It is up!

Please note, because I didn't know about turning off caching when we did the new page in October, changes (i.e. the new Mazurkas!) may not show up unless you first "clear history" or "clear cache" from the browser.

This has been corrected, but your browser may still have the old page so you may have to do this once to get things to show up the first time.

Fine, fine work by our performers!

For others who didn't make it, you needn't wait a year; you can if you like send your Mazurka in sometime this week to be posted on 1 March.

Thanks everyone!

Thanks Gerg & Mary Rose!

I trully enjoyed Mati's, Mistaya's and Chardonnay's playing. I love how mazurka can be be mystical, tragic and lively and you guys delivered them.

I'm new to classical music and got really hooked on Chopin. Can't wait to hear more next week!

I attempted to record my Polonaise over the weekend and did pretty poorly. I didn't have the stamina and couldn't concentrate =( I will redo the recording this weekend.

Greg-
Forgive me if I missed something (or if this is already in progress): but will there be a separate thread announcing the e-cital, with the website link?

My chances of getting a recording of Op. 15 No. 1 are looking pretty bleak; I haven't gotten around to ordering a Zoom H4n in time and school is pressing me on all sides. I'll see what I can do later this week, though.

Very nice new poster! and 4 very fine performances to start out the first day of this 200th Chopin birth-week.

You, my friends, are fantastic! We had a small turnout this time, but the quality of all four performances more than makes up for the lack of volume.


Ab-ster captures the deep and haunting angst of the Winter in the Op. 17 piece.

Mistaya plays with such playful and Springlike felicity.

Chardonnay plays a nostalgic Summer afternoon with her performance.

And Mati brings out the Polish flair that seemingly only a Pole can in this minor-key yet (to my ear) joyful dance, evocative of an Autumn harvest festival.


All four of you - you have done our friend proud!

I've got some more mazurkas for you - I completely missed whatever announcement went out for them - where and how do I send them in?

Hail, Schubertian! Here's the address (I don't want it to become a spam target, hence the image).

I've just recorded the Opus 51 Impromptu - and now need to figure out how to e-mail it to you by March 1st !!

Thanks for the opportunity to participate !!

Carey

Carey, the e-mail address is in the post right above yours. Congratulations on finishing your recording of a substantial piece.

Elene

This is problably a dumb question but being a newbie I did not know the answer . Where would I go to watch/listen to the e-cital on march 1st?

Ha.. ha.. Spitfire, that is pretty dumb but... who cares... I ask this kind of questions all the time . On the first page, first post, there's a link there. Enjoy.

After weeks of dedicated practice I have made significant progress but I am still not at the point where I'd feel comfortable posting a recording of op.66 in the March 1 Chopin e-cital. Is there anyone out there who has Fantaisie Impromptu in their current repertoire and can replace me in the e-cital? If not, I may simply submit the slow middle section and try again to record the whole thing in October.

Hi Gerg and everyone,

It is possible to me do the Prelude 4?

Cheers

Jazzy, you keep your FI and let's do October together. I decided to revive my larghettto too late (I'd decided against it and then changed my mind) so I'm postponing till October too.

Frycek: Sounds good. We'll shoot for October. I think that in 6 months I should be able to turn in a reasonable facsimile of the Fantastically Impossible.

My big mistake was listening to Horowitz play my larghetto.

Hi guys, as Gerg didn't reply yet I'll ask to you online: I want to participate in the e-cital, it is just a matter of "book" a piece? If so, please I chose prelude 4.

Sorry if my question is silly, but I went to the site and have read the first post but didn't figure out *exactly* the rules about it.

Thank you!

My apologies al-mahed. I'm under heavy pressure at the moment with other matters.

To answer your question: that is a beautiful prelude, but the goal with this series is to produce one amateur recording of each of the composer's works. The Prelude #4 was played in our inaugural Preludes recital, and you can hear it at the ecital website.

I do not wish, however, in any way to discourage your participation. All of the Waltzes are on the table for a future recital, and many Mazurkas remain yet unplayed.

Greg

Hi al-mahed, you have to remember that we all live in different time-zones and have different timetables to our lives. So gerg probably hasn't even had the chance to read your earlier post yet. We have been running these Chopin ecitals for a few seasons now, and it is our intention not to repeat performances of the same works until we have covered everything. Then we might well go round to the beginning again.

So, in answer to your question, I am afraid that your Prelude has already been 'taken' in a previous ecital: see here -

http://www.chopinrecital.org/5301.html

I do hope you will take part in a future Chopin ecital though. Do you, for example, play any of his Waltzes?

Mary-Rose and I typed our responses at almost exactly the same time - and said almost exactly the same thing!

So we did, gerg But my computer is so slow my response took too long.

Thank you guys, sorry if my post sounded like impatience or rude, not my intention at all!! Consider my bad english and the writing conversation limitations as a issue. I tought the same, Gerg maybe not avaiable to answer until the limit date.

Anyway, I tought the e-cital for 200 years would accept all the pieces, avoiding repeated pieces in the *same* e-cital. Now I know the rules I think I (and most people) will take years to be in any of the future e-citals since we don't have much options but the most difficult pieces to play...

Perhaps would be nice think of the possibility to make some rules flexible in order to estimulate the participation of all, which I think is the spirit of these e-citals, right?


Cheers

ps: unfortunately I don't play any of the Waltzes right now

OK, it's definitely looking like my recording ain't gonna happen. I'm so disappointed because I was looking forward to doing an ecital finally, but school coupled with some other things says no.

Horowitzian, I am so sorry, and was so looking forward to hearing you play

Too, I barely have the time to manage this e-cital because of similar pressures. IF that makes you feel any better... If it wasn't Chopin's 200th...

Al-mahed is right in that we don't have many accessible, not-totally-virtuosic pieces left for the future! Perhaps we can figure out something for later.

Elene

Thanks, gerg! It is nice to know I'm not the only one with a million things on my plate right now.

On a happier note, I will soon be hopefully starting to study composition and piano with a new teacher.

Greg-
I just sent you the link to my piece.
Apologies to all in advance for the dropped notes, missed trills, rolled chords that weren't 'quite' rolled, the land mines that detonated under my fingers, causing an explosion of notes falling in a random haphazard manner... memory lapses, etc. etc. etc.

It just wasn't going to get any better this time around!

This is a problem, really. I don't think we'll lose nothing letting several versions of the same pieces be avaiable. It is a very good thing, in fact, listening to different interpretations of the same piece.

Letting only one version is almost like one person "own" a piece as a definitive rendition.

I'm open to changing the rules just for this event.

One performer per work was not my idea, though I did agree with the merits of it. The thinking was to avoid comparisons between performers given the nerves behind this music.

Can we discuss? Other opinions?