Word: chopin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...successful year to establish themselves on the famous Newport Festival circuit. Taking place in the first week of June, the Festival boasts 4 United States and 3 World Premieres, in addition to countless other international features, documentaries and short films. The Harvard Crimson caught up with Programming Director Maude Chopin, Executive Director Christine Schomer and Festival Director Nancy Donahoe to ask them a few questions about the art of Independent Filmmaking...
...Maude Chopin: Basically we want to bring an international mix of provocative and well-made films to Newport that they otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to see. We'd love to have a haven for film executives who don't want to go to a big mass market to come and enjoy the reasons they came into the film business in the first place, because they love movies. Yet, we don't want to be a big market. Although we do want to show things that are new and fresh, and it might be of interest to them, that...
...first half of his program was all Chopin, beginning with the F-sharp Impromptu, Op. 36. A rich sotto voce approach was somewhat undone by an erstwhile banginess in the right hand; transparent scalar passages were a key ingredient in the strong finish. This piece reminded one of the best playing of the rude and unpredictable Vladimir Feltsman, who seems to patronize Mr. Zimerman's barber, if not vice versa...
...worse. Its main weakness was lack of dynamic range--or rather, lack of sensitive dynamic range, as one tended to be awed by Zimerman's ferocious key depth without forgetting the harsh sounds it sometimes produced. A stricter observance of tempi would also have been in order; this was Chopin, not Debussy. In any case the risks he took at high speeds were admirable, and his confident, blind leaps across three octaves are a reproach to showier pianists who conduct their business at unnecessary altitudes above the keyboard. The Three Mazurkas Op. 56 were a satisfying palate cleanser...
...Minor sonata Op. 11 is a sprawling piece of juvenilia that requires a tight vision of elements that don't necessarily relate organically to each other, as is the case with the greater master-piece, the Fantasy Op. 17. Although Zimerman seemed marginally less comfortable here than in the Chopin idiom and sometimes shortchanged Schumann's dotted rhythms, the middle movements especially were full of fresh phrasings and well-judged rubato. The finale is fun music, and Zimerman seemed to be having fun with it. For an encore he gave the F-sharp Romance, Op. 28 No. 2, informing...