Polonaise-fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist Inna Faliks & Rebecca Mozo

• Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (b. 1932):
• 1 2 Polyphonic Pieces: No. 2, Basso ostinato 03:52
• Inna Faliks:
• 2 Today, Odessa Is Torn... 04:12
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
• 3 The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 18 in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 863 04:29
• Inna Faliks:
• 4 In the Few Years of Early Lessons... 04:03
• Jan Freidlin (b. 1944):
• 5 Ballade in Black & White 07:20
• Inna Faliks:
• 6 The Word "Immigration" Popped Up... 02:15
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791):
• 7 Fantasy No. 3 in D Minor, K. 397 05:51
• Inna Faliks:
• 8 Aunt Dolly & Uncle Ilya Took Us into Their Home... 03:01
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886):
• 9 6 Polish Songs, S. 480: No. 1, The Maiden's Wish (After Chopin) 03:24
• Inna Faliks:
• 10 We Moved Closer to the School... 03:27
• Franz Liszt:
• 11 Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141: No. 3 in G-Sharp Minor "La campanella" 04:48
• Inna Faliks:
• 12 A Serious Student of Emilio del Rosario Meant... 06:05
• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849):
• 13 Polonaise-fantaisie in A-Flat Major, Op. 61 12:59
• Inna Faliks:
• 14 In Case You Think That by the 18th Century... 03:33
• George Gershwin (1898 - 1937):
• 15 3 Preludes: No. 1 in B-Flat Major 01:41
• 16 3 Preludes: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor 03:25
• 17 3 Preludes: No. 3 in E-Flat Minor 01:27
• Inna Faliks:
• 18 We Emailed Each Other Nonstop... 04:29
• Elliott Carter (1908 - 2012):
• 19 Retrouvailles 01:47
• Inna Faliks:
• 20 The Festival Musicians Had Rooms... 05:26
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893):
• 21 6 Pieces, Op. 19, TH 133: No. 4, Nocturne 03:10
• Inna Faliks:
• 22 Amalia Was Very Angry... 03:54
• Harrison Birtwistle (b.1934) & Inna Faliks:
• 23 Oockooing Bird - Living with Music... 03:30
• Total Runtime 01:38:08

Info for Polonaise-fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist

Inna Faliks is a spellbinding Ukrainian-born pianist with a glowing international reputation. Her long-standing practice of alternating musical interludes with the spoken word takes the form here of narrative storytelling. And with this unique album—her first for Delos—Inna has a captivating, powerful and very moving tale to tell.

Her story chronicles her life’s path: her family’s emigration to America, her seminal early influences and her evolution as an artist. And it’s also her love story, as she is reunited as an adult with the childhood friend who is now her husband.

Each episode of the pianist’s saga—dramatically narrated by actress Rebecca Mozo— alternates with a beautifully played masterpiece that is closely connected to her life story from childhood onward. Music and words combine to spin a powerful and moving tale.

“A concert pianist of the highest order, Inna Faliks can be as dramatic or as subtle as a great stage actor.” (Marc Vitali, WTTW Radio)

Inna Faliks, piano
Rebecca Mozo, narrator

Inna Faliks
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most exciting, committed, communicative and poetic artists of her generation. Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages, with numerous orchestras, in solo appearances, and with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. Critics call her “a concert pianist of the highest order” (Chicago WTTW), praise her “courage to take risks, expressive intensity and technical perfection” (General Anzeiger, Bonn), “remarkable insight” (Audiophile audition) “poetry and panoramic vision” (Washington Post), “riveting passion, playfulness” (Baltimore Sun) and “signature blend of lithe grace and raw power” (Lucid Culture.) Her October 2014 all-Beethoven CD release on MSR classics drew rave reviews: the disc’s preview on on WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Her previous, critically acclaimed CD on MSR Classics, Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Her discography also includes a recital recording for the Yamaha Disklavier library. Recording projects in the works include a Brahms complete piano sonatas CD, Chopin solo and cello sonatas recording with cellist Wendy Warner, as well as “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” – a recital of short piano works from Bach to Chopin and Carter, combined with essays written by Faliks, to be released on the Delos label.

Ms. Faliks’s distinguished career has taken her to thousands of recitals and concerti throughout the US, Asia, and Europe. Faliks has been featured on WQXR, WNYC, WFMT and many international television broadcasts, and has performed in major venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris’ Salle Cortot, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and in many important festivals such as Verbier, Portland International, Music in the Mountains, Brevard, Taos, International Keyboard Festival at Mannes, Bargemusic, and Chautauqua. Highlights of the recent seasons include a 2016 tour of China, with appearances in all the major halls such as Beijing Center for Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater and Tianjin Grand Theater, as well as her acclaimed debuts at the Festival Intenacional de Piano in Mexico, in the Fazioli Series in Italy and in Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum, at Portland Piano Festival and with the Pacifica Chamber Players, a collaboration with the famed dance troupe Bodytraffic, and Jacaranda in Los Angeles. Recent return engagements include Newport Festival, Bargemusic and Le Poisson Rouge in NYC, Broad Stage Santa Monica, a tour of Canada, Salle Cortot in Paris.

She is regularly engaged as a concerto soloist nation-wide: recent appearances include Beethoven 4th with Minnesota Sinfonia, Peninsula Festival , where she played the 1st and 3rd Prokofiev Concerti in the same half of the program with Victor Yampolsky, Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Greensboro Symphony, Rachmaninoff 2nd with Vallejo Symphony, Gershwin Project with Daniel Meyer and the Erie Symphony, Clara Schumann Concerto at Wintergreen Festival, Beethoven 3rd with Evanston Symphony. She has played concerti under the batons of many conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart, Edward Polochick, Daniel Meyer, Victor Yampolsky, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Neal Stulberg, and many others. Her chamber music partnerships include work with Gilbert Kalish, Ron Leonard, Fred Sherry, Ilya Kaler, Colin Carr, Wendy Warner, Clive Greensmith, Antonio Lysy, and others.

Faliks is the founder and curator of the of the Manhattan Arts Council award winning poetry-music series Music/Words, creating performances in collaboration with distinguished poets – www.musicwordsnyc.com . This poetry-music series has been described as “surreal, impactful, and relevant” (Lucid Culture). Her long standing relationship with WFMT radio has led to multiple broadcasts of Music/Words, which she had produced. Music/Words has been seen in venues such as the Poetry Foundation, at Royce Hall at UCLA, and in venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, Brooklyn Public Library, and Distinguished Artists Series in Santa Cruz, CA, in collaborations with some of the nation’s most widely recognized poets.

Booklet for Polonaise-fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist