Mieczysław Tomaszewski - Chopin. The Man, his Work and its Resonance

 


‘Chopin. The Man, his Work and its Resonance’ is the revised and updated English-language version of Mieczysław Tomaszewski’s multi-award-winning book ‘Chopin. Człowiek, dzieło, rezonans’ (Poznań, 1998), constituting the sum of the professor’s knowledge and reflections on Chopin-related themes. Having entered the canon of the Chopin studies literature in Poland, gradually, thanks to successive translations, the analyses of Chopin also won over readers outside Poland. The volume became fundamental and obligatory reading for all admirers of the brilliant composer. With time, its stature and multi-aspectual nature were recognized with the ennobling nickname (applied almost tenderly by those who know the professor personally) ‘the bible’.

Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina 2015

924 pages

[Translated and edited by John Comber]

Professor Mieczysław Tomaszewski is renowned in Poland among musical academic cognoscenti but as he wrote only in Polish his name is not well known (or perhaps even easily pronounceable !) outside of his own country. The book is a well organised compendium of a lifetime's writing, study and experience of Chopin's labyrinthine temperament, context, life and work. 

Simply the most musically penetrating, perceptive, philosophical, aesthetic and profound book on this composer I have ever read. Remarkable, finely designed and laid out as well as brilliantly translated. He paints the contextual Chopin world with immense learning and sensitivity. The fluidity of his writing is deeply convincing, ranging effortlessly as it does over many interconnected artistic disciplines.  

This work is absolutely indispensable to any devoted student of Chopin and any pianist who seriously engages with the manifold facets and immortal music of this complex, demanding character of world influence and significance.

 https://sklep.nifc.pl/index.php?produkt=1_128&jezyk=eng

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elisey Mysin recital - XVII International Piano Forum - Bieszczady Without Borders - Sanok, Poland

Image
Astounding musical experiences a lways happen i n Poland! Has been happening to me for as I long as I began visiting the country to work in 1992. The astonishing recital by the child prodigy  Elisey Mysin   I watched online last night prompted me to write this review immediately. It was broadcast from the International Piano Forum, a Polish musical event now in its seventeenth year. The Forum (lectures and concerts) is held in the town of Sanok (the 'capital' of the remote Bieszczady Region). I knew or know nothing about this remarkable Forum until last night.  The concert was  'In Memoriam Tatiana Shebanova',  that magnificent Russian pianist who died so tragically of leukemia in 2011 whilst at her pianistic peak. The concert was organized by her husband, the Chairman of the Piano Forum Council, Prof.  Jaros ław  Drzewiecki.    Tatiana Shebanova was one of the first pianists I heard play works by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) in concert in Poland in 1992. It was an over
Read more

73rd. International Chopin Piano Festival 3-11 August 2018, Duszniki Zdroj, Poland

Image
The Chopin Bench in Havana, Cuba The  Dworek Chopina  where the piano recitals take place Full English details of the programmes, biographies of Artists and Professors as well as Masterclasses are available using this link: http://festival.pl/wp-content/uploads/73-MFCh_2018_EN.pdf From the Reviewer's Notebook  SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 CHOPIN'S MANOR 8.00 PM Piano Recital SERGEI BABAYAN This distinguished musician and pianist requires little introduction. He has appeared at the most famous international music festivals with all the great orchestras of the world under the most renowned conductors, at the finest music venues as well as having been awarded most of the glittering prizes. For me his most outstanding claim to fame is his close relationship with the composer and pianist Daniil Trifonov as teacher, guide, philosopher and friend. I was unfortunately unable to attend this recital and recordings of it are unavailable. SATURD
Read more

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995) and his Ferraris - not only an immortal Chopinist

Image
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)   There is little need for me to introduce Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, one of the greatest pianists and musicians of all time.  I have been listening to a remarkable live recording of a concert he gave in Warsaw in 1955. His Bach/Busoni Chaconne from the Partita in D minor No.2 BWV 1004 is surely one of the greatest ever recorded.   Michelangeli's    knowledge and command of the piano as an instrument was unequaled, permitting his soul and ours to take unhindered flight. His total identification with the music, his majestic 'Olympian' and 'Apollonian' playing has often been described as 'unearthly' even to the point of bordering on the cold classicism of a perfect Athenian statue. I once heard him play Debussy and Beethoven many years ago  in the Royal Festival Hall in London, performing  on two distinct Steinway concert grand pianos, one for each composer, individually tuned and prepared by himself. His hearing w
Read more