Chopinowski Competition

For anybody tired of standing in line to get a flu shot, tired of people reminding you that Trump could become president again in 2024, tired of hearing how the Republican Party is now working full time to remove the right of black people to vote and how the Supreme Court could very well remove the possibility of poor women getting access to an abortion (rich women can afford to travel to Mexico), let me suggest you turn your attention to the 18th Annual International Chopin Piano Competition (XVIII Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina, if your Polish is up to snuff) going on as we speak now in Warsaw. I promise you you won't be sorry. You may, if you're inclined to tear up at the exquisite, find yourself balling your eyes out. So much beauty has never come out of a Steinway or a Yamaha. Well, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but only just a bit.

For a full report, click here.  Or read on.

The first round of 180 contestants performed back in April. Half of those went on to the second round, known as the "Main Event" which began four days ago, October 2. It consists of three stages first with around 80, then 40, then 20 contestants each and a final stage with ten pianists.

I found a list of 87 contestants and zeroed in just on the Japanese ones, since they include some of the pianists I have followed for some time and gotten to be very fond of. There are twelve of them and they include one of my top two favorites: Hayato Sumino (aka Cateen). Fantastic as he is, if I read the results right, he didn't make it to the second round. Shows you how high the bar is!

STOP THE PRESSES.  MY BAD!!! Cateen DID make it to the second round, along with seven other of the Japanese contestants. Sorry for my error.

Just saw an interview with Garrick Ohlsson where he said, in response to a question about whether he was going to listen to the competition this year, "No." Too much of a good thing. I got to that point myself. Like dining on a banquet table with nothing laid out in front of you but an unlimited supply of chocolate ice cream. Had to jump to something mundane - like Chris Hayes' speculation that Tucker Carlson's head might be on the chopping block at Fox because of the sheer amount of misinformation on Covid he puts out there. Hayes believes Tucker is so over the top that even Fox is going to have to shut him down.

Garrick Ohlsson also related a wonderful tidbit about what a snob Chopin was. Referring to Liszt, he apparently once said, "Get that pig out of my garden."

What a world, where Chopin can call Liszt a pig.

Meanwhile, back down here on Planet Earth I can groove on the fact that in Russian, the genitive masculine adjective ending ends in -ego, but it's pronounced -evo for some crazy reason. The Poles apparently have the same -ego ending but it's pronounced -ego.

Must find out why the Russians have that peculiar feature. And why in Slavic languages surnames are adjectives. And that's why Mr. Tchaikovskii is Tchaikovskii and his missus is Madame Tchaikovskaya.

And when you look at her you're looking at Madame Tchaikovskuyu.

In any case, this is the 18th Konkurs (Competition) Chopinowski.

Just love that.

 I won't post links to any of the concerts. They're all online. All of them. You can find them easily on YouTube. Just type in some Polish - like Chopinowski. Or Chopinowskego, if you prefer addressing him in the genitive.

Or you could just start here to get yesterday's morning session. You’ll easily find your way from there to the other dozens of hours of c̶h̶o̶c̶o̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶m̶ Chopin etudes, ballads, waltzes, etc. 

And brilliant young people to make you feel a whole lot better about the world.



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