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Voices of the Press
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L'Actualité, September 1, 05
Longtime champion of the music of Chopin, Janina Fialkowska plays these superb as well as familiar works with full romanticism. The technique is impeccable, the scales flow, the melodies sing, the folklore dances.
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The Gazette, June 17, 05
She is a warm, philosophical player...
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WholeNote, Toronto, May 05
The greatest impact of this setting is its significantly heightened sense of intimacy. In the slow movements of both concertos, the E minor especially, these sparse strings make the piano line compellingly poignant - breathtaking at times. Expect a sniffle and some tears. This is wonderful playing... we are listening to a miracle.
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La Presse, June 11, 05
Si l'on accepte cette approche assez curieuse des Concertos de Chopin, le disque de Janina Fialkowska est tout à fait recommandable. En plus de la partie soliste, la pianiste joue plusieurs passages habituellement confiés aux vents; elle s'approprie même le fameux appel du cor qui annonce la coda à la fin du Concerto op. 21. Comme tel, son jeu est toujours musical, énergique dans les mouvements rapides, poétique dans les mouvements lents, et avec, partout, des trilles très nets. Impeccables également, les cinq cordistes qui l'entourent
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The Toronto Star, May 5, 05, CD "Pick of the week"
Distinguished piano return
Returning to the music of Frédéric Chopin she has so often championed in the past, she has produced not just another recording of the two piano standard concertos but a unique one … Fialkowska could hardly have chosen a more suitable project for her return to recording and has risen to the challenge of the music with real distinction.
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The Globe&Mail, May 27, 05
Less is definitely more in this chamber version of Chopin's two piano concertos. With some musicological sleuth work, Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska turned up 19th-century parts that validate the practice of replacing the orchestral accompaniment with string quintet for both concertos, a forum she uses to full advantage. Her interpretation of the beautiful slow movement to the F Minor Concerto, where the opening wind entries are taken by the piano (thus establishing it from the first as a protagonist) is a case in point. The biggest change is in immediacy, for a smaller, more flexible accompaniment permits more rhetorical detail, consistently moving the sentimental focus from the general to the particular. Even modest string melodies carry more import, and Fialkowska makes every note, however ornamental, significant. The recitative-like section is especially eloquent, while elsewhere she catches the pathos in passages that others toss off like so much glitter."
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