IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHOPIN: a DVD Giveaway

FanFaire and Kultur have a special giveaway for music lovers whose first love is piano music, a DVD entitled “In the Footsteps of Chopin.” The DVD is most enlightening for those who wish to make a more than passing acquaintance with the composer whose piano music is as much loved today as it was in his time. A genius of the piano who is regarded as one of the finest pianists in history, he wrote music that is accessible to “everyman” because it speaks directly to the heart-225 compositions for solo piano, including his only two, but eternally famous, piano concertos. This is not to say that his works lack depth, grandeur, and subtlety. On the contrary, although they do not possess the grand structure associated with symphonies and other large orchestral works, they are without exception powerful works of intrinsic beauty, refinement, and highly nuanced magnificence.
 

One of the Romantic Period’s “Magnificent Seven” composers, Chopin was born in Poland where his virtuosic skills at the piano first came to public attention when he was nine years old, earning him the obviously biased term of endearment “our Mozart”. But it was in Paris where he settled and spent the peak years of his short life, where he died and was buried at age thirty-nine. Yet the adoptive Parisien was Polish to the core, a trait that shines through many of his works, most notably the polonnaises and the mazurkas. He never stopped thinking of his homeland, just as Poland to this day has not stopped thinking of him, as affirmed in this DVD by the proud guardians of the memorabilia enshrined in Poland’s Chopin museum. The film traces Chopin’s every movement from the day he was born to the day he was laid to rest, including his famous love affair with the novelist-aesthete George Sand (pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Dupin who introduced Chopin to the Parisian cultural elite). At the same time, it gives generous attention to Chopin’s music through the commentaries and musical interpretations of Yves Henry, pianist and foremost expert on everything Chopin.
 

Watch some excerpts from the DVD, and then consider JOINING THE GIVEAWAY. You won’t regret it. The Giveaway runs through October 20, 2024 in tandem with another DVD Giveaway: Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci starring Plácido Domingo.
 
 

https://fanfaire.com/video/chopin1.flv

 
 

https://fanfaire.com/video/chopin2.flv

 
 

https://fanfaire.com/video/chopin3.flv

 
 

https://fanfaire.com/video/chopin4.flv