The ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys presents the sixth episode in an unprecedented seven part mini-series, where The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler takes listeners on a journey through all of Chopin’s Mazurkas.
Going in order, Jed offers at least two performances for each of the so-called “Standard” 51 Mazurkas with a different pianist, and without ever repeating a pianist over the course of seven programs. The pianists represent more than a century’s worth of recorded Chopin, from 1902 until 2025. No other repertoire lends itself to such a wide variety of interpretations, as you will readily discover.
We continue with the Mazurka Op. 59 No. 2 in comparative performances from Jonathan Biss and Maria João Pires, followed by Op. 59 No. 3 with Craig Sheppard and Samuel Feinberg. Moving on to Op. 63, we hear Andre Tchaikowsky and Stephen Kovacevich in No. 1, plus Heinrich Neuhaus, Alexander Uninsky and a bonus third pianist Faina Lushtak in No. 2. For the famous C-sharp Minor Mazurka Op. 63 No. 3, we feature four pianists: André Laplante, Alfred Cortot (allegedly!), Moriz Rosenthal and Antonietta Rudge. The A Minor "Emile Gaillard" Mazurka will be played by Abdel Rahman El Bacha and Vladimir Tropp. And finally, we start the Op. 67 group with performances of No. 1 by Dmitri Alexeev and Janina Fialowska.
Tune in this Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM for Between the Keys, with the rebroadcast Saturday evening at 6:00 PM, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM,org
