© Protected - Selected Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - Reviewer's Notebook

May 1st 2025 - 21st Anniversary of the miracle of Polish Accession to the EU as a sovereign nation During the first half of 2025, Poland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union May 1st, May Day, is a State Holiday in Poland also Polish Constitution Day State Holiday May 3rd If you are fortunate enough to be living in Australia, love the music of Fryderyk Chopin and wish to hear an outstandingly brilliant pianist and musician, make strenuous efforts to attend this remarkable recital   https://www.friendsofchopin.org.au/rafael-luszczewski-in-recital I have heard  Rafal Luszczewski   give many exceptional and well-received recitals in Warsaw, surely the informed critical home of many of today's greatest Chopin interpretations. The prodigious International Chopin Piano Competition will be launched once again later this year in Warsaw. The Preliminaries are already in progress. Luszczewski  is also to be commended on his many musical a...

  Ignacy Jan Paderewski (6 November 1860 – 29 June 1941) starring in the innocent and lyrical film Moonlight Sonata (1936) The 9th International Paderewski Piano Competition, Bydgoszcz, Poland 3-17 November 2013 http://www.michael-moran.com/2013/10/ix-international-paderewski-piano.html The 10th International Paderewski Piano Competition, Bydgoszcz, Poland  6-20 November 2016 https://michael-moran.org/blog/ The 11th International Paderewski Piano Competition Bydgoszcz, Poland 10-24 November 2019 https://michael-moran.org/2019/10/23/the-11th-international-paderewski-piano-competition-10-24-xi-2019/ The 12th International Paderewski Piano Competition Bydgoszcz, Poland   November 6th – 20th, 2022 http://www.michael-moran.com/2022/11/the-12th-international-paderewski-piano.html    

As is always the case with this pianist, I am overcome with superlatives. He is one of the great period piano specialists but also has a commanding keyboard technique and deep musical insight that convinces completely on the modern instrument. This individualistic and highly talented young Russian pianist has studied extensively in Moscow and Frankfurt specializing in the  fortepiano  (as the period instrument is called in England). He has taken part successfully in many piano competitions and festivals throughout the world. He was awarded an Honourable Mention in the  1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. 2–14 September 2018.   I felt he should have been placed far higher.  His full biography is here:  https://www.ablogin.de/biography    Much has changed and many prestigious awards since last I wrote about him. He performed this evening on a  modern instrument. At the time I first heard him, I wrote of hi...

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...