June 10th, 2005

Maintaining high standards at the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition

The quintennial International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition will be held later this year, and I was reminded that the awards for “Best performance of a mazurka” and “Best performance of a concerto” have not been awarded since 1985. Simply put: Nobody since 1985 has been good enough to deserve it.

The year 1995 was a particularly bad year for Chopin-lovers. The judges for Competition XIII concluded that none of the 130 entrants deserved any of the four big-name prizes.

  • First prize – not awarded.
  • Best perfomance of the mazurkas – not awarded.
  • Best performance of a polonaise – not awarded.
  • Best performance of a concerto – not awarded.

(This wasn’t the first time the judges refused to award first prize. It happened five years earlier as well.)

Author

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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