Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 / Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major / Fantasy-Impromptu

Featuring

István Székely
Frédéric Chopin

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Composer Biography

Fryderyk Chopin, though Polish, spent the greater part of his professional career in France, particularly Paris, where he established himself as a fashionable teacher and performer.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Chopin's genius as a composer and performer, characterized by intimacy, elegance, and delicacy of nuance, found its place in the refined ambience of fashionable salons rather than large concert halls.

Composer Biography

Chopin's health was severely affected by tuberculosis, intensified by a disastrous winter spent in Mallorca in 1838 with his mistress, the writer George Sand.

Composition History

The Berceuse, Op. 57, may have been inspired by the baby daughter of singer Pauline Viardot, who was present at George Sand's country house in 1843 and called Chopin "petit Chopin."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Chopin's characteristic piano idiom drew inspiration from contemporary Italian opera, Polish music, and his own adventurous approach to harmony and technical ability.

Compositional Technique

Chopin modified traditional classical sonata form in his Piano Sonata No. 2 by omitting the first subject from the recapitulation of the first movement.