Comments on: Chopin’s for Dummies

By: Jeffrey Gross

Jeffrey Gross — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 03:55:56 +0000

Brilliant stuff. People who see Chopin as writing w/ a “pen dipped in moonlight” miss the poise and classical restraint.

By: david hertzberg

david hertzberg — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:00:43 +0000

Hello, I found your website while doing some research and thought I’d share some information with you in the hope that it might of of interest to you and others reading this terrific blog. I decided recently to upload to YouTube the “Dziela Wszystkie” series of Chopin’s works (about 25 LPs) that was produced by Polskie Nagrania in 1959-1960. Artists include such Polish luminaries as Boleslaw Woytowicz, W?adys?aw K?dra, Jan Ekier, Lidia Grychto?ówna, Halina Czerny Stefanska, Henryk Sztompka and the great pedagogue Zbigniew Drzewiecki. I am sharing this information because I regard the contributions by these and other Polish artists of the early 20th century to be of great importance; additionally, I understand that these recordings cannot be found anywhere else on the internet. There are several playlists that can be reviewed; I am providing a sampling below, with links. kind regards, david hertzberg

Boleslaw Woytowicz play the complete Etudes here:

http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=F5920B7B5FBB1DEE

Henryk Sztompka, the complete Mazurkas, here:

http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=55ADC0D965C07EB7

Zbigniew Drzewiecki, a handful of nocturnes, here:

http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=762F9BDAF45F63B4

And W?adys?aw Szpilman, Tadeusz Wro?ski, and Aleksander Ciechanski performing most of the chamber music of Chopin here:

http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=A198C1B1D4DA83F4

By: Elizabeth Davidson

Elizabeth Davidson — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:15:00 +0000

Thank you for your wonderful thoughts through this blog. And thank you for the incredible playing of Bach, Ives, Chopin and Schumann last night, in Seattle. I’ve never cared for Schumann very much before, but while you were knocking my socks off with the Ives I smiled to myself and figured you’d probably make me like the Schumann waltzes. Your playing woke me up to them. I’ve never been ashamed that I liked Chopin. Since my teens I’ve listened to him and just assumed that someone else was unlucky if they didn’t hear what I heard. Glad you agree. And I cut my teeth on Bach and Stravinsky.

By: Maria Choban

Maria Choban — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:02:46 +0000

LOVE the way you write. I’ve missed reading you. Classical Music blogs have so depressed me I quit reading for awhile.

Thanks for brightening my day.

(I think Chopin is Blake smart and Turkish Diplomat savvy…..and passive aggressive as hell)

By: Teach yourself piano

Teach yourself piano — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:02:17 +0000

Chopin’s music was certainly not dumb or boring. His music might be boring to those that desire a showy and bold exposition of thought or feeling. But (to use your very accurate description of the man’s character) “Chopin’s vast refinement of thought and elegance and culture” requires a similar personality in the listener for his music to be appreciated and understood. Or, at least a listener with great powers of empathy and understanding. Those who label his music as boring haven’t the “refined and elegant” brand of thought required to understand him, IMHO.

You’ve done a great job of displaying the intimate message and even the pathos inherent in his Polonaise-Fantasie. I have always liked what the biographer Huneker said of Chopin’s music – “Chopin’s arrows are tipped in fire, but they do not travel very far.”

Cheers!

By: Peter Takács

Peter Takács — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:29:21 +0000

Dear Jeremy:

I look forward to your concert tonight in Finney Chapel with Joshua Bell.

I love reading your musings that combine a reverence for our beloved music with hilarious jabs at the comparative paltriness of modern pop culture. I also relish your use of audio and video examples to bring your points home.

I have always loved the Polonaise-fantaisie, its ambiguity and anguished search for identity–I feel this is a paean to the fate of the expatriate who is forever pining for the homeland, while knowing that there can be no return. At the risk of ruining the piece forever, I imagine the words “ma patrie!” (and, later, “oh, ma patrie!”) set to the heart-wrenching F#-G# melody in the B major section.

One small correction: in the passage introducing the solemn B major chorale, surely you mean E# and not F# as the salient pitch in the suspenseful chord awaiting resolution.

Thanks again for the stimulating essays.

Warmly,

Peter Takács (Bibbins 331)

By: contrapuntal

contrapuntal — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:13:21 +0000

Education does wonders for such people.

Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. Enough said.

By: jupiterjenkins.com » Blog Archive » wreath of gab and links

jupiterjenkins.com » Blog Archive » wreath of gab and links — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:24:35 +0000

[...] he had an entry on Chopin:[link to blog]. It was his musings that got me thinking about why I like Chopin again and playing and [...]

By: milka

milka — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:42:18 +0000

If we only had all that or even a little in
the
world of violin music .!!!!!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:42:40 +0000

The richness of expression, ‘classical’ in the sense that it is so rich that one never tires of repeated hearings over many years. As a player, I notice the supreme ‘craft’, the voicings that are exactly suited to their moments, that amplify the meaning of the moment and the context. Craft in the avoidance of literal repetition. My visual equivalent is a perfectly tailored suit of clothes.
Since my passion for Classical (of all centuries) is a fairly solitary pursuit, I would tend to not be terribly swayed by dismissals of music I find compelling.
Thanks for your insights, Jeremy, some day I’ll hear you live, I look forward to it.