RUSSIAN-BORN VIRTUOSO PIANIST DANIIL TRIFONOV TO PERFORM CHOPIN ON THE MAESTRO'S OWN INSTRUMENTS IN FORTHCOMING FILM ADAPTATION OF PAUL KILDEA'S CHOPIN'S PIANO: A JOURNEY THROUGH ROMANTICISM

Paul Kildea's Chopin's Piano: A Journey
Through Romanticism (also published as
Chopin's Piano: In Search of the
Instrument That Transformed Music, 2018,
soon to come to Unraveling Musical Myths
Book Reviews, to see film adaptation.
Purchase Kildea's title now on Amazon

A forthcoming film adaptation of Australian conductor/author Paul Kildea's acclaimed 2018 novel (pub. Allen Lane) Chopin's Piano: A Journey through Romanticism has recently been announced.

The film, which begins production in 2020, produced by Donald Rodenfeld and Andreas Roald at Sovereign Films, will make use of two pianos which originally belonged to the famed Polish musician - a rare boon courtesy of the kind permission of Hatchlands Park, a Georgian National Trust property in Surrey, England which houses a collection created by Alec Cobbe, with roots dating back half a century.

Both novel and film bring into focus the composers' turbulent and highly creative time spent at an abandoned monastery in Mallorca with famed lover and French novelist George Sand in 1838, in which an ailing Chopin, surrounded by the “most beautiful” inspiration created his much beloved 24 preludes using a pianino – a small piano the composer had fashioned by a local, unknown amateur craftsman (Juan Bauza) upon finding a lack of instrumentation at the monastery. The film will also trace the subsequent history of the pianino long after Chopin's death – seized from the possession of Polish pianist Wanda Landowska at the height the second world war by Nazi officials in the latter's bold attempt to claim the composer as their own.

Unfortunately for posterity, Chopin's “Bauza” pianino has been lost to the hands of time, however Cobbe's collection, which includes the Pleyel Grand Chopin brought with him to England (and later used during a recital at the home of the Count d'Orsay and the Countess of Bessington at Kensington Gore), and a Broadwood which the maestro played at London's Guildhall (effectively the last of the pianist's concerts, held 16 November 1848 in honor of the “Funds of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland”) and at various recitals. Both are expected to be featured in the upcoming film.

The role of Chopin – if already selected – has yet to be announced, whilst Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett is reportedly being eyed for the role of Sand.

Listen below to Daniil Trifonov performing Chopin's 24 Preludes during a recital at Berlin, held 8 May, 2013:


-Rose.

BACK TO HOME PAGE