Chopin as is or should be

I think of Chopin as I remember playing it, a very inarticulate student take.  It wasn't pretty.  But to hear Chopin played by someone committed to it, who studied at the Fryderyck Chopin Academy in Warsaw, no less, was instructive and awe-inspiring.  Suddenly I could understand and appreciate the fame of this busy composer.  The tunes were Chopin favourites, so well known, but the presentation was anything but mid-level AMEB.  Raindrop prelude, Nocturne Eb, Grand valse brillante Eb, Minute waltz, Waltz C#min, Fantasie impromptu, Heroic Polonaise Ab and an encore of Mazurka Amin to calm things down.  The tempos were gloriously variable as were the dynamics, so we got minute waltz relaxing into a gentle pace and huge handfulls of energy appearing throughout.  And that Mazurka which was much less known but apparently a common encore in Poland, to calm the audience for an ending.  But such a committed and informed performance that told of Poland and its history and peoples like I hadn't heard before.  Stunning and quite an eye-opener.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Chopin at Wesley.