August Weger, Engraved Portrait of Chopin, based on a painting by Ary Scheffer from 1846. Yale.

Chopin’s manuscript for the Polonaise in F minor, Op. 71, No. 3, ca. 1828-29. Yale.

Chopin spent time here. Eugene Delacroix, George Sand’s Garden at Nohant, 1840s. Metropolitan Museum.

[vimeo 20944705 w=500 h=409]

Sviatoslav Richter plays Chopin’s “Revolutionary Etude.” Richter was a force of nature!

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

by Matthew Raley [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cxkLZoEFEk&feature=related]

I was introduced to Chopin's music by a record of Pollini, so I'm grateful to the man. Here he is playing Chopin's Nocturne No. 8. What I like about this is not just Pollini's clarity and musicality, but also his insight. He teaches me that Chopin is about simplicity. The pianist who can command the virtuosic passages to serve the composer's simplicity this way is the one I want to hear.