Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
In 1829 Frédéric Chopin was still Fryderyk—a 19-year-old Polish pianist of some acclaim. His piano concertos became passports to success in Western Europe.
Category: Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49
Many critics hear the Fantaisie as a reflection of Poland’s plight after the failed 1830 November Uprising against the Russian Empire, a grand anthem for a national victory that never was.
Frédéric Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 59
Chopin wrote his mature mazurkas in exile, reinterpreting a Polish folk dance for Parisian salons. The Op. 59 Mazurkas are relatively late works, written in 1845, a decade-and-a-half after he last stepped foot on Polish soil.
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2
A member of Chopin’s circle called this Nocturne “the dangerous one… the fatal nocturne.”
Frédéric Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 tells a story that emerges at the intersection of the imaginations of the composer, performer, and listener.