Interpreting Chopin Angela Lear * Angela Lear’s acclaimed CD series of Chopin’s works are available via her website www.angelalear.co.uk This website includes details of each recording with audio http://www.infochopin.pl/en/artykuly.php/64
Extractions: C hopin's music has always posed a challenge to pianists. His compositions have retained a universal popularity and continue to be performed in virtually all corners of the world. They have been recorded and re-recorded in their thousands, so Chopin is apparently 'well-represented' - but many interpretative, and more particularly textural, issues with respect to his music have yet to be resolved. To gain further insight into his unique musical language and stylistic practices it is essential to comprehend as far as possible his expressed intentions. Our knowledge and appreciation of this most poetic of composers is greatly enriched by the combined study of not only his original manuscripts and related material (i.e. draft scores, early editions and annotated scores), but also the many statements made by his associates, friends and pupils who knew his playing and teaching principles. In addition to the considerable amount of general correspondence, reviews and reports of his concerts are revealing, although not always laudatory! especially from avid supporters of the 'sledge-hammer school' as Chopin called them. To this list I feel it essential to include Polish folk-music, the wonderful songs and dances, and the historical development of the Polonaise, Rondo, Krakowiak and Mazur.
