Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period. He wrote almost exclusively for the piano and remains one of its defining poetic voices.
Born near Warsaw and trained there, he left Poland as a young man and settled in Paris, where he earned his living mainly as a composer and teacher and gave only rare public concerts.
Nearly all his music is for solo piano. He shaped the instrumental ballade as a genre and transformed the mazurka, nocturne, polonaise, waltz, étude, prélude, impromptu, scherzo and piano sonata. Two early piano concertos are among the few works with orchestra. The writing is exacting at the keyboard yet prized for refinement, singing line and depth of feeling, drawing on Polish dance and song as much as on the classical tradition.
Frédéric Chopin is featured on the following titles
Twenty-Five (DVD)
After a break from the Chopin Op. 10 études and Godowsky studies, David Stanhope returns to some of the most fiendish piano repertoire: the Godowsky Studies on Chopin's Études, Op. 25.
Ten (DVD)
David Stanhope returns to the keyboard for some of the most technically fiendish piano repertoire: Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin’s Études, Op. 10. Written to open up new possibilities of pianism, they still astonish modern listeners.
TEN
Making a welcome return to the keyboard, David Stanhope tackles some of the most technically fiendish repertoire in the piano literature – Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin’s Études Op. 10.
David Stanhope Plays
David Stanhope is known throughout Australia as one of the few resident conductors of note. His talents are much broader: a prolific composer, especially of wind band music (see TP107), and a pianist of formidable technique.
Piano Recital
In her sixties when this disc was made, Mary Warnecke had already been a force at the keyboard before marriage and children ended her performing career, as they so often did then. She returned with an intensely personal style.
Compositions by Frédéric Chopin also appear on
Romantic Rarities
Ian Holtham is a distinguished Melbourne pianist with a long discography of Classical and Romantic repertoire, especially Chopin. On his first Tall Poppies release he turns to relatively rare works from the piano literature.
Romancing the Oboe
Oboist David Nuttall and guitarist Timothy Kain turn romantic miniatures into a warm chamber programme. Familiar favourites sit beside Brazilian sambas and Nielsen’s incidental music.