The Seckerson Tapes: Pianist Janina Fialkowska

Canadian-born pianist Janina Fialkowska has an extraordinary story to tell: she's battled cancer in the muscle of her left shoulder, endured ground-breaking muscle-replacement surgery, and even, in another bizarre twist of fate, had her work "stolen" in the notorious Joyce Hatto recording scandal.

But she's still here, her resolve and musical sensibility intensified by her experiences. In this exclusive audio podcast she talks to me about her beloved Chopin - a kinship which began when she first heard Arthur Rubinstein play and which extends to the very size and shape of her hands (she has made comparisons with plaster casts of the composer's hands); she talks about the Chopin style, the understatement and good taste of touch and feeling that keeps sentimentality at bay; she talks about a way with phrasing and rubato which, in Liszt's words, should be "like a tree where the trunk is solid and only the branches move".

Her latest Chopin recital - on the ATMA label - has had critics waxing lyrical about her natural, unaffected way with this music. Chopin year is unlikely to yield anything more idiomatic. And what of the future... the composers she will take on board and those she will leave behind?

Listen to the podcast

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