When I think of the music of Frederic Chopin, I always think of Miss Enid Roberts, founder of the St Cecelia's School of Music at her house on Phayre Road in Pune. Chopin was her favourite composer - I remember listening to her play through his Nocturnes and Waltzes when she had a few spare minutes between lessons, or else early in the morning, between six and seven a.m. when I had finished my piano practice at her house.
Since Enid Roberts was Australian, the nostalgic and melancholic nature of Chopin's more introspective music was especially well understood by her - I am sure she was pining for the place she once called home just as much as Chopin was. I admit that when I discovered Glenn Gould at the age of twelve, I had just finished learning a waltz by Chopin - the fairly overplayed c-sharp minor one, and I was absolutely gutted to find out that Gould was not a fan of the Polish master. When I read that Glenn Gould, pianist extraordinaire, only played Chopin "in a weak moment", I was completely baffled - for I saw many similarities between Bach and Chopin. Unlike Gould, I could never get "bored" with Chopin, for he was a brilliant miniaturist (even Gould agreed) but an equally skilled composer of larger works.
Since Enid Roberts was Australian, the nostalgic and melancholic nature of Chopin's more introspective music was especially well understood by her - I am sure she was pining for the place she once called home just as much as Chopin was. I admit that when I discovered Glenn Gould at the age of twelve, I had just finished learning a waltz by Chopin - the fairly overplayed c-sharp minor one, and I was absolutely gutted to find out that Gould was not a fan of the Polish master. When I read that Glenn Gould, pianist extraordinaire, only played Chopin "in a weak moment", I was completely baffled - for I saw many similarities between Bach and Chopin. Unlike Gould, I could never get "bored" with Chopin, for he was a brilliant miniaturist (even Gould agreed) but an equally skilled composer of larger works.
Even though Glenn Gould had few good things to say about Chopin, he did record one work by the composer - the stupendous Sonata in B minor Op 58 for a CBC broadcast in 1970. For someone who had little praise for Chopin's large scale works, this is a very bizarre choice. However, Gould did comment on the fact that Robert Casadesus's record of the same work was one of his favourite albums, mainly because of its objectivity. Gould's own version is far from objective - it is emotional and detached at the same time, and of course, it goes without saying that Gould is far from lacking when it comes to technique. Sometimes, just sometimes, I get the feeling that Gould is quite bored - even though the exquisite poetry of the piece carries him through. Perhaps it's the same sort of boredom as with certain Mozart sonatas. I also wonder why Gould did not show more empathy towards Chopin - they were not so different (just look at the photographs above) - Chopin disliked performing in large concert halls and suffered from an extremely feeble constituency, Gould gave up playing in public altogether in favour of recording (something Chopin might very well have done, had technological advances permitted it). Both Chopin and Gould were plagued with health problems and did not marry, instead remaining romantically involved with two dynamic women - George Sand in the case of the former, and the then married Cornelia Foss in the case of the latter.
This year, the world remembers Frederic Chopin as we celebrate his 200th Birth Anniversary even though there is much debate and speculation about the actual date of his birth - is it 22nd Feb or 1st March? Either way, I'll find a way to commemorate one of my favourite composers in my own way - watch this space!
