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The passing of Janusz Olejniczak (October 2nd 1952 - 20th October 2024) - One of the greatest national musical losses to Polish musical culture and the interpretation of Chopin

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The musical nation of Poland is in deep shock this morning at the unexpected death of the great Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak. His death is a profound loss to Polish culture and a visionary interpretation of Chopin. A towering musician, idiomatic Chopinist and deep human being. In 1970 he won the 6th prize in the International Chopin Competition. At 18 he was the youngest prize-winner in the competition. Garrick Ohlsson won that year, Mitsuko Uchida 2nd, Piotr Paleczny 3rd, Eugen Indjic 4th and Natalia Gavrilova 5th. An impressive line up to compete against as a teenager! An absolutely iconic Chopin interpreter with true humanity possessing all the character qualities and complex nuances of the Polish artistic personality. His name was really only really well-known among the Polish Chopin  cognoscenti who deeply understood Chopin's expressive intentions - this accessible yet mysteriously inaccessible composer. Not only the Chopin solo works for piano but also his chamber music,
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The Death of Chopin - 175th Anniversary - The great Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko played at the Church of the Holy Cross, Warsaw

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Watercolour and pencil drawing of Chopin on his death bed by Kwiatkowski. The painter was a witness to his last hours and death and drew a number of likenesses The plinth in which the heart of Fryderyk Chopin has been laid  Holy Cross Church, Warsaw The grave of Fryderyk Chopin in the  Cimetière du Père-Lachaise Paris   Today was the 175th anniversary of Chopin's death in Paris at two in the morning on 17 October 1849. This immortal work was performed at his funeral at his request. He always felt himself close to Mozart and admired his music above all excepting that of Bach. This single death took me on a journey towards the universality of this dark or light mystery. I truly loved the performance on the solo instrument last night. Kholodenko avoided imitating orchestral instruments to the advantage of this alteration of sensibility.The emotional temperature and intimacy was heightened by the presence of his mother who had travelled the fraught distance from embattled Kyiv for the
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