RIP Chopin

Last week was the 165th anniversary of the death of Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849), a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano.

RIP Chopin!

 

Play the Funeral March

 

Frederic Chopin is my dad's absolute favorite composer. Someone he considers one of the greatest geniuses (in any field) to walk the face of the earth. I can't disagree. The "Revolutionary Etude" sends cold shivers down my spine.

 

Some of the great solo piano pieces in any genre ever conceived. Pure brilliance.

 

Wonderful, wonderful stuff! Amazing left hand work.

 

I was just about to say that Billy1, it's seemingly random, but if you listen properly you can see what he's doing. Amazing.

Can anyone suggest some other good compositions so I can delve further?

 

Ditto. I used to have a great DG tape by Tamas Vasary of Chopin pieces (from 'The Great Composers' magazine series). Miss that but can't find it anymore.

 

Seems like only yesterday he left us... May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

 

165 years and still receiving Birthday wishes! no that's staying power!

 

time wait for no one!

 

The YouTube 'channel' Chopin played by Vladimir Horowitz contains a treasure trove of great pieces. Just pick one at random! http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67DECFEA680809D2. Chopin was like the Beatles of his day in that nearly everything he wrote was brilliant. And thanks to my dad it's all been indelibly imprinted upon my brain.

 

This summer I was in Poland and had the pleasure of hearing a Chopin recital along with only about 2o other people at the University of Warsaw.

 

RIP. Shaking and crying.

 

Thankfully, his stuff gets reissued a lot.

 

!!!!!

 

I just heard about this. I was expecting it but it's still a shock. RIP Chopin.

 

May I suggest this performance?

 

Lovers of Chopin should check out this very special box set, released by Marston Records in 2010. The focus of this set is on pianists who play in the Romantic style, rather than the more common modern style that is used today. I think they did an incredible job on this set. As always with Marston, superbly mastered sound.

A Century of Romantic Chopin
54001-2 (4 CDs for the price of 3)
amazon link
A Century of Romantic Chopin is a four CD-compilation commemorating the Chopin bicentennial year. The set will include some 65 pianists, going back to Francis Planté and Vladimir de Pachmann who were born when Chopin was still alive. Other pianists in the set include Josef Hofmann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ferruccio Busoni, Moritz Rosenthal, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Ignaz Friedman, Alfred Cortot, Jan Smeterlin, Rosita Renard, Claudio Arrau, Guiomar Novaes, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Solomon, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil Gilels, Earl Wild, Jorge Bolet, and others. All of Chopin’s etudes will be represented, as well as a selection of preludes, mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, ballades, and scherzi, each performance conveying a personal approach to the music. Some of the recordings will already be familiar to pianophiles because of their legendary status, while many others will be delightful surprises, as they are taken from concert performances and out-of-print recordings.

 

You won't go wrong with a few of these...

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Etudes...qid=1413952920&sr=8-14&keywords=etudes+chopin

A steal at under $10 ... mid-1960's Stereo recording, nicely remastered in the late 1990's - excellent interpretation... http://www.amazon.com/Rubinstein-Co...1413953395&sr=1-1&keywords=rubinstein+waltzes

This one appears to be out-of-print and very expensive new; see if you can find it in a B+M store (say, Barnes and Noble) or get the amazon mp3 (I know, don't flame me) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004ZD5E/ref=dm_ws_ps_cdp?ie=UTF8&qid=1413953023&s=music&sr=1-3

And here's a 10-CD box for about $18 ... http://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Rubins...=1413953545&sr=1-1&keywords=rubinstein+chopin

Happy listening.

 

"Chopin Mazurkas" by Kapell is my favorite Chopin CD by a mile, love it (and one of my favorite classical records), and cheap (6 to 9 bucks on amazon). Wonderful music
There is a box set that is not expensive..for the money probably a better buy (20 bucks for 11 CDs !)


I listen to a lot of Chopin, pull out the Rubinstein box set regularly..

 

Brilliant performance...

 

I like Chopin!

 

he died again!!!!! why I am I always the last person to know these things ! now we won't get his Beatles album! shame really!