Frédéric Chopin – a bicentenary focus - Page 4

A guide to the composer, his works and the essential recordings

Frédéric Chopin (photo: Tully Potter)

Etudes (1829-34)

There are numerous books of piano etudes (studies), each study devoted to one aspect of technique (the execution of scales, octaves, arpeggios etc). Most of them are boring beyond belief. All that changed with Chopin’s two sets of 12 studies (Opp 10 and 25 as they’re known in the trade) which lifted the ordinary étude into the realm of poetry. Perhaps the most loved is Op 10 No 3 in E (Tristesse), a study to develop expression, turned into a song in 1939 (“So Deep is the Night”). The best-known is a study for the left hand – Op 10 No 12 in C minor (the Revolutionary, composed in 1831 under the impression that Warsaw had been captured by the Russians) which a generation of young music lovers first heard played by Sparky (or was it his magic piano?). But if you dip in anywhere you will come up with a treasure – Op 25 No 1 in A flat (known as the Aeolian Harp), Op 25 No 11 (Winter Wind), for instance, ot the two studies in G flat, Op 10 No 5 (Black Keys) and Op 25 No 9 (Butterfly). Leopold Godowsky went a step further and composer 53 Studies on Chopin Etudes, works of incredible complexity. One of them, which he jokingly called Badinage, is a study made up of the two G flat studies played simultaneously!

Recommended recordings

Perahia (Sony Classical) Buy CD from Amazon

Pollini (DG) Buy CD from Amazon

Fantasie in F minor (1841)

This work, as much as any other, displays every facet of Chopin’s genius. Written at the height of his creative powers, is said to depict (and have been inspired by) a quarrel and reconciliation between Chopin and his paramour George Sand. But everyone will read what he wants into this marvelous work for solo piano, by turns heroic. Melancholic and tender.

Recommended recording

Kissin (RCA Red Seal) Buy CD from Amazon

Fantaisie-impromptu (Impromptu No 4 in C sharp minor) (1835)

This is among the most popular of all piano works, yet Chopin himself thought so little of it that he kept it in his bottom drawer and did not permit its publication (it appeared only after his death). It’s the earliest of the three other impromptus which were published. The middle section (trio) provided two American songwriters with a hit tune in 1919 – “I’m always chasing rainbows”.

Recommended recording

Perahia (Sony) Buy CD from Amazon