Hello Chopin fans! I hope you're enjoying story time with Alan Walker. Just a reminder that you can listen to full episodes every Wednesday when the audio is released to podcast platforms, several days before the video segments arrive. Here's Episode 1:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chopin-podcast/id1765998900
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2hNW9BuUCK0z2adPHhqArh
Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Chopin-Podcast/B0DFVRVCX4

Meanwhile, did you know the Preludes will be BACK this coming year at the Chopin Competition? It's been a while since they were actually required, and it's always fun when they are (this time competitors will be given a choice between groups of 6 consecutive Preludes). You can watch a prelude of the Preludes at the US National Competition in Miami this January, where I'll be attending and hosting the livestreams from backstage. Make sure to subscribe to the Chopin Foundation channel so you can catch all the talented young pianists and be on the look out for the next medalist in Warsaw: https://www.youtube.com/@chopinfoundationoftheunite8079
You also won't want to miss my debut as a piano competition correspondent...

This man is prime example of an inspired person who at 95 is still as sharp as a razor. It shows that the brain doesn't deteriorate when it still has a purpose .  very inspiring

Alan Walker is 94 this year, he looks and sounds great!

Alan Walker is already 94 and still travels for his research. His memory is still so sharp. I thought he is around 75-79.

I can't wait to read this book. I read Professor Walker's Liszt biography and the three volumes are so brilliant, and so colourful, that I often think that if I could go back in time and meet one historical figure, it would be Liszt.

One of my favourite anecdotes from the Liszt biography is Liszt showing up as a guest for dinner and his host asking him for his opinion on a piano piece the host has composed. Liszt, takes it in his hand, looks at it, makes a polite comment, hands it back, sits for dinner, and a few hours later sits at the piano and plays the piece from memory having only looked at it briefly when he had just arrived!

Another interesting detail was how Liszt dealt with playing wrong notes by altering the harmony to make it sound like the mistakes were not mistakes at all. Interestingly I heard Pavel Kolesnikov, who recently sat on the jury of the Leeds piano competition, and was a competitor in the Tchaikovsky competition ultimately won by Trifonov, play in Ireland shorty after that Tchaikovsky competition. In his programme he included the final three of the Transcendental Etudes, and during Harmonie du soir he had a memory lapse. He had attempted a two hand broken chord run up the piano but ended in the wrong place. Without missing a beat, he descended back down the piano in a similar way to where he started, harmonising with his error but still within the general harmonic and textural style of the passage, before going back up again and nailing it the second time. If you hadn't heard the piece before you'd never have known something was up. Kolesnikov must've read the Liszt biography too!

Fascinating! Alan Walker’s biography of Chopin is a must read. 😎🎹

I know of only one comment made by Chopin, in which he described how one of his pieces should be played - referring to the middle movement of the second piano concerto, he said: "It is like gazing at a spot in the moonlight, immersed in a thousand memories..." This is, I believe, the ONLY comment he ever made, in his entire life about this subject. It comes from a letter.
When it comes to why he loathed people giving his pieces representational names, he is known to have remarked this: "There is nothing more odious than music which does NOT contain a hidden meaning." He would have hated the subtitles that were given to his pieces.

After having devoured the Walker Chopin biography, I gave my copy to my friends David Finckel and Wu Han, neither of whom had ever heard of Professor Walker. A couple of weeks later I heard from them both expressing astonishment about the book, just as I had after having read it. I am now well into the third volume of Walkers biography of Liszt which is life changing for me. Wu Han and David were so taken with the Chopin book that they purchased several copies to give to friends as holiday gifts! Can't recommend Walker any higher!

Everyone has known for decades that Alan Walker is an excellent scholar and writer, but what a great story teller he is as well! I'm sure we would enjoy hearing him talk about absolutely anything:-)

Speaking of Bach's possible influence on Chopin:  I can't remember who it was, but I saw a video of a female piano student who was playing the Chopin Sonata in Bb minor in a master class.  The professor asked her to play the beginning of the 4th movement slowly.  She did, and he remarked, "Now doesn't that sound like something Bach would have written?"  You could see a light bulb flick on in her head, and it flicked on in mine as well.

Wow, what a distinguished guest you've brought, Ben! It's amazing how lucid Dr. Walker is in his ninety-fourth year.

One must remember that Chopin composed his work in very poor health.  He was never a strong person, but even after the catastrophes of the trip to Majorca, he prevailed. ❤

Enormously erudite. What a wonderful, multi-faceted interview. A true gem depending on two highly intelligent interlocutors!

Alkan told the Hungarian pianist Alexander de Bertha that Chopin considered himself to be a staunch classicist, and any interpretation of his music should begin bearing that in mind.  Looks as if that was confirmed here.

Horowitz live recording of the "Raindrop" prelude is THE BEST recording of any Chopin piece period. The LH in that is so haunting and perfect.

What a fascinating person! A real scholar! Absolutely enjoyed this interview!

What a pleasure to hear Alan Walker talking about Chopin. I have read his books on Liszt and Chopin. I have known a lot about Liszt for many decades but had not read a Chopin biography with so much fascinating historical background. Alan is 10 years older than me and I hope that playing piano will get me another ten healthy years with him as inspiration. By coincidence the F minor Prelude is my favourite too, along with the D major.

Wonderful. Thank you so much! This is best video I have seen in a long time. Keep on with the good work.

What a wonderful storyteller, a marvellous speaker... Mr Walker!

Obviously there would have been an awkward moment when Frederick told his parents he was in love with someone called George. Don't blame him for keeping that under his hat.