About Chopin Promenade
The distinguished Italian composer Gian Paolo Chiti has long been attracted to the idea of framing the works of the past in other forms, or as « elaborazioni » or «reworkings» to use the composer's own expression. The composer's "reworkings" of the two great Schumann song cycles for Piano solo of Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und Leben were the result of years of performing these cycles in concert. The versions for solo piano were intended to allow solo pianists to be able to present these vocal works as independant concert works, indeed (to quote the composer) "many believe they are listening to another new Schumann work and do not realise that this is a true presentation of the cycle with the voice part included. "
2010 will mark the bicentennial of Robert Schumann and Chiti's versions for solo piano of these cycles are receiving much deserved attention. In addition to this event, the bicentennial of Frédéric Chopin's birth will take place on February 22, 2010. This time, Gian Paolo Chiti has decided to rework Chopin's piano music for String Quartet in a original work entitled "Chopin Promenade", using original music by Gian Paolo Chiti coupled with fourteen different themes taken from famous piano works, which include :
1 Zyczenie op. 74 n° 1
2 Hulanka op. 74 n° 4
3 Preludio op. 28 n° 5
4 Preludio op. 28 n° 4
5 Preludio op. 28 n° 2
6 Valzer KK IV b n° 11
7 Valzer op. 69 n° 1
8 Valzer op. 70 n° 3
9 Studio in FA m n° 1 Trois Nouvelles Études
10 Mazurka op. 68 n° 3
11 Mazurka op. 56 n° 2
12 Preludio op. 28 n° 6
13 Preludio op. 28 n° 13
14 Preludio op. 28 n° 19
The composer explains his work in the following manner:
Chopin Promenade is a succession of works by Chopin, which, placed one after another, now form a single composition. My intervention has consisted in the identification and choice of the individual original pieces, their position in the sequence, the creation of musical bridges between one work and another and the total re-elaboration for a string quartet.
The following methodology was used: