Joseph McLellan Special to The Washington Post
11-21-1999

Chopin Revisited: A CD counterpart to the Chopin Festival now taking place in Washington is the "Chopin Exploration" set of 10 compact discs (available separately) on the imaginative Opus 111 label. The discs include treatments of Chopin's music on period instruments, folk ensembles playing the kind of dances that inspired much of his work, re-creations of several of his concerts, and jazz improvisations on his themes. Vol. 6 of the series duplicates the Nov. 19 program in the Terrace Theater: a reading of letters between Chopin and George Sand by Elzbieta Czyzewska and Mathieu Carriere. Other artists from the festival also featured in the Opus 111 set include pianist Janusz Olejniczak and soprano Olga Pasiecznik. The interpretation of his piano concertos by the Festival Orchestra of Poland with pianist-conductor Krystian Zimerman is available from Deutsche Grammophon.

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