Chopin the four Ballades

 Day 52

Chopin the four Ballades

no 1 in g minor op 23

no 2 in f minor op 38

no 3 in A flat major op 47

No 4 in f minor op 52

Tamás Vásáry

Chopin is one of the composers of whom I have a passing acquaintance but no in depth knowledge. I’ve certainly played quite a few of the simpler pieces of the years and had various attempts at bashing through the slightly more difficult ones, but the virtuoso pieces are well beyond my capabilities.

These four ballades were not designed as a set but often seem to be performed together. I had a very mixed reaction to them. The gentler lyrical passages are beautiful but I found it much more difficult to appreciate the more extrovert music. Of course one could admire the technique both of the composer and the performer but to me there was too much of a disjunction between the different facets of the music in each of the pieces. 

Of the four the last one was the one I responded more positively - it seem to grow organically and the harmonic and rhythmic ingenuity seemed to gel well together. Jim Samson in his rather fearsome book on Chopin’s music - full of deep shenkerian analysis - describes the 4th ballade as one of Chopin’s supreme achievements. John Ogdon went further and said that it was ‘the most exalted intense and sublimely powerful of all Chopin’s compositions’. 

All four ballades have one thing in common, They both start with a page or so of music which seems within the capability of a moderately accomplished pianist - it is only when you get further into the scores that you realise that this music is only for those with a professional technique and stamina to match.