The Piano Music of Fryderyk Chopin - from the Studio of Arthur Greene
Posted in Impromptus, Olga Kleiankina, Recordings, classical, piano on Feb 23rd, 2008
Today the Chopin Project spotlight falls on Russian-born Michigan pianist Olga Kleiankina, performing the First Impromptu (in A-flat, Op. 29, No. 1) by Chopin. By its very title “Impromptu” is supposed to mean just that — just a perky, playful little…Posted in Chopin, Dmitri Vorobiev, Recordings, Variations, classical, rare & early works on Feb 20th, 2008
Posted in Chopin, Recordings, Svetlana Smolina, Waltzes, classical, piano on Feb 18th, 2008
Posted in Chopin, Etudes, Musicology, Recordings, classical, piano on Jan 29th, 2008
Why are Chopin’s Waltzes so perennially appealing to pianists? The folks at the boutique label Brana Records offer a clue: nicely: “They incorporate a range of moods from melancholy to effervescent but retain an air of sophistication suited to aristocratic…
Posted in Ballades, Chopin, Musicology, classical, piano on Dec 19th, 2007
In the previous post we discussed an all-time Chopin favorite, the Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9, No. 2. What then, is left to say about another Chopin classic - this Ballade in G minor?Plenty, it would appear. There’s an extremely technical description…Posted in Chopin, Musicology, Nocturnes, classical, piano on Dec 19th, 2007
Arthur Greene:“Today’s entry takes us into far more familiar Chopin territory. 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 a bit of a twist. There…
Posted in Arthur Greene, Chopin, Musicology, Rondos, classical, piano on Dec 14th, 2007
“By the time he was 15, Chopin had developed has piano technique considerably, and he was writing pieces that were firmly in the virtuoso tradition of the early Romantic period. Now, the general aesthetic at the time was not particularly…
Posted in Barcarolles, Chopin, Recordings, classical, piano on Dec 12th, 2007
This is one of the last pieces that Chopin played in public. The excellent notes from the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s website set the stage:When in 1846 Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) completed the Barcarolle,…
Posted in Chopin, Musicology, classical on Dec 11th, 2007
As you look through the entries and listings of Chopin’s keyboard works on these pages, you may run into this funny “KK” designation, particularly in the early recitals. It stands for the Kobylanska Katalog, and it’s assigned to works by Chopin…
Chopin 2010: Chopin in the News
This rare bit of Chopiniana was supposedly written after violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini came through Warsaw in the summer of 1829, a concert we know that Chopin attended. A month later he graduated from the Higher School of Music in…
