© AI Training forbidden - Selected Classical Music in the Poland of Chopin - Reviewer's Notebook

Do not forget the remarkable concerts given on this hallowed, romantic spot on Sunday evenings at 18.00 organised by the National Chopin Institute.  Seasonal Program is presented at the end of this post Dimitry Ablogin 18.00 on Sunday 27 April 2025 https://muzeumskierniewic.pl/o-dworku/ The embrace of the romantic landscape of Fryderyk Chopin and Poland continues to evolve. A most beautiful and moving festival has just begun the final home of  Konstancja Gładkowska  in the historic town of  Skierniewice about 90 kms from Warsaw. As we are not taking a romantic carriage ride in the manner of Madame Bovary, the motor car journey takes a little over an hour. This first recital given by Kevin Kenner was personally a deeply moving musical and personal experience for me. The association with Chopin and his illusioned adolescent love, so poignantly expressed in his letters, touched me profoundly in a manner the details of which I cannot reveal. In 1824, Konstancja...

Chopin in the Drawing Room of Prince Antoni Radziwill,  Henryk Siemieradzki 1887 The music of Chopin enters chambers of the heart and soul no other composer touches  In the horrifying  conflagration  that  approaches,   faith, spiritual nourishment and emotional consolation is of utmost  importance   The music of  Chopin  has become once again  profoundly   meaningful  for  humanity   (Michael Moran) The XVI International Fryderyk Chopin Competition Warsaw, October 2010 http://www.michael-moran.com/2010/10/the-xvi-international-fryderyk-chopin.html XVII International Fryderyk Chopin Competition Warsaw, October 2015 http://www.michael-moran.com/2015/10/17th-international-fryderyk-chopin.html XVIII International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Preliminary Round Warsaw, 12-23 July 2021 http://www.michael-moran.com/2021/07/xviii-international-fryderyk-chopin.html XVIII International Fryderyk Chopin Competiti...

  Through the Looking-Glass, Alice Pushes Through the Mirror John Tenniel (1820 - 1914)  [Science Photo Library C043/5261] In this present state of the intense alternative reality of current political and geopolitical events, I am speechless. I do not wish my redundant voice added here to 'expert' journalistic 'talking heads' or political defense by devoted acolytes.  Alice manages to describe the situation I find myself in with an allegorical fluency second to none. The Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying “Faster! Faster!” but Alice felt she  could not  go faster, though she had not breath left to say so. 'The most curious part of the thing was, that the trees and the other things round them never changed their places at all: however fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything. “I wonder if all the things move along with us?” thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her tho...

Rather than review in detail this profound, sublime, beautifully recorded and designed CD, I refer you to my review below of his otherworldly recital of the Brahms Intermezzi in Warsaw some eighteen months ago during the Chopin and His Europe Festival . It possesses the same deeply moving depths of emotion which I would not wish to belabour but only encourage you to listen and travel within the unseen worlds of Brahms music. There are informative and clearly deeply felt observations in the accompanying notes by the National Polish Radio 2 presenter and musicologist Marcin Majchrowski. They elucidate in maturity the summation and reflections on life in the face of mortality, Brahms leading us  finally  to, yes, resignation.  NIFCCD 154  https://sklep.nifc.pl/pl/produkt/77556-alexei-lubimov-brahms Seven Fantasies op. 116 (1892) Capriccio. Presto energico Johannes Brahms Seven Fantasies Op. 116 (1892) Intermezzo. Andante Johannes Brahms ...

The exuberance of a liberated Paris in 1945 by Robert Doisneau Click on photographs to enlarge The biography of my remarkable great uncle the concert pianist is entitled  The Pocket Paderewski : The Beguiling Life of the Australian Concert Pianist Edward Cahill and  has been published now for some years (Melbourne 2016). I gathered much additional information of the period whilst writing it and I feel the material  is of great interest. Some of the text below is quoted directly from the book although not the illustrations. What an extraordinary life his was ! http://www.michael-moran.com/2025/02/edward-cahill-in-recital-at-somerset.html https://scholarly.info/book/the-pocket-paderewski-the-beguiling-life-of-the-australian-concert-pianist-edward-cahill/ This entertaining book is readily available world-wide on Amazon in all European countries and the US *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * For at least two weeks I to...