Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne in C # minor, Op. posth.
The Nocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor, Op. posth., Lento con gran espressione, P 1, No. 16, KKIVa/16, is a solo piano piece composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830 and published in 1870.Chopin dedicated this work to his older sister Ludwika Chopin, with the statement: "To my sister Ludwika as an exercise before beginning the study of my second Concerto". First published 21 years after the composer's death, the piece is usually referred to as Lento con gran espressione, from its tempo marking. It is sometimes also called Reminiscence. The piece was played by Holocaust survivor Natalia Karp for the Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth, with Goeth being so impressed with the rendition that he spared Karp's life.
This was also the piece played by Holocaust survivor and famed Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman (the central figure of the 2002 Roman Polanski film The Pianist) during the last live broadcast of Polish radio on September 23, 1939 when Warsaw was besieged by the German army. Years later Szpilman also played this piece for German army officer Wilm Hosenfeld upon their first meeting, though in the corresponding film scene Szpilman plays an abridged version of Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23. Hosenfeld later helped Szpilman hide and provided food to him in the last months of the war.
Pianist: Jhong-Sin Liou (劉忠欣) Pianist Jhong-Sin Liou appears actively as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician both in Taiwan and overseas, including Switzerland, Italy, Andorra, Poland, Thailand and China. He was the Grand Prize Winner of the Tenth Taipei International Chopin Piano Competition. Jhong- Sin Liou received his Ph.D. from National Taiwan Normal University, Master's degree from Taipei National University of the Arts, and Bachelor's degree from National Institute of the Arts under the instruction of Professor Cheh-Chen Wang, Li-Chin Lai and Mei- Ling Wang. He also attended numerous master classes, including Andrzej Jasinski, Anna Azusa Fujita, Bernard Ringeissen, Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Christopher Elton, Dang Thai Son, Dominique Merlet, Gwhyneth Chen, Hong-Kuan Chen, H. Czerny-Stefanska , Jose Feghali, Leon Fleisher, Pi-Hsien Chen, Ruth Slenczynska,Sergei Dorensky, Tsong Fou, Vladimir Krainev and Yuko Yamaoka. Mr. Liou is currently an Opus Music artist. His CD albums were published by Warner Music.
