Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 -- Chopin


The masterpiece -- Chopin's 4th Ballade, considered by many to be among his most challenging and expressive pieces, and among a certain class of masterpieces for the piano that is perhaps transcendent. I consider the Ballade to be among Chopin's most mature works, and also a culmination of several of the techniques expounded upon in his etudes. Examples include the chromatic runs in minor thirds performed by the right hand in the coda -- reminiscent of the famous"thirds" etude, and the grandiose arpeggiations immediately preceding the coda, much like his last etude, Op. 25 no. 12.
An interesting point about this ballade is the way it somewhat combines multiple styles. The work is much more contrapuntal than most of Chopin's music, certainly his other Ballades, which are generally very lyrical but focus on one melodic line. There's also an ornamental, embellished style that is very similar to his nocturnes, wherein themes are transformed and augmented with more complexity and plenty of chromaticism, not to mention in this particular case the extreme instances of polyrhythm. I think the most rhythmically complex passages in the piece probably stand as some of the most rhythmically complex passages in standard repertoire, in fact.
I think my favorite recording so far is Zimmerman's (part 1, part 2) -- he has the perfect touch for the piece, best able to execute commands like mezzo voce, etc. and also leading to the best treatment of all the different voices (in my opinion). Simply incredible.

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