Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/25/2007, uploaded on 01/16/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Composed in 1837, the Largo in E-flat major is among the many pieces Chopin found unworthy to put before the greater musical public. It remained in manuscript form and, although he wished all his unpublished manuscripts to be destroyed after his death, it ultimately appeared in print in 1938. Proceeding at a steady, measured pace, full of grandeur, the Largo embodies some of the characteristics of a much more well-known work from the same year: the Funeral March that would eventually become the third movement of his Piano Sonata No. 2. Here, however, there is no sense of grief or mourning but only profound solemnity. The construction of the work is strikingly simple—two melodic phrases each repeated and varied only in dynamics. Even the harmonies venture little from the tonic key of E-flat major. Nevertheless, within such limited means, Chopin conveys his intention to the fullest. Indeed, there is not the emotionalism of many of his composition, but here it is not required. In the Largo, we find Chopin in a rare instance of heroism—simple and unassuming.      Joseph DuBose

______________________________________________

Largo      Frédéric Chopin

Chopin's piano music remains the most frequently played in history.  He is one of the few universal masters, and has never suffered an eclipse.  Arthur Rubinstein wrote: "...it is not Romantic music in the Byronic sense.  It does not tell stories or paint pictures.  It is expressive and personal, but still a pure art."

Almost every note he wrote is in the permanent repertoire, but this first group of short pieces on today's program (written from different periods of his career) is an exception-they have remained little-known.      Ren Zhang

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.