Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Just for those totally devoted to Chopin

Well, there are many people from Pianists Corner who venture into ABF and post here. But, yes, I agree with you Mati. I recently posted what I thought was a legit question and got torn into pieces. The post LovesChopinTooMuch linked to above was a post written in response to the thread I had started that apparently sparked a big debate.

But, anyway. Chopin and the other composers who have extremely lengthy threads in this Forum should have their own forum. I would probably participate more often in this thread if it were easier to navigate.

I appreciated the attempt to post an index at the beginning, but I realize it would be way too much of an undertaking. AND, how do you keep that up when different angles on the same topic get posted quite frequently.

As far as why not Liszt and Beethoven-well, do they have lengthy threads such as this? Maybe if a certain topics gets to be a certain length it should be created into it's own Forum. Or have a composers forum-where different topics can be posted on all the composers (though it will most likely be on Chopin).

Pardon my naivety, I just don't see why this would be so controversial.

Kathleen-in H.S. I took group piano lessons and one of the girls in the advanced class was learning a Chopin piece-"Revolutionary" and my instructor had her play the runs staccato. Actually, he suggested that for most pieces where there were fast scales. I just remembered it in the Chopin context. He also suggested playing through them in a dotted ryhtmn. slow, slow fast, or fast, fast, slow..if that makes sense.

Can anyone recommend a good high quality complete set of Chopin's music on CD?

If we are talking about complete set by one pianist, try getting Vladimir Ashkenazy's - he's the laureate of Chopin International Piano Competition, and also a well known and very good pianist. I think his Chopin is well worth its price - and it's quite a bargain.

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-The-Pi...mp;s=music&qid=1219869434&sr=8-1

Going for single CDs by different pianists is a tough subject - so many to choose from, and so many great ones!

M.

Has anyone other than Ashkenazy recorded everything by Chopin?

Oh dang, this seems like a Chopin 101 kind of question that must have come up previously. I guess I'm having a senior moment or something.

Steven

I think Idil Biret has, but I don't know if she has a complete CD set.

Artur Rubinstein also made an almost complete set of recordings. I would expect something near complete by Arrau too, but never seen it boxed.

Wow, I see I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do.

As far as I know, Idil Biret did record a complete set of Chopin. I believe there is one other person as well but can't remember.

Elene

The "complete" set that I have by Rubinstein does not include his etudes. Perhaps there is one out there, but I am not aware of it.

I do concur with Mati that Ashkenazy's is
wonderful!!

Thanks for the tip, May10April. I will give it a try.

Kathleen

I have Idil Beret's recordings from uTorrent.... It's a total of 240 songs.

Rubinstein never recorded the Etudes. It is said he wasn't technically proficient enough.

I second what MaryRose says. My set of Rubinstein's Chopin does not include Etudes either (and Ashkenazy's doesn't have orchestral pieces). He performed with Etudes - not all of them as far as I know - never recorded them though. I believe he was proficient enough to play them well. There are some single etudes unoficially recorded where he sounds proficient enough! He was a very modest man when it came to his pianistic abilities. He often thought he was not ready to master certain pieces, either technically, or musically, and he was quite stubborn to the end with this attitude.


M.

Rubinstein recorded some etudes in isolation (including the Trois Nouvelles Etudes), but never the complete set of Opp. 10 and 25.

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe he recorded any of the posthumous polonaises, either. (I don't find the very earliest ones very interesting, but I sure like the three that Fontana published as Op. 71.)

To me, the other most lamentable omissions from Rubinstein's recorded legacy are the Sonata Op. 4 and the Allegro de Concert.

Oh, I almost forgot about the concert pieces. Rubinstein made multiple recordings of the concertos over the years and at least one of the Fantasy on Polish Airs, I don't think he ever did the Op. 2 Variations or the Krakowiak.

Last but not least, the Cello Sonata. On my wish list of dream recordings that never were is a performance by Rubinstein and Piatigorsky.

Steven

I also have Idil Biret's Chopin Complete Piano Music. It's a 15 CD boxed set and like mydnyt I downloaded it. It's about 1.4GB. You can also get it from Amazon if you're averse to downloading free music

I don't know how it compares to the Ashkenazy set - for one I haven't listened to anywhere near all of it yet, I only just got it. I've heard that Biret is not as strong in the Waltzes, and having listened I'd tend to agree - she seems to interpret the tempo differently from what I'm used to hearing, or some parts at least. But still I can't complain having so much more Chopin to listen to. It was worth... um, every megabyte

Balf ♫

Yeah, it definitely was. I'd like to get my hands on other recordings too. So far, I've been watching piano performances on Youtube (not just Chopin). It's kinda hard to look for resources where I live... and that's without thinking about how much it'll cost. I'm hoping to find something good when I visit the US this coming October though.

Any suggestion of what I should look for?

Balf: Are you saying that you downloaded all that Chopin music for free?? If so, please tell me how and where.

mydnyt: Welcome: I'm sorry to say that stores where you can buy classical music are almost non-existent (at least to my knowledge). I know that Border's Book Store does have quite a nice selection of classical music, and the stores are almost everywhere in the U.S. I hope you have luck finding some Chopin; otherwise, I think the only other options are Amazon and Ebay.

Good Luck. Have a good time.

As far as Rubinstein not including the etudes in his complete "box" set and the reasons he gave, only endear him more to me. Here was a man who played the piano well into his 90's, but he knew his limits and wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to admit them. And it is rather encouraging in a way for the rest of us because there will be music that, no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to perform. For me, it is due to a lack of technique and not sufficient practice. Frustration also plays a big part. I only know that it doesn't get any easier.

At any rate, what Rubinstein does play is wonderful and a better interpreter of Chopin's music will not be found (IMO), of course.

Kathleen

Yes, the Chopin music Balf and I downloaded were for free... I think I posted a link somewhere in this thread.. .maybe in the last page...

You'll need uTorrent or a similar program since it's a torrent file.

Kathleen, just to clarify what mydnyt said. The music is available for free as in "someone put it illegally so you can grab it for free", but not as in "recording company released it for free". What to do next is just a moral issue - one will download, one will not. One will consider it a minor issue, another one will think of it as of stealing. It's grey, if you know what I mean. I just wanted it to be completely clear.

If you would like to buy Idil Biret's collection from official sources, here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Comple...mp;s=music&qid=1220020455&sr=8-1

Priced evenly with Ashkenazy's collection, along with sound samples to listen to.


Best wishes,
M.

Thank you, Mati. I do certainly appreciate your clarifying this for me. I have no need or desire to download anything that isn't public domain. Especially anything performed by a classical artist because they don't sell any where near what the pop stars of today do...and most of them have no talent at all.

It has always been one of my pet peeves that people who have given their whole lives to perfect their skill, hours and years and years, reap so little reward in comparison to these one-hit-wonders, who makes millions just because they can strum 3 chords on a guitar and scream or mumble (take your pick).

Did you ever get that DVD?

Regards,
Kathleen

Good Morning All:

I'm assuming that Frycek returned safe and sound from her trip to Stephen King land.

Just a little FWIW:

A few days ago, my husband and I were watching a really old movie called The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane (We lead such an exciting lives, don't we?) Anyhow, much to my utter surprise and delight, Chopin's Piano Concerto #1 was played almost throughout the whole movie (in the background and sometimes a bit louder). In fact, one of the characters asked the other what music she was playing on her turntable. She answered: Chopin's Concerto Number 1. "Ah yes," he replied. "Beautiful."

Now I know you could not go another day without this information.

I've been taking a small break from playing Chopin. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed with all the hard work and dedication it takes to read and play his music. My brain just closes down, and I don't seem to make much progress. Has anyone else gone through this?

But instead of leaving the piano there to gather dust, I've been playing some old standards from the days when music was music and not noise.

Some of the arrangements I have are way too sophicated for me...they're almost as difficult as playing Chopin. In fact, in many cases, Chopin's music seems much easier.

But since I wanted to be able to learn a few of them, I went back to the little theory I know and found I could delete a lot of the "fluff" and still be able to play the melody line with a few chords here and there and perhaps an arpeggio or two to bring in some interest. And now I am hooked. One song, especially, has been haunting me. It's called: The Summer Knows by Michel LeGrand from the movie "The Summer of '42."

My best,
Kathleen

That's a great idea, Kathleen- dropping back momentarily to some easier, more do-able pieces does a lot for morale and it recharges our piano batteries. You will return to Chopin refreshed and ready to take him on all over again! But in the meantime, you are working on pieces that will give you a quicker payoff. It's a good strategy.

And besides, it shows how versatile we are!

Regarding your first point: every time the movie "The Truman Show" comes on (on the movie channels), I have to watch it because the second movement of that 1st concerto is featured in much of the film (and is played in the closing credits- Rubenstein's version).