If you are a pianist, or love piano music, then if you aren't already aware of this, the Chopin Institute has (incredibly generously) put up stunning videos of all the performances of this year's competition (which finished just over a month ago).
Over 180 competitors whittled down to 10 finalists. There are moments of real beauty in some of the performances, including from some of those who didn't make it to the finals.
Being a very keen amateur pianist, I thought I knew the Chopin repertoire pretty well, but in this competition you hear pieces that aren't played very often (including the middle Impromptus, the Bolero, Rondos, and some of less popular Mazurkas) and discover (thanks to the vast amount of preparation that some of these young performers have put in [competition is very 5 years, and this year's was open to pianists aged between 15 and 30]) why they make sense and are worth playing.
Several times as I've been working and listening (over the last 2-3 weeks) to these competition videos in the background, I've had to stop what I'm doing just to listen to a single bar, because of magic that the performer pulled out of a hat, even for a piece that I had heard many times before.
In particular, listening to this competition has made me want to pick up and study several Etudes and Mazurkas. Chopin was a genius, but it sometimes takes performers who have spent years preparing for this (probably one of top 3 piano competitions in the world) to make some of the lesser works come to life (and then you think - so that's why Chopin wrote that piece, and why have I failed to love it until now?).
There are also very interesting interviews with jury members and performers.
Here are a few links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgrm8dNA-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3I1tEMT81c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uu6yYw2Heg
Over 180 competitors whittled down to 10 finalists. There are moments of real beauty in some of the performances, including from some of those who didn't make it to the finals.
Being a very keen amateur pianist, I thought I knew the Chopin repertoire pretty well, but in this competition you hear pieces that aren't played very often (including the middle Impromptus, the Bolero, Rondos, and some of less popular Mazurkas) and discover (thanks to the vast amount of preparation that some of these young performers have put in [competition is very 5 years, and this year's was open to pianists aged between 15 and 30]) why they make sense and are worth playing.
Several times as I've been working and listening (over the last 2-3 weeks) to these competition videos in the background, I've had to stop what I'm doing just to listen to a single bar, because of magic that the performer pulled out of a hat, even for a piece that I had heard many times before.
In particular, listening to this competition has made me want to pick up and study several Etudes and Mazurkas. Chopin was a genius, but it sometimes takes performers who have spent years preparing for this (probably one of top 3 piano competitions in the world) to make some of the lesser works come to life (and then you think - so that's why Chopin wrote that piece, and why have I failed to love it until now?).
There are also very interesting interviews with jury members and performers.
Here are a few links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgrm8dNA-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3I1tEMT81c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uu6yYw2Heg
17th International Chopin Competition