Chopin's imagination
refuses to become excited when working in the open spaces of the
sonata form. Like creatures that remain drab of hue in
unsympathetic or dangerous environment, his music is transformed
to a bewildering bouquet of color when he breathes native air.
Compare the wildly modulating Chopin of the ballades to the tame-
pacing Chopin of the sonatas, trio and concertos! The trio opens
with fire, the scherzo is fanciful, and the adagio charming,
while the finale is cheerful to loveliness. It might figure
occasionally on the programmes of our chamber music concerts,
despite its youthful puerility.
There remain the two concertos, which I do not intend discussing
fully. Not Chopin at his very best, the E minor and F minor
concertos are frequently heard because of the chances afforded
the solo player. I have written elsewhere at length of the
Klindworth, Tausig and Burmeister versions of the two concertos.
As time passes I see no reason for amending my views on this
troublous subject. Edgar S. Kelly holds a potent brief for the
original orchestration, contending that it suits the character of
the piano part.
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