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But you know Barry stole a Chopin Prelude to use in "Could it be Magic?" so you might have to exempt that one (or at least the intro!)

sophia

Yes, I do know the piece, Sophia. And contrary to what many people think, I do like what he did with it. And on the sheet music, he does state that it is based on a Chopin Prelude, #20. So he does give credit to our hero.

My husand and I saw him in person several years ago, and we were just astounded at what a good show he puts on. We've seen some of the best performs (mostly in Vegas), Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, etc. They were great, naturally, but Barry wasn't too far behind. Many people think his music pretty corny, but when I hear what it put out today as music, I shudder.

Anyhow, to each his own.

Continuing on our step program, I think I would have to include "elevator music" next. Do they still play music in elevators?

They used to call it "Muzak." And sometimes I hear it on the phone when someone puts me on hold. It all I can do but to hang up.

Oh,...next, Lawrence Welk (I know I am going to get a response from this one.)

Regards,
Kathleen

I remember as a youngster fully engrossed in the music of Chopin I tended to ignore popular music. The brain just filtered it out as noise. My older brother, a teenager at the time, played his rock music on his stereo, and this one Manilow piece definitely caught my attention! Yes, Barry did a nice job with it.

(blushes with the confession) Yes, I did like that song, even before I knew the Intro was based on a Chopin Prelude! Imagine my surprise when I heard the prelude for the first time
I think it's a really nice tribute to Chopin, when a new song is created from one of his pieces.

Manilow's first 2 big hits, as I recall, were "Mandy" and then this song, "Could it be Magic" and I admit that I liked them both! Still do, in fact...
It seemed to be after that time that most of his music descended, if you will, into the syrupy-sweetness that got on my nerves. But even still, there's probably a song of his here and there that I hate to admit I like. And I have heard/read that he's a fantastic performer, and that even if you think you don't care much for his music, you will totally love his shows.

(sheepishly) So there you have it- I don't totally dislike his music after all!

Everybody! I just had a french extra credit project on a French artist. I begged and pleaded with my teacher trying to prove that a composer is an artist. I finally did. The project assignment was to find 3 paintings by your artist. I chose three works of none other than Chopin (the reason i'm posting in this thread ) . Chopin was French (kinda...sorta....SHHHhhhhh! )

I chose his Op. 28 preludes, the Op. 10 etudes and the ballade in g minor as the three works of the artist.

THANK YOU CHOPIN FOR HELPING MY FRENCH GRADE!

J'aime Chopin!

Well, Chopin died 158 years ago today without even reaching the age of forty. In Warsaw, at the Church of the Holy Cross, they hold a comemmoration service each year with a performance of Mozart's Requiem, as chosen by Chopin for his own funeral.

The setting is very attractive:



Greetings to all Chopin lovers on this special day.

Well, once that recital gets formally announced, we'll be able to honor the great master. Can't wait until the next Chopin recitals, I'm glad to participate.

Debussy20: How wonderful! You have such good taste, and I KNOW your project will stand out from all the rest. How your teacher could not think of a composer as an "artist," is beyond me. He/She needs to broaden his/her mind a bit. And, how clever of you to chose (as paintings....or works of art) the wonderful compositions of Chopin that you did. We will "forgive" you for saying that Chopin was French, so...we have to admit that he was...1/2! Anyhow, do let us know how your project was accepted by your teacher. I was a teacher for 30 years and I would give you an A++!

Ramona: That photo took my breath away. How many composers are given such a commemeration after so many years. Maybe Beethoven, but that's probaby it. He is as much loved and appreciated today (more I would imagine) than he was when he was alive. Thank you for the photo. I am printing it out to add to my Chopin wall.

Playadom: I finally got my prelude to upload. So when Greg wakes up and checks the forum, he will see a message from me and then I believe that the web site will be almost complete (exception Hershey...to be added tonight).

Many, many thanks to Greg for all the hours he's put in to this site. I believe he has honored Chopin with loving effort.

I'm happy that you are looking forward to more recitals. You play so beautifully!

In honor of our hero....today and always, we are so indebted to your genius. Your music has so enriched our lives in ways that words cannot convey. We can do little to thank you now, but we hope this recital page will help keep your music alive and bring joy to all who hear it.

With boundless affection,
Kathleen

Debussy20: That is a very nice story. I think you got the highest grades!!


confession: The first time Nocturne No.19 caught my attention was in a TV channel commercial. I went: "where did I hear this tune before?".

All, for our beloved Frycek, b. 22 February 1810, d. 17 October 1849:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/32/5150.html#000000

Greg:

We can never express our gratitude for all you've done. Please know how deeply we appreciate you.

Kathleen

The prelude recital was an amazing success. How proud we should be of ourselves and of each other.

That said...the Mazurka Marathon awaits in the wings for March 1, 2008, which will be Chopin 198th birhtday. There are over 60 of these gems, and they are (in many cases) easier than the preludes. Plus they are fun to play.

So, please refer to the Marathon thread on the forum and go to the first page. Here you will find the ones that have already been chosen. If you can, please listen to as many as possible. I KNOW you will find one that is perfect for you.

I'm still walking on air, so to speak. Just bowled over by how amazing all of you are.

Fondly,
Kathleen

It was such a success there is considerable longing for the Mazurka event as well as an Etudes event a year from now.

Question: is it okay with you if we have a couple of recitals on the same day, next Oct. 17?

The Mazurka Marathon is your baby - though with chopinrecital.org we have loads of space and a venue for these future recitals! (And don't worry, I'll help you with that part of it.) We'll just create a separate page for each one, with a top-level page: "The Preludes"; "The Mazurkas - group #1"; "The Etudes".

It would be good to leverage some more of that amazing creative artistic talent used to create the Preludes page (paging MaryRose!) and assume community ownership of chopinrecital.org.

Hi Greg:

I just posted my concerns about an etude recital on the "Online" thread. But now that I have read your post here, I don't see what we can't have the etudes along with the mazurka...next October. The reason why this date is an excellent one (other than the fact that it might take some a year to learn their etude) is that there may not be that many mazurkas being played on that date because so many are being chosen for the first and second. (Boy, this is confusing.)

And you do NOT have to ask my permission, for I certainly do not consider myself the "owner/boss" of the recitals. So whatever you (the etude people) want to do is certainly fine. All I ask is that you give some consideration to not "oversaturating" the whole recital thing. This probably is not a valid concern...I don't know.

Anyhow, I will glady "hand over" the reins on the etude recital to you (or anyone else...but I think you have the experience and knowledge), and I will glady continue to keep track of who is playing what for the Mazurka Marathon. Then when the time comes (and as you have so generously volunteered) I will come to you to get the mazurkas on-line on the recital web site.

Does all of this make sense? I'm a bit dizzy.

My best to you to figure this all out.
Kathleen

I'd also like to ask that we keep Etudes and Mazurkas outside the Prelude recital threads.

Hey all - so sorry I am late...or am I???? My engineer here in Phoenix set up the system where i can publicly record op. 45 and then send someone a wave file.

Things have been somewhat whacko in a good way. Rehearsing lots of Beethoven during the day, Chopin and Gershwin at night.

Have I missed the boat on everything??? I hope not.

Anyway - hope all are well... and then, every now and then, there is a critic who actually reports EXACTLY what I am up to, and so it was with the Arizona Republic review (the main Arizona newspaper for the state...) :

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/arts/articles/1016gershwin.html

Someone let me know if I've just totally screwed everything up with this prelude business....

Hersh

Hershey -- probably a dozen people are sending you PMs now, but in case they're not, whenever your file is ready go ahead and send it to gerg using the following directions:

Send links to your submissions to "gerg",
or to greg AT hedgersoftware DOT com (replace AT and DOT with appropriate symbols, and be sure you spell "gerg" backwards. Use the topic "Preludes Recital" so I know who you are are). This will be handled similarly to the Adult Beginners Recital, with the following exceptions: There is no real need for a form. Just make a note if you'd like a different name such as your real name used instead of your screen name. Also, since the program is predetermined beforehand (it's the "Chopin Preludes Recital") all of the pieces will be posted by October 17 as a single block in the Chopin Preludes Recital thread, to be started that day.

The other preludes are all already posted here:

www.chopinrecital.org

and there has been much discussion elsewhere.

We've all been looking forward to hearing you!

Whenever you get around to it, Hershey, there is space in the recital for your Op. 45. We know you're really busy. You bring the star-power name to the event. This gives us an excuse the bump the Preludes again!!!

BTW I have to correct PianoAgain. The url is chopinrecital.org, no "www" at the beginning. The "www" version sort of works, but will not load the picture. DNS madness I suppose. Use chopinrecital.org for best results. I had to discover the same thing after I had posted the announcement on Wednesday.

And interestingly enough, I said that and now the "www" version seems to work as well... Wierd.

Greg

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas to my request for Chopin favorites for the announcements at my school on Wednesday. In addition to scrolling announcements with music behind them (I used the Waltz, by the way, as I couldn't find my copy of the Fantasie-Impromptu), I interspersed Chopin trivia questions and answers throughout the announcements about Homecoming, football, clubs, etc. I even put a footnote on the date making sure people understood this was the anniversary of Chopin's death, hence the Chopin focus of the trivia and music. I think I'll do it again on his birthday. I'm sure people were scratching their head at all the hoopla over one composer, but it was fun to make a big deal of it.

Nancy

Hi Nancy:

I am writing this with a big . We need more teachers like you!

My best,
Kathleen