Wow! from me too.

(BTW anybody "seen" Lisztaddict around lately?)

Not so much. He never misses my music related posts on Facebook though!

Woohoo from me as well!

I hope it's OK to say-- I exchanged a couple of brief notes with LA, and he was at that point getting along well with the competition and enjoying the local food.

Waiting with bated breath to see how our folks end up (and they're all winners as far as I'm concerned having accomplished all this).

Elene

AMAZING!!! I just love the c.19th pianos- the sound is so much better- particuarly in the bass notes. I cannot define it, being a beginner I haven't the terminology but my ears and soul recognise some special quality in those bass notes. I have a CD of Sam Haywood playing another of Chopin's Pleyels- it is wonderful!
I think Pleyels are the most amazing pianos.Those bass notes wow wow wow!

Thanks very much for the upload Elene- I am always looking to listen to antique pianos.

So you have a harpsichord then?




I shall be visiting this shortly! Would you like Sam Haywood's website url? You can listen to excerpts.

I didn't either... It is probably better to buy the single volumes separately though. Apparently their editions are the best. I think some of you have the Mazurkas?

LisztAddict had a great competition and made the finals, in which he played:

Polonaise #4 (C minor)
Scherzo #1 (B minor)
Ballade #2 (F major)

Our members Hakki, Jibbers, and Fuzzy8balls made the finals also, and I just missed -- would you believe, they actually have an award for being the one who just missed!
Great week for PW!

Ya'll have done us proud!

That's great!

Etude op 10 no 3 on a Regina music box. Very sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCXZaLZe7m4

Frycek and I have just returned from another visit to Valldemossa. It was wonderful to sit on the terrace of Chopin's 'cell' (really a pleasant and spacious room) and see the view he must have seen, albeit amidst more sunshine. Imagine our surprise when we came upon these huge figures down another corridor in the monastery (bear in mind the ceilings are about twenty feet high):

Wow!

Literally "larger than life figures." I wonder if they put the dark circles around George's eyes because she's supposed to have been up all night watching over Fryderyk while he was ill? Can't think of any other reason! It seems to me that they would have been better up either dressing real people up as our friends, or just leaving it to visitors' imaginations what they looked like as they wandered the halls.

Elene

Very exciting! I think more and more that I really look like Fred; at any rate I could definitely be his sister.

I'm sure most of you Chopin fans have seen this Chopin movie, but if you didn't, its very good...

It's on Netflix too...

http://www.chopindesireforlove.com/

It is quite good. I saw it on you tube.

I'm sorry, but "Desire for Love" is a travesty. Its only redeeming feature is beautiful scenery and costuming. If Chopin were alive, he could sue for libel and win; it makes him appear absolutely disgusting-- whiny, self-centered, not caring at all about others-- nothing like his true character. Actually, both he and Mme Sand are portrayed as so unappealing it's amazing that anyone would ever spend more than five minutes with either of them. My stomach churned through the whole thing. Please do not believe what you see in this ridiculous film!

What I particularly fail to understand about that movie is that if the creators hated the people they were portraying so much, saw them as such sorry excuses for human beings, why bother making a film about them? The only thing I could figure was that the Polish film team was trying to take the National Hero down a couple of pegs. Yet, they also added those sappy scenes about how he missed his mother and that sort of thing, and showed how his heart was reverently carried back to Poland by his sister-- the stock images of Polish Chopin worship. Why would such a worthless person be so revered?

Seriously.

Elene

I suspect that the giant figures of Fred and George MaryRose and I saw at Valldemossa are similar in nature to the giant processional figures of saints used in festivals, and were probably used in the celebration of Chopin's bicentennary. No one seemed to have any information.

Chopin Desire of Love: The most terrible film never seen... F, Chopin's constitution is like Chuck Norris, all pianos played are from 1880-1910!!! Terrible film... If you want to see a better Chopin film check for La Note Bleue 1991 , ofcourse not a very good movie but much better than this Disaster of love.

Terrible or not, y'all have gotten me curious to definitely see that thing.

Mary-Rose: Good job getting the thread hopping again!

Chopin and Sand as giant figures of saints in a procession... oh, my... and when they were there they didn't even go to church!

Elene

(Lluis, you're restoring an 1855 Pleyel? WOW!)

Our Friend's death day has just passed.

Probably both Desire for Love and La Note Bleue set him to spinning in his grave when they came out. If you can find a copy of La Note Bleue, though, and one that plays in your country and on your equipment (it's in a European format, and I only saw it because our Frycek generously lent me her copy), you will get to see and hear Janusz Olejniczak playing that 1831 Pleyel throughout. Although he doesn't look much like Chopin, he is credible in the role, both because of his ability to actually play every one of those notes and because of his slight, Chopinesque body type.

Olejniczak had not done any acting before, but he managed a more than reasonable performance, and in French besides, despite a completely unreasonable script. The film is in French without subtitles, and that certainly didn't help my comprehension, but I don't think it would have made a lot more sense to me in English. Populated by marionettes and mythical beings, it is fanciful to say the least.

It may be worth your while to check out just to see Sophie Marceau, as Solange, in a pair of exceedingly well-fitted pants. Marie-France Pisier, as Mme Sand, was also lovely.

Elene

If for no other reason, I've got to see it to find out if that's serious or suggestive.
Especially because I'm figuring the latter.

Solange, in the midst of an emotional crisis over her rivalry with her mom, tries on one of George's old suits, which by an astonishing coincidence fits her as if she has been poured into it molecule by molecule. Proving that there's nothing like perfectly crafted menswear to flatter the female form. Especially if the female has a form like that one.

Elene

I've been away from PW for some time but just realised that Kathleen, the inspirational founder of this wonderful thread, has not posted since March this year. Anyone know how she is?

...anyone?

...welcome back?

Well yes, thank you chopin_r_us!

I returned to the UK last year after living in Germany for eight years. Unfortunately I had to leave my beloved Yamaha C2M behind (sold) due to not having enough space in the new place

Horrors! What are you going to do??? Keyboard?? You can't go pianoless.

Oh Cruiser: How I missed that little dog and you, of course.

I'm still around, getting older by the day but sadly, no wiser and no better at playing the piano. Maybe if I would practice a little.

That movie Desire for Love is an abomination. And to think all Poles had a part in creating it. It would be like a group of Americans making a film about A. Lincoln that portrayed him as, well, everything that Elene said. I was actually sickened by it.

Congrats to everyone who took part in the Chopin competition. We are all very proud of you.

So happy that Frycek and MaryRose visited Valldemossa. What an experience that had to be. Maybe those "black eyes" on the Sand statue was someone finally giving her what she deserved. (Just kidding?)

My best to everyone,
Kathleen

Kathleen, please, please, please stick around.