Season 2 Episode 7: VARIETY SHOW

We've reached the finish line here in Season 2 Episode 7, dedicated to some of the outlier pieces that fall outside Chopin's more well-known genres

In this series finale, Garrick Ohlsson breaks down Chopin's youthful and experimental Rondos; Jed Distler recommends recordings for a whole suite of singular and lesser-known works by Chopin; then come three special guests making their first Chopin Podcast appearance: bronze medalist of the 2015 International Chopin Competition Kate Liu will react to her beloved performance of the Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise from Warsaw; GRAMMY Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax drops in to discuss Chopin's chamber music composed in the earliest and latest periods of his musical life; and we'll finish with spokesperson of the Chopin Institute in Warsaw Alek Laskowski, featuring the story of the origins of The International Chopin Competition a century ago; to cap things off, Ben visits Garrick's house one more time to ask him to reflect on this exhaustive survey of Chopin's works we've recorded for this podcast.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Chopin Foundation of the United States, which presents the National Chopin Competition every 5 years. For more, visit chopin.org.

Each episode in this series is dedicated to one of Chopin's major compositional genres, and features Garrick as well as special guests approaching the pieces within that genre from a number of different angles – analytically, historically, and pianistically. Follow us at chopinpodcast.com.

Created and hosted by Ben Laude.