– The Warsaw Omni Face – Interview with Chopin Institute’s Aleksander Laskowski A very familiar face before and during the 18th International Chopin Competition is the one belonging to Aleksander Laskowski. Frequent in official matters, televised transmissions and in social media, the dynamic Chopin Institute’s press spokesman represents forces bringing the competition into the future. He also displays a brilliant […]

Hubert Rutkowski’s new CD is a portrait not only of Chopin, but of the composer’s favourite instrument: Rutkowski plays a Pleyel piano from 1847. In his search for a genuine Chopin/Pleyel sound he has also turned to historical recordings of Raul Koczalski and Moritz Rosenthal, students of Karol Mikuli, who was in turn a student of Chopin himself. Songful and […]

Chopin revolutionised the nature of piano music composed both technically and emotionally but the actual musical instrument that provided his greatest source of inspiration was the female voice. Other important parts of Chopin’s inspiration came from the women in his life. For 10 years, George Sand exerted her powerful influence on him, and he also gleaned much from listening to […]

“… one of the few musicians in the world today who could accurately be described as legendary.” — The Times Daniel Barenboim marked his new affiliation with Decca and Deutsche Grammophon labels in 2010 with four releases. Two releases on DG were devoted to Chopin: a solo recital recorded in Warsaw, with Waltzes, a Polonaise, a Fantasia, a Nocturne and […]

Why did we have had to wait over fifty years for this unique recording? Maurizio Pollini withheld his permission for his first complete recording of the Chopin Etudes Opp. 10 & 25 to be released. While the legendary DG recording from the 1970s has long been acknowledged as one of the finest versions of the Chopin Etudes, the previously unissued […]

Chandos Records is presently recording the complete Chopin with Louis Lortie, the complete Brahms with Barry Douglas and the complete Haydn and Beethoven sonatas with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. From these ambitious projects we recommend two recent albums which gained critical acclaim. Louis Lortie plays Chopin NEW! Click the album cover to listen to the complete album: (This is a new feature […]

In Performance at the White House has been produced since 1978 and the music series spans every administration since President Carter’s. The series began with Horowitz in the East Room and this legendary recital. Since then, In Performance at the White House has embraced virtually every genre of American performance: pop, country, gospel, jazz, blues, theatre and dance among them. […]

Dinu Lipatti gave his final recital, which was recorded, on 16 September 1950 in Besançon, France. Despite severe illness, he gave unmatched performances of Bach’s Partita in B flat major, Mozart’s A minor Sonata, Schubert’s G flat major and E flat major Impromptus, and thirteen of Chopin’s 14 Waltzes. He excluded No. 2, which he was too exhausted to play; […]

At University of California, Berkely, The Townsend Center’s Forum on the Humanities and the Public World presents eminent artists, political leaders, writers, and scholars, each representing a unique discipline, viewpoint, and medium. The series brings the humanities into dialogue with the critical issues at play in the public sphere. The Townsend Center at UC Berkeley has a long and distinguished […]

Chopin’s music has always posed a challenge to pianists. His compositions have retained a universal popularity and continue to be performed in virtually all corners of the world. They have been recorded and re-recorded in their thousands, so Chopin is apparently ‘well-represented’ – but many interpretative issues with respect to his music have yet to be addressed. To gain further […]

Contrary to their name, the four scherzos are not light-hearted compositions, and the first three, in particular the Scherzo in B minor, have very strong dramatic accents. The first and last make the most of the ternary form, with extreme contrasts between the outer sections, full of restless motion, and the melodious middle episodes. The second and third scherzos shows […]

Ingolf Wunder is an exclusive artist of the label Deutsche Grammophon since February this year. June 17, 2011 will see the release of his first CD on the label with works by Chopin for solo piano. Wunder’s debut CD with Chopin and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit was released in 2006 (ORF). He is prizewinner of numerous piano competitions; most […]