# Your Chopin Genre



## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Chopin wrote mainly for piano but in different genres. Choose your favourite(s).


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

I love everything by Chopin, but his nocturnes stand out for me.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

The Polonaises! .


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Ballade.

Nobody wrote things like that, this is something entirely unique for Chopin (not other pieces by other composers entitled ballades [except for, I think, one], nor other one-movement romatic works for piano are similiar to what he did). The narrative character and at the same time no hint of the possible program. The form and the perfectly romantic language, nobly expressive. For me, the ballades are essence of Chopin.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Etudes.

Then the concertos... :tiphat:


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Aramis said:


> Ballade.
> 
> Nobody wrote things like that, this is something entirely unique for Chopin (not other pieces by other composers entitled ballades [except for, I think, one] . . .


Now see here. You can't just leave it at that. Which one?

To answer the OP, I find all Chopin pieces equally full of rubato-heavy histrionics.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Weston said:


> To answer the OP, I find all Chopin pieces equally full of rubato-heavy histrionics.


You mean, rubato is what defines him? Or something else entirely...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Weston said:


> Now see here. You can't just leave it at that. Which one?


One by Juliusz Zarębski. Can't post it, not on YouTube. I think only Lisztian of all TC geezers could have heard it, but he doesn't write here anymore so I have no witness to call in this case, your honour.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Preludes ~ when done as the cycle they were intended to be.
Etudes
Mazurkas ~ this form was one Chopin returned to again and again, and it seemed in them he did some of his wildest and most playful harmonic adventuring -- some of them are even today, rather loopy with surprises and "humor."

...and the Ballades, of course.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Weston said:


> Now see here. You can't just leave it at that. Which one?
> 
> To answer the OP, I find all Chopin pieces equally full of rubato-heavy histrionics.


That is because of older (and continued) bad / incorrect) performance practice. Rubato in Chopin, when marked, is _just a little_, and usually only for the one measure it is so marked -- and if one "steals time" you are bound, musically, to make up that time almost instantly.

Later romantic era tendencies have, cumulatively and over several generations, messed this all up.

Listen to Garrick Ohllson, or any of a younger generation who 'get it right.' Pollini is great in this regard, very no nonsense and much more "how Chopin wanted it."


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Aramis said:


> One by Juliusz Zarębski. Can't post it, not on YouTube. I think only Lisztian of all TC geezers could have heard it, but he doesn't write here anymore so I have no witness to call in this case, your honour.


Speaking of Liszt (sort of), there's a ballade or two there...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Speaking of Liszt (sort of), there's a ballade or two there...


Both of them rather unparticular, as I recall.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Aramis said:


> One by Juliusz Zarębski. Can't post it, not on YouTube. I think only Lisztian of all TC geezers could have heard it, but he doesn't write here anymore so I have no witness to call in this case, your honour.


Josh is still around but his life has gone off in other directions and other priorities, but he still picks up on threads that interest him.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Aramis said:


> One by Juliusz Zarębski. Can't post it, not on YouTube. I think only Lisztian of all TC geezers could have heard it, but he doesn't write here anymore so I have no witness to call in this case, your honour.


Well, I searched my Rhapsody account and found a Ballade, Op. 18. Fairly nice! Also some works called Etrennes, Op. 27.



shangoyal said:


> You mean, rubato is what defines him? Or something else entirely...





PetrB said:


> That is because of older (and continued) bad / incorrect) performance practice. Rubato in Chopin, when marked, is _just a little_, and usually only for the one measure it is so marked -- and if one "steals time" you are bound, musically, to make up that time almost instantly.
> 
> Later romantic era tendencies have, cumulatively and over several generations, messed this all up.
> 
> Listen to Garrick Ohllson, or any of a younger generation who 'get it right.' Pollini is great in this regard, very no nonsense and much more "how Chopin wanted it."


I will look up Garrick Ohllson. Thank you. Overuse of rubato was always off putting to me. Some recordings even go overboard with it on baroque keyboard works which just sounds faltering.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

The solo, then chamber, then PCs.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Definitely the Nocturnes. 

Yes, the etudes are beautiful and the ballads are as well, though I find that the contrast in moods yet similarity overall in the nocturnes to be... intriguing....


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Aramis said:


> One by Juliusz Zarębski. Can't post it, not on YouTube. I think only Lisztian of all TC geezers could have heard it, but he doesn't write here anymore so I have no witness to call in this case, your honour.


JULIUSZ ZSAREBSKI

(1854-1885) was a Polish-Ukranian composer and pianist and a pupil of Liszt. His works were influenced heavily by both Liszt and Chopin. he wrote his Ballade in G Minor in 1884.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I think I like the ballades the best.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

PetrB said:


> T
> Listen to Garrick Ohllson, or any of a younger generation who 'get it right.' Pollini is great in this regard, very no nonsense and much more "how Chopin wanted it."


Must confess last time I heard Ohllson in Chopin I was really disappointed. Far too heavy. No lift to it.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Nocturnes for me. Love them.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Weston said:


> Well, I searched my Rhapsody account and found a Ballade, Op. 18. Fairly nice! Also some works called Etrennes, Op. 27.


If you want more, listen to the G minor Piano Quintet (op. 34) - his masterpiece.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

I find myself coming back to the etudes the most.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

I like the mazurkas a lot. If the nocturnes are night music, the mazurkas are somewhat day music.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

shangoyal said:


> I like the mazurkas a lot. If the nocturnes are night music, the mazurkas are somewhat day music.


This is certainly as bright as joyous, summer day:






This one, though, is as reflective and "evening"-like in it's mood as any of the nocturnes:


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Etudes, Ballades, Nocturnes.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

For me, Chopin *is* the genre!

:tiphat:


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

The last 4 or 5 Nocturnes, the Ballades, and a handful of the Etudes. But above all, the Mazurkas.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

I was wondering what it is about the mazurkas. For one they are delicate and "honest". Also, because he composed them throughout his life, they mature very evenly and gradually.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

It's a tie between Ballades and Nocturnes for me. Both encapsulate his style perfectly


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

I love the Ballades above all else. His Cello Sonata is exquisite; and the works for Piano and Orchestra are giants of the repertoire.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

MagneticGhost said:


> I love the Ballades above all else. His Cello Sonata is exquisite; and the works for Piano and Orchestra are giants of the repertoire.


I dare say his concertos have a somewhat negative reputation, or maybe one I imagine. I have heard his first concerto only once, and liked it... maybe I will go back and give it a lot of more work!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Fantaisie in F Minor, Op. 49...then the Ballades.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

The études of op. 10 and 25 are probably my favourite pieces by Chopin. I've listened to them a lot and they truly are gems of piano music.

I also like the fantaisie op. 49 and the ballades enormously. But all the genres have something interesting to offer. The mazurkas are a bit of a mystery to me, but I'll get to them eventually...


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