You are all in for a treat! Elene is a wonderful singer (and too modest), and some of us have already heard previews. I can't wait either!

Black sheep, white sheep, yellow sheep, blue sheep, red sheep, neon pink sheep, whatever color that is, please join in the celebration!!!

Greg, do you have any deadlines to give us for submission? I'll probably need every nanosecond to get this done, but it would be helpful if there were deadlines stated for the 2 e-citals, thanks!

Frycek, Chopin himself sometimes played the concerti as solos, didn't he? So it can't be so wrong. Your teacher must not have known that it had been "officially" done in the past.

I suppose the composer managed to add more parts to his solo version than most of us would be able to do, but still, in principle, I can't see that playing concerto movements as solos is a bad thing. And my hat's off to anybody who can play all those runs.

Elene

Chardonnay,

Thank you for asking that.

It would be most helpful to have Mazurkas in by late Sunday evening U.S. Pacific Time. That way, we can have the Mazurkas up and running earlier on the 22nd for our European friends.

OK, I am ready to send in 4 songs: Nie ma czego trzeba, Dumka, Smutna rzeka, and Pierścień.
The first two I accompanied myself, and the others were recorded today with accompaniment by my teacher, Stephen Montoya (please acknowledge him in the program, Greg).

It's time to tell myself that it just isn't going to get any better than this any time soon... sigh... but it's sure a lot better than it was a couple of weeks ago!

Best wishes for crunch time!

Thanks,

Elene

Greg,
I just sent in my Mazurka-
Now on to the rest!

Sorry guys, I waited too late to resussitate my Op 11 larghettto which has been languishing since December. May I reserve it for October?

I had a frustrating day of attempts yesterday. Grrr...

Dang, I was looking forward to Frycek's larghetto. I guess more to look forward to in October.

Elene

You are all in for a real treat!

Frycek, I share Elene's saddness that you can't send the larghetto

Heidi, I know exactly how you feel! The good news is, after a hard, fruitless recording session you'll play it better in the next session! Chin up!

We'll all enjoy it a lot more in October.

Dear Friends --- Sorry to have to withdraw from the e-cital so close to the deadline. Unfortunately a family crisis (illness) necessitates that I be away from home and piano for a while. I had signed up to perform Prelude #17 in A-flat. I shall at least be able to listen to the e-citals online, and I am very much looking forward to doing so.

pianahman,

Thoughts and prayers for your family member Do what you have to do.

We're getting down to it. I hope we can get a few more for Monday!



Also, if anyone needs more time, or if I can be of assistance in any way, I am your servant at your service. Let's do this for a truly genius composer, our dear Fryderyk.

Mine will be in. At the last possible moment, but will be I have one usable take already, but I am trying to get a better one.

Edit: I have a better one now. I'm in!

I'm going to be a long-shot, at best (for the March 1 e-cital). I wasn't meant to play this piece. Will keep trying for the remainder of the week to get a 'respectable' recording, but if I cannot- so be it. What was I thinking?

Chardonnay, perhaps you were thinking that you were a pretty advanced piano student with a good feel for Chopin, who would benefit by stretching herself with a challenging piece.

We'll respect you one way or another!

Elene

I respect you already Chardonnay, and all of you doing this. I’ve been listening to past E-citals on E-citals Featuring the Music of Fryderyk Chopin. So beautifully done, all of them. Sorry I don’t have enough time or expertise to comment individually. Let’s just say your works got me all goose bumps.

Enjoying my hot coffee, preparing tax, listening to your Chopin’s… It’s sunny out in the middle of this hash New England winter. What a Sunday!

Mazurkathon Part II Status

Mazurkathon 22 February 2010
7/3 - Mati IN
7/4 - Mistaya IN
17/1 - Rustyfingers
17/4 - ab-ster IN
30/2 - Gabtytu
30/4 - Schubertian
33/1 - Piano&Violin
50/1 - Schubertian
56/1 - Schubertian
56/2 - Schubertian
56/3 - Secondo
59/2 - Chardonnay IN
63/1 - Secondo
67/4 - Tucsonpianist
68/3 - cscl WITHDRAWN
68/4 - Bassio


We can do better than that, my friends! It's Chopin's 200th birthday, or one of two of his 200th birthdays (!) - the only such occasion of our lifetimes. We've got a rather expensive e-commerce grade web server to host it. Do we need more time?

On a more positive note, I'm pleased to report a slightly better response for the 1 March 2010 event. In fact, I have been truly moved, almost to tears (in a very good way) by some of the recordings that you've sent in thus far.

I am SO sorry. I spent three hours doing what I thought was recording today and got home to discover that I have no recordings on my zoom. I'm heartbroken. Not that the performances were so great, but at least I would have had something.

Oh, I feel so bad for you I know, from firsthand experience, what this is like. Others know too

If you want to try again, take as much time as you need. We'll work the wording on the page in such a way that people will know your recording will be in.

Again, I truly feel for you.

Oh rustyfingers,

I feel for you too. After a marathon-length recording session, I finally did what I thought was the take, only to discover my Zoom said "Card Full."

So to you and all of us, let's keep the faith! It needn't be perfect (ha! as if!). We're all in this together. We can do it!

Oh, no! I've had experiences like that, too, where I was sure I had pressed the red button on the Zoom but it turned out that it was still blinking at the end of my best take yet and nothing had been recorded... owww. But if you've done pretty good takes so far, you will be able to do it again, and we'll be glad to listen no matter what! Sincere best wishes!

Elene

I feel like an old fisherman, telling tales about the one that got away!

Exactly that happened to me a few times.

I know I hit the button twice. I thought maybe the card was full, but it says there is 50% left. Tis a mystery. At any rate, I won't have a chance to record again until next week. So sorry to let you all down. Happy Birthday Chopin!

Rustyfingers, I didn't mean you had done something as dumb as I did! Dang! These machines have their limitations, don't they. Gerg, can the pieces that aren't making it in today, though the players did their level best, possibly get in for March 1?

Elene

Definitely!

The ones in now will be announced for tomorrow, but the rest... March 1 it is, even for Mazurkas. So, an extra week.

Great idea, Elene!

I would be a complete hypocrite to be disappointed that those who have promised to take part, are so late with their submissions. The only time I intended to play for one of these ecitals I flunked at the last minute. But, dear people, do try to get your recordings to gerg as soon as possible, even if a few hours late. He has worked so hard on this. And, above all, Chopin deserves it.

Happy birthday, Chopin!