One might say that this is irrelevant, as Janusz Olejniczak is obviously just a soloist and not an orchestra, but in doing so one would be missing the point. The musical concept in much of ChopinвЂ™s work is that of a soloist accompanied by an orchestra, and a soloist obviously has a great deal more flexibility than an entire orchestra. However, rubato should only be heavily applied to the melody and not so much to the accompaniment. His rubato (the speeding up and slowing down of a line for musical effect) is very generous, and more than anyone, Chopin allows for generous rubato. He gives his children a more than suitable allowance and generally steers them in the right direction, but he doesnвЂ™t always listen to what they have to say and is often unaware of what they are going through emotionally.

But while much of this music is played lovingly, OlejniczakвЂ™s love is that of a somewhat neglectful parent. In the bulk of the album-the eight tracks played by Janusz Olejniczak-we hear several of ChopinвЂ™s most famous piano pieces delivered with unquestionable virtuosic poise and technical aplomb. And that, though not severely given the circumstances, is what this album has done. But to present his music as though this general sorrow was its only element would be to condemn it to caricature. A large portion of his writing and performing was done in the throes of a serious personal depression, during which he could вЂњonly groan, suffer, and pour out despair at the piano!вЂќ (Chopin) Aptly enough, one of the principal causes of this depression was ChopinвЂ™s Polish nationalism and his sorrow at the Russian invasion of his country. There is no question that ChopinвЂ™s pieces do have a general mood and that ChopinвЂ™s temperament weighed very heavily on the substance of his music. The result is a very heavy musical emphasis on general moods. Its greatest weakness is the manner in which the musicвЂ™s substance is forced to take a back seat to the notion that it was вЂњinspired byвЂќ The Pianist and thus to the general mood of the film itself.

Though this soundtrack is made from distinctly different material than its counterparts, it still suffers from some of the same general limitations. Of The Pianist soundtrackвЂ™s 11 tracks, eight are Chopin compositions played by Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak, one is an orchestral composition (from the film) written by Polish composer Wojciech Kilar and played by the Warsaw Philharmonic National Orchestra of Poland, and the last track is a Chopin mazurka played by Wladyslaw Szpilman, whom Adrien Brody portrays in the film. ) While in this capacity the album is more than adequate, this review will focus primarily on the music itself. It is meant as a companion piece to the film, which is a sympathetic and moving portrayal of pianist Wladyslaw SzpilmanвЂ™s struggle for survival in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust ( see review. This particular album, Music from the Motion Picture: The Pianist, differs in that it consists almost entirely of serious classical compositions. To devote any serious listening time to a film soundtrack is often a pointless enterprise, as the music is written for film accompaniment rather than independent listening. The Warsaw Philharmonic National Orchestra of Poland Hanna Wolczedska, clarinet Janusz Olejniczak, piano Wladyslaw Szpilman, piano Tadeusz Strugala, conductor.

Chopin music in movies