
Images from “Chopin’s Europe” courtesy Hanna Komarnicki
Fryderyk Chopin composed his Mazurka in A Minor Opus 7 No. 2 in Poland though it was published later, in France. We know this because an early version of it was discovered in …
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Posted in Mazurkas, Polina Khatsko on Jun 17th, 2011

Ancient trees at Nohant Manor from "Chopin's Europe" courtesy Hanna Komarnicki
The first of this group of three mazurkas, in the key of
…
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Posted in Mazurkas, Noel McRobbie on Jul 6th, 2008
"In his Mazurkas, you get to know the very soul of Poland and Chopin never forgot his home land or the poor farmers singing the Mazurkas during the time of harvest." All right, the Piano Society's prose on Chopin's 58 Mazurkas may be a bit purple, but it does appear that the Mazurkas are close to Chopin's Polish soul. Esteemed pianist and scholar Charles Rosen has also declared the Mazurkas as Chopin's "R & D Lab" - where
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Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
A Country in the Moon, by Michael Moran
Independent – London,England,UK
Review declares Michael Moran’s new book about Poland to be an “absorbing, exasperating and ultimately rewarding travelogue.”
Moran emerges from these pages as
…
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Posted in Adam Neiman, André Laplante, Chopin Currency, Emanuel Ax, Gilmore Festival, Jeanie Darnell, Mazurkas, Michael Baron, Pauline Viardot, Piano Concertos, Piano Sonata No. 2 on Apr 5th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
André Laplante: Piano virtuoso and artist
Barre Montpelier Times Argus – Barre,VT,USA
Previewing his appearance in the Vermont capital, Quebec pianist shares his approach to Chopin:
André’s first point was that Chopin (1810-1849) was
…
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Chopin News, Previews, and Reviews….
Answering Bach’s Call With Color and Stamina
New York Times – United States
Chinese pianist Xiayin Wang impresses at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall…
Even for the most gifted young pianist, it takes a lot to be
…
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Posted in Chopin Currency, Eternal Sonata, Etudes, fashion, Frederica von Stade, Louis Lortie, Marilyn Horne, Mazurkas, Pauline Viardot, Yundi Li 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
…
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Posted in Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Artur Rubinstein, Ben Agosto, Chopin Currency, fiction, figure skating, Ice Dancing, Lang Lang, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Tanith Belbin, Yundi Li on Mar 18th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Belbin, Agosto taking a classical approach
Boston Globe – United States
Chopin turns out to be the missing ingredient in the ice-dancing tandem’s Quest for Gold….
[Tanith] Belbin and [Ben] Agosto are the most successful
…
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Posted in arrangements, Ballades, Cecile Licad, Chopin Currency, Evgenia Rubinova, Fantaisie-Impromptu, fiction, Heroic Polonaise, Kurikinton Fox, Lang Lang, Mazurkas, Piano Concertos, Yundi Li on Mar 15th, 2008
Posted in Chopin Currency, Dance, Etudes, fiction, Heroic Polonaise, Jerome Robbins, journals, Lang Lang, Martha Argerich, Mazurkas, New York City Ballet, Oliver Sacks 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 …
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Posted in Artur Rubinstein, Artur Rubinstein Piano Competition, Chopin Currency, Deep Purple, Dmitri Tymoczko, Konstanin Igumnov, Mazurkas, Preludes, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Yundi Li on Mar 13th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Pianist’s intense preparation and talent have brought him global …
Schenectady Gazette – Schenectady,NY,USA
Another preview for the current recital tour of 2000 Chopin Competition winner Yundi Li, who’ll play Sunday March 16th at …
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Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Pianist Alfred Brendel to give his final Chicago performance
Chicago Tribune – United States
On his farewell tour of the USA, pianist Alfred Brendel is not in the mood to second-guess his repertory choices over …
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Chopin News, Previews, Rants, and Reviews:
New award recognizes contribution to the arts
Mississauga News – Ontario, Canada
Some true Chopin 2010 Information…
“Hollywood has its Oscars and Mississauga has its Freddys.
Mayor Hazel McCallion accepted the first Freddy in …
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Posted in Arthur Greene, Mazurkas, Recordings on Mar 4th, 2008

As Chopin Project Artistic Director Arthur Greene heads off to Novi Sad, Serbia, to judge and perform in the Isidor Bajic Memorial Competition, he leaves us a taste of his masterful Chopin interpretation with this performance of the …
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Posted in Arthur Greene, asteriods, Chopin Currency, Chopin Project, Elton John, fiction, George Sand, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Novi Sad (vocal group), Tadeus Majewski, Videos, Vladimir Ashkenazy on Mar 1st, 2008

Chopin Performance of the Day: A Chopin Rarity from Chopin Project Artistic Director Arthur Greene:
“The Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 comes from around 1830, -after Chopin had left Warsaw forever. But the version I’m playing here has …
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Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
Diavolo to defy the laws of physics Saturday
Preview of Telluride appearance by innovative LA Dance Troupe incorporating Chopin into their latest show: “Diavolo is comprised of dancers, gymnasts, actors and rock climbers who …
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Chopin Commentary, News, Reviews, & Previews
Answers to Reader Questions
Celebrated neurologist and author Oliver Sacks responds to New York Times’ readers queries about “amusic” migraine auras. Sacks recounts a passage from his best-selling book “Musicophilia…”
New York …
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Posted in Chopin coin, Chopin Currency, Chopiniana, Dance, Les Sylphides, Mazurkas, Mikhail Fokine, Reverie Romantique, Sergei Diaghilev, St. Petersburg Ballet, Vassily Primakov on Feb 26th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:
St. Petersburg Ballet pirouettes into the PAC
Well-written review from the UM-St. Louis student paper giving high marks and providing good context for the St. Petersburg Ballet Theater performance….”The program opened with one of the …
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Chopin News, Reviews, & Previews:
Byron Janis Celebrates 80th Birthday 3/10 in Concert with Hensley …
Celebrated Chopin interpreter (and more recently, composer of Broadway songs) Byron Janis is set to present two shows – celebrating his 80th birthday (and …
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Posted in Chopin, Mazurkas, Xiaofeng Wu on Feb 10th, 2008
The Mazurkas, like the Polonaises, are the compositions closest to Chopin’s Polish roots. In fact, many Chopin scholars say the Mazurkas are Chopin at his most personal, experimental, and confessional: In his Mazurkas, you get to know …
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