© AI Training forbidden - Selected Reviews of Chopin performances and Other Matters in Poland

FROM LVIV TO PARIS Piano Works of Karol Mikuli  (1821-1897) Weronika Chodakowska (piano) The psychological and creative complexities of living in the shadow of a renowned genius must be manifold. There are many examples of fine pianist-composers who studied or worked with an immortal musical creative genius and fully recognized with a sense of inadequacy the immense qualities of their work. They clearly felt a selfless respect towards their master, even a sacred devotion to the preservation of his work.   However, I am plagued by the question of the degree such acolytes experience a conscious or subconscious conflict or threat to their own creativity and musical self-esteem. Are they tempted into invidious comparisons during their own creative impulses, evolve competitive or derivative stylistic utterances or desperately attempt to escape an inescapable musical influence, even considering the undoubted quality of their own musical invention ? This speculation arises strongly i...

National Chopin Conference Warsaw December 2025   'Through the Prism of Chopin: Women, Music, and Social Change in the Long Nineteenth Century'  Paper delivered by Dylan Henderson PhD  ‘A fragrance of the freshest flowers’: Chopin, Pleyel and the soprani sfogati Bouquet Of Violets (1 872)   Edouard Manet  This was a particularly important, finely written and absolutely original paper as it involved the sound of Pleyel pianos and the relationship with the voice. As is well known, Chopin was deeply concerned with opera, singing and the voice in his teaching and compositions. His favourite flowers were violets.  This was an intensely interesting conference in total, but I have decided to post  in its entirety  this transcription of my colleague Dr.Henderson. It is a unique and exceptional paper. ‘A FRAGRANCE OF THE FRESHEST FLOWERS’  CHOPIN, PLEYEL AND THE SOPRANI SFOGATI DYLAN HENDERSON In the literature published duri...