Chopin Piano Concerto

[DazedOblivion]

Here's a piece to remedy a hard, stress-filled day: the second movement (Romance-Larghetto) from the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op.11 composed in 1830 by Frédéric Chopin, here performed by Sa Chen with the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon conducted by Lawrence Foster:


"Breathe in, breathe out!"

[Simone]

Woow!! Looks how her hands fly over the keys... awesome! She seemed "possessed" all the way through, and that thing between 04:35 and 04:37... oh, my... how talented she is and wonderful piece!

Thanks for sharing.

[DazedOblivion]

Well said, Simone.

She is so graceful - it's almost like she plays piano like a hula dancer would (if that makes any sense).

[cw]

She's definitely good but, to me, the 2 Chopin piano concertos spell out both the strengths & limitations of Chopin as a composer. As a writer for solo piano, Chopin has few if any peers but he had little feel for instruments other than the piano (and therefore, by definition, an orchestra) as is evidencd by the scarcity of non-solo works.

Many of the great piano concertos contain great writing for both soloist & orchestra & are therefore demanding tests of musicianship for both. With the Chopin concertos, by and large the orchestra are onlookers. Just an opinion, so am open to being shot down.

[DazedOblivion]

That's a criticism of his concertos that I've come across several times from people who know way more about music than I, and I don't disagree. Yet, even assuming these limitations of Chopin as a composer - his giving the orchestra a role not much more than a mere accompaniment to the piano - still the result is quite pleasing, at least to my ears.