After 200 years, classical composer Chopin's music still holds
mysteries  By Anne Midgette Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday,
February 21, 2010; E04  Monday, Feb. 22, is Frédéric Chopin's
200th birthday. That is, it's Fryderyk Chopin's birthday; the
Polish-born, Paris-dwelling composer's name is more commonly
spelled these days with Ys. And that's his birth date according
to a baptismal certificate; the composer said he was born on
March 1. Even 200 years after his birth, things that appear
simple about Chopin are actually more complicated than they
seem.  Including, and above all, his music. Chopin's piano
pieces -- all of his pieces involve the piano: no symphonies or
operas here -- are lyrical and lovely, poetic and, therefore,
seen as accessible. Yet they can also be harmonically intricate,
technically challenging.  His 24 Op. 10 and Op. 25 Etudes, far
from being simple "studies" for students, are so difficult that
the great pianist and Chopin specialist Artur Rubinstein avoided
playing some of them. An