Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - From the Reviewer's Notebook

Covering the competition was a difficult task that grew uncontrollably like a Triffid but it was worth ordering my ideas on what I was hearing day after day. Writing all this material forced me to think after each day's miracles rather than collapse with a scotch on the sofa at home in an envious blue funk. Please read my concluding remarks at the end of the competition posting (to do with the results and especially Trifonov) and also my reservations about the competition itself which appear at the very beginning of the post.  I tried to be fair to everyone – no pianist in this competition could possibly be 100% bad – I tried to give a balanced and just view of as many artists as I could - positive and negative characteristics. It was not intended as a technical musicological commentary or analysis of a 'faithful' or 'unfaithful' performance according to Chopin's score and the National Edition. These were simply general personal impressions of pianists no