Idil Biret, the pianist on this album, began piano lessons at age three and graduated from the Paris Conservatoire with three first prizes at fifteen.
Interpretation
Chopin's conception of piano sound was based on the model of the human voice, unlike Liszt, who challenged the orchestra to reproduce its richness on the piano.
Composer Biography
Fryderyk Chopin, born in 1810 near Warsaw, had a French father, Nicolas Chopin, who worked as a tutor and later became a respected French teacher at the Warsaw Lyceum.
Compositional Technique
Chopin's characteristic piano idiom draws inspiration from contemporary Italian opera, Polish music, and his own adventurous approach to harmony and technical ability.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Chopin's musical background was severely classical, based on Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, and he found Beethoven, admired by Liszt, to be "uncouth" compared to Mozart's pupil Hummel.
Composer Biography
Chopin's early musical training included piano lessons from his mother, then with the Bohemian violinist Adalbert Zywny, and later with Jozef Elsner, director of the Warsaw Conservatory.
Compositional Technique
Chopin elevated the Polish dance form, the Polonaise, to a new level by imparting a degree of complexity and feeling not always present in earlier works.
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