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With Classical 101, we introduce music fans to key composers and performers, important stylistic movements, and milestone recordings in the history of classical music. Here Amazon's Ted Libbey introduces the quintessential romanticism of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), the most beloved poet of the piano.
And you can access an audio tour and essay on Chopin's works
HERE
Frederic Chopin, An Iron Will
In September 1831, at the end of an exhausting journey through war-torn Europe, a 21-year-old Polish pianist arrived in Paris. His name, Frederic Chopin, would soon become known to the entire city, and before long would be celebrated wherever music was heard, but the young man started out with little more than his talent, a few letters of recommendation, and an iron will to succeed. Indeed, for years people assumed there was some sort of cosmic connection between Chopin's determination to make a name for himself and the fact that he had been born in the village outside Warsaw of Zelazowa Wola, whose name was sometimes translated as "Iron Will." In fact, Zelazowa Wola was plain old "Ironville."
But very little in the life of Chopin was plain, especially after he settled in Paris, which by the 1830s had become the undisputed center of European culture--a hotbed of new thinking in the arts and letters and the focal point of romanticism in music. After a sensational debut at the Salle Pleyel early in 1832 (with Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, and Luigi Cherubini among those in the audience), the young Pole, a week shy of his 22nd birthday, instantly took his place as one of the most valued figures in the rich cultural life of the French capital. He would never again return to his native country, but Poland's loss would become Paris's gain.
Art Among Friends
During the 17 years that remained of his life, in spite of emotional ups and downs and recurrent illness, Chopin produced a remarkable body of compositions for the piano, works unrivalled both in their poetic feeling and sensitive exploration of the instrument's tonal capacities. Chopin's talents as a pianist were beyond emulation, and had an impact on other musicians out of all proportion to the number of concerts he gave (amazingly, in 30 years of concertizing--from the age of 9 until his death--Chopin gave only 30 public performances).
As a creator, Chopin interacted with the great artists of the day, forming particularly close friendships with Liszt and the painter Eugene Delacroix. His own art reached a new plateau in the late 1830s as a result of his involvement with the writer Aurore Dudevant, a woman six years older than he who in 1832 had taken to calling herself George Sand. Some of Chopin's greatest works emerged as a result of the emotional contentment he felt in the early days of their nine-year liaison.
The Touchstone of Pianists
Yet of all his generation (which in addition to Mendelssohn and Liszt included Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi--the whole vanguard and main army of romanticism), Chopin was, and remains, the most mysterious and ephemeral. Paradoxically, he was, and also remains, perhaps the most beloved among audiences. And his music continues to challenge and bring the best out of the world's finest pianists, many of whom have made an art of presenting Chopin recitals in concert and on record. Among them is the Argentinean fireball Martha Argerich, whose debut recording, a Chopin sampler made in 1965 shortly after she had won the Warsaw International Chopin Competition, was released for the first time just this past year. The young Russian virtuoso Evgeny Kissin is another brilliant exponent of Chopin's music, with several all-Chopin discs to his credit. And then there is the king of all Chopin interpreters, Artur Rubinstein, whose passionate temperament, combined with a natural affinity for the music of his fellow Pole, produced the most extraordinary insights.
"The Legendary 1965 Recording"
performed by Martha Argerich
More here
"Great Pianists of the 20th Century--Artur Rubinstein,
Vol. 1"
performed by Artur Rubinstein
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"Evgeny Kissin--Chopin, Vol. 1," performed by Evgeny Kissin
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Master of Improvisation
Both in what he had to say, and in the way he said it, Chopin was a uniquely expressive artist. Of all the great romantic composers, including Schumann and Liszt, it was he who had the closest affinity with the piano. Every one of his works was written either for the piano as solo instrument or for a combination that included the piano. Of the virtuoso pianists of his day, it was Chopin who also had the most improvisatory approach to performing, whether presenting his own music or the music of other composers. He never played pieces the same way twice but created them anew before each audience he faced.
It is hardly surprising that a taste for improvisation should lie at the heart of Chopin's compositional style, as well. In their fluidity and lack of symmetry, his long-breathed melodies often have an improvisatory feel; this quality can be found as well in Chopin's handling of form, which in most of his works is derived from the traditional improvisational principle of departing from set material and subsequently returning to it. Many of Chopin's compositions are in genres whose very titles underscore their improvisatory nature. Among these are the impromptus, preludes, nocturnes, and ballades.
"Chopin: Impromptus"
performed by Garrick Ohlsson
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"Chopin--24 Preludes"
performed by Evgeny Kissin
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"The Chopin Collection--The Nocturnes"
performed by Artur Rubinstein
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"Chopin: 4 Ballades"
performed by Maurizio Pollini
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Poet and Revolutionary
When Robert Schumann said of Chopin's music that in it one finds "cannons buried among flowers," he put his finger on the dual nature of his colleague's genius: that he was both a poet and a revolutionary, often within the same musical phrase. Chopin was also a patriot, and some of his finest music draws its strength from his Polish roots. The polonaises reflect the more festive spirit of Chopin's homeland, at times almost militant. The mazurkas, by contrast, are melancholy and inward, though they contain what many acknowledge to be the deepest and most prescient of all Chopin's musings.
"The Chopin Collection: Seven Polonaises"
performed by Artur Rubinstein
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"The Chopin Collection: The Mazurkas"
performed by Artur Rubinstein
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The Complete Chopin
Gotta have it all? Fortunately, we completists are in luck, thanks to the fact that 1999 marked the 150th anniversary of Chopin's death, spawning a host of significant record releases. Among them are two complete traversals of Chopin's entire oeuvre. One comes from Deutsche Grammophon, and presents a starry lineup of performers headed by Claudio Arrau, Krystian Zimerman, Martha Argerich, and Maurizio Pollini. The other, from Naxos, offered at a bargain price, features pianist Idil Biret in full workhorse mode.
"Chopin: Complete Edition"
performed by various artists
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"Chopin: Complete Piano Music"
performed by Idil Biret
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Chopin Etudes and their popular names
You can access this file at the
MUSIClassical files
URL
For Books and Compact Disc Audio of Chopin
