?It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you," the Polish-French composer Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) once wrote.
No other great composer concentrated so exclusively on one instrument as Chopin did on the piano.
Holding a special place in the Romantic period, Chopin poured out a steady stream of wonderfully inspired music -- passionate, stormy, happy, sad, dreamily reflective, and rich in melody.
His music has deeply influenced generations of musicians in the world. Up to the present day, all outstanding pianists have his pieces in their repertoires and interpreters of Chopin can be found on all continents.
An obvious example is at the International Chopin Piano Competition in the Polish capital Warsaw. The event started in 1927 and the prizewinners have included talented pianists from all over the world, including Chinese pianist Fu Cong in 1955 and Li Yundi in 2000.
The Chinese Musicians' Association and Warsaw's Frederic Chopin Museum and Frederic Chopin Foundation will jointly present a Chopin Music Week in Beijing to bring the great musician closer to more Chinese people.
From November 26 to 30, five concerts, an exhibition of Chopin souvenirs, a film based on Chopin's life, lectures about the musician, and music and master classes will provide those interested in Chopin with overall knowledge about him.
Wang Cizhao, president of the Central Conservatory of Music and vice-chairman of the Chinese Musicians' Association, said: "Stamped with the spirit of the times, Chopin's music inspires people with its lyrical tone and boundless imagination, which is the soul of romantic art. His noble spirit and the music that interpret that spirit will never die out and will encourage young musicians of all times to score new works for new times."
Wu Zuqiang, chairman of the Chinese Musicians' Association, said: "Chopin's scores for piano are musical gems."
The opening ceremony of Chopin Music Week will be held at the China Central Conservatory of Music on Tuesday morning, followed by a free opening concert.
Then the four most renowned Polish pianists from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw will give concerts at the Forbidden City Concert Hall from Wednesday to Saturday.
On Wednesday, Piotr Paleczny will play Chopin's "Piano Concerto in E Minor" with the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Marek Pijarowski.
Paleczny is a winner of international piano competitions, a soloist with internationally renowned orchestras, a concert master in famous concert halls and a renowned piano teacher. He has recorded numerous albums for various record companies.
Pijarowski, the 51-year-old conductor, has conducted all the Polish philharmonic and radio orchestras as well as other world-renowned orchestras for nearly 30 years.
The music week's following three recital concerts will star pianists Kazimierz Gierzod, Karol Radziwonowicz and Lidia Grychtolowna, all graduates from and now teachers at the prestigious Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.
Ever since he won first prize at the Festival of Young Musicians in Gdansk in 1964, Gierzod has performed continually in Poland and abroad.
He leads his own piano class and has trained many pianists from Poland, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Spain, Japan, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
Radziwonowicz graduated from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in 1982 and has performed widely in Europe, South and Central America, Australia, Canada Japan and the United States.
With this ensemble, he recorded Chopin's compositions in 1988 using entirely original arrangements for a chamber music ensemble.
Grychtolowna started studying piano at the age of three and made her first public concert two years later.
A prizewinner of international piano competitions in Warsaw (5th Chopin competition, 1955), Berlin (1956), Bolzano in Italy (1958) and Rio de Janeiro (1959), she has given many concerts in almost all the countries of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.
For the exhibition, the Frederic Chopin Museum will provide more than 60 photos, some of the composer's letters to his friends, other personal mementoes and the manuscripts of scores such as "Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in G Minor, Op. 8." On some of the score manuscripts, Chopin himself wrote notes for the playing method.
In the mornings during the music week, the China Central Conservatory of Music will host lectures on the musician's life and work by Hanna Wroblewska Strauss, director of the Frederic Chopin Museum; Sofia Helman, professor at the University of Warsaw; and Antoni Grudzinski, member of the board of directors of the Frederic Chopin Foundation
A film will be shown on Tuesday evening at the China Film Archives. On Friday morning, Kazimierz Gierzod will give a master class at the conservatory.
(China Daily November 22, 2002)
