[Harp-L] Franz Chmel

["Michael Polesky, MPA" <m.polesky@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

I wanted to second Elizabeth's mention of Franz Chmel as being astonishing 
indeed.  He is a calssical player who has both a uniqe technical facility 
and vibrato production that aids him in adapting music written originaly for 
violin and other instruments to the harmonica repertoire from the classical 
repertoire with astonishing results.  He plays Paganini with such ease that 
it is a little freakish.  Much like Paganini himself - who wrote his pieces 
to perform himself - one begins to wonder whether or not Franz Chmel has 
sold his soul to the devil in trade for his amazing technique ;-).

I have Franz Chmel's "Classic Harmonica Volume 1" in my collection and I 
enjoy it very much.  It includes music from Bach to Vaughan Williams (the 
only cut written for harmonica) and the album is a great testimony to the 
capabilities of the harmonica in main-stream classical music.  A lot has to 
be said for Chmel's adaptations of many favorites from the "pops" repertoire 
to harmonica.

Franz Chmel maintains a website at: http://www.chmel.at where you can find 
information about him and his recordings (hard to get in the US).  An aside 
note . . .  He sent me an e-mail asking if everything got there OK when I 
bought his album with the help of Danny Wilson - which I thought was very 
sweet.

I definitely rate Franz Chmel's "Classic Harmonica Volume 1" as a must have 
to any classical fans out there.  I don't know how easy it is to get, but it 
is worth the effort!

Michael