LISZT & CHOPIN IN PARIS IS A STORY ABOUT THE GREATEST EPOCH IN HUMANITY

Liszt & Chopin In Paris is a story about friendship and rivalry between two greatest piano virtuosos of all time. It is the story of the piano and the greatest epoch in humanity - the Romantic Age.

Modern piano playing begins with Liszt and Chopin. Mozart and Clementi put it on the map, but it is Liszt and Chopin who raised piano playing to a level that until today have never been equaled.

Soon to be produced as a major theatrical motion picture, this film showcases the greatest performances by Liszt and Chopin and their contemporaries, exactly as those performances were played during the unforgettable Romantic Age in Paris.

In this story we will hear in surround sound the greatest masterpieces written and performed by these two young composers, their contemporaries as well as their followers in what is the foundation of the most extraordinary and spectacular music material ever heard and recorded in a major motion picture.

Many of the pre-recorded selections represent scenes from the script beginning with young Chopin arriving in Paris for the first time at age 21. At this stage Chopin is in love with a beautiful girl, Maria (Maria Wodzinska) from Warsaw, whose parents forbid her to marry him.

Confiding his sorrows to Liszt, his friend and admirer, and looking to find solace in his music, Chopin decides to work in Paris until Maria's parents change their mind about the marriage. Liszt, his confidant, friends and rival understands Chopin's sorrow having himself plenty of romantic troubles with Countess Marie d'Agoult.

However, young Liszt’s view of love is somewhat different from Chopin's having enjoyed phenomenal celebrity status as the greatest performer in Paris already, with women following him everywhere, consequently Liszt tries to convince Chopin that he should explore Paris with him, and not worry about Maria which they do, with Liszt ultimately taking it over.

Meanwhile, Chopin's singing, bel canto style of playing is earning him fame earned as the Raphael of the Piano. His brilliant improvisations have their origin straight from the Italian opera, specifically from Bellini, Bach and Mozart whom Chopin very much admired, and later from Rossini, with whom he kept in regular contact in Paris.

In fact, when Rossini bought a spectacular mansion in Passy, just outside Paris, Chopin was there frequently and gave regular recitals there at Rossini's' famous soirees musicales.

The salon was Liszt's and Chopin's favorite milieu. They enjoyed playing in the salon as a welcome change from the concert stage. In the salons and the concert halls, their works were played with much more passion, emotion and intimacy than they were performed in the concert halls. Liszt and Chopin frequently noted lower tempos for their compositions, i.e. to perform them slower, as they realized that no one else besides them could play them the way they did.

On these recordings, we will hear Liszt's and Chopin's works exactly as they played and improvised in the crowded, elegant improvising salons of Paris. This story will take us to the heart of Paris and allow us to hear and experience the most beautiful and power ful performances ever created by these two greatest musical legends of classical piano.

Frédéric Chopin's favorite piano - Erard (late 19th-Century model shown)

Franz Liszt

Hotel Lambert on Ile St. Louis - historical setting as in "Titanic"

Chopin's school in Warsaw (Contemporary View)

Frédéric Chopin - (drawings and oil by Maria Wodzinska and Sand)

Frédéric Chopin

Chopin's Monument in Park Monceau in Paris

You can listen to a preview of the music that will be featured in Liszt & Chopin In Paris at the following link:

http://www.lisztandchopininparis.com/