麻豆社

Donald Macleod enters the Parisian world of Frederic Chopin. Today, the young composer tries to get himself noticed on the exclusive salon circuit.

He was the poet of the piano, the master of the exquisite miniature, one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of the Romantic era, a magician at the keyboard... This week, Donald Macleod follows Frederic Chopin鈥檚 years in Paris, the epicentre of culture at the time and the stage where most of his all-too-short life was acted out. In the years that Chopin lived there, the 1830s and 鈥�40s, Paris suffered political turmoil and deadly epidemics, whilst drawing artists, writers and musicians from all over the world. Following Chopin鈥檚 many house moves, we hear how the young composer made his name among the city鈥檚 most prestigious salons, established himself as the go-to teacher in town, and rubbed shoulders with fellow creatives, including a long and stormy relationship with the novelist George Sand.

Today, the wunderkind from Warsaw arrives at his new Parisian address 鈥渨ith little more than a ducat in my pocket鈥�. An anticlimactic meeting with his hero inspires him to forge his own path, and we hear his mixed first impressions of the city as he tries to make his own impression on the exclusive salon circuit.

12 Etudes, Op 10 No 12 in C minor 鈥渢he Revolutionary鈥�
Murray Perahia, piano

Nocturne No 4 in F major, Op 15 No 1
Elizabeth Leonskaja, piano

Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor (ii. Romance)
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Polish Festival Orchestra

Ballade No 4 in F minor, Op 52
Maurizio Pollini, piano

Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor (iii. Allegro vivace)
Fumiko Shiraga, piano
Yggdrasil String Quartet
Jan-Inge Hauk氓s, double bass

Grande Valse Brillante in E flat, Op 18
Stephen Hough, piano

Produced by Amelia Parker for 麻豆社 Audio Wales and West