 “Raindrop”

Sonoma State flutist music student and blogger discovers Chopin via a video game….
By Emily(Emily)
I first heard Chopin’s “Raindrop” prelude in the Halo 3 “Believe” trailer for the game. As you know, I am learning piano this year, and although this piece is much too difficult for me to play right now, I would like to be able to play …
– http://tunethepiccolo.blogspot.com/

Pianist Lim Dong-hyek Emerges From Slump With Bach

Hearing Bach’s Goldberg Variations used in a computer game prompts 23-year old Korean star (studying at Juilliard) to break out of artistic doldrums. Known as an interpreter of Chopin, Lim interpreter calls new repertoire “stealing a glance of Bach.”

Korea Times – South Korea
In 2005 he shared third place with his older brother Dong-min at the International Chopin event, where there was no second prizewinner. …
See all stories on this topic

Simon Trpceski touches the soul

Telegraph critic goes to Dorset for run-up to Wigmore Hall appearance by Simon Trpceski, and likes what he hears: “Trpceski’s piano-playing is something to be savoured, and on occasion it is a treat just to ponder privately rather than attempting to convey thoughts through prose.”

Telegraph.co.uk – United Kingdom

Buttressed by two classic sonatas – Chopin’s Second in B flat minor and Prokofiev’s Seventh – the programme touched on the Debussy that Trpceski has so …
See all stories on this topic

PANUFNIK: Old Polish Suite; Concerto in Modo Antico; Jagiellonian …

Tepid review of new CD: It was a desire to restore some of the olden Polish music that led to the creation of the works on this disc. He took many different modes of inspiration from old houses, religious artifacts, and even music from composers of Poland’s rich past, including Chopin. This is an interesting idea for a concept album, but I must be honest in reporting that the music on this release leaves little lasting impression.
PANUFNIK: Old Polish Suite; Concerto in Modo Antico; Jagiellonian Triptych; Old Polish Music – Divertimento after Janiewicz; Hommage a Chopin – Igor Cechoco, trumptet/ Hanna Turonek, flute/ Polish Changer Orchestra/ Mariusz Smolij …
Audiophile Audition Headlines – http://www.audaud.com

Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Frédéric Chopin

From a Blog called “Tales from the Graveside” – a picture of…well, you get the picture.

By Hermes(Hermes)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin http://www.chopinmusic.net/en/home/
Tales from the Graveside – http://talesfromthegraveside.blogspot.com/

Chopin Videos:

Hee Ah Lee – Frédéric Chopin – Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66

Chopin on nine fingers… By xujiren(xujiren)
A moving story of a four-fingered pianist -
Inspirations from the Net – http://netinspirations.blogspot.com/