This album was recorded in Bremen, Radio Bremen, Sendesaal, from January 7-12, 2018.
Interpretation
Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes chose to intersperse the Ballades with three Nocturnes to provide 'a little more breath between these very crowded and very intense Ballades,' as he believes they were not intended as a cycle.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Robert Schumann, a contemporary composer, suggested that Chopin was inspired to write his Ballades by poems of Adam Mickiewicz, a great poet of Polish Romanticism.
Compositional Technique
All four of Chopin's Ballades are composed in compound duple time, either 6/4 or 6/8, a meter common in traditional folk dances.
Composition History
Chopin was the first composer to apply the literary term 'Ballade' to a musical work for solo piano.
Composer Biography
Chopin's Ballades were written and published separately between 1831 and 1843, in the years after he had left his native Poland for Paris.
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