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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"

Rosenthal puts this belief into practice by
playing the older version of the E minor with the first long
tutti curtailed. But he is not consistent, for he uses the Tausig
octaves at the close of the rondo. While I admire the Tausig
orchestration, these particlar octaves are hideously cacaphonic.
The original triplet unisons are so much more graceful and
musical.
The chronology of the concertos has given rise to controversy.
The trouble arose from the F minor Concerto, it being numbered
op. 21, although composed before the one in E minor. The former
was published April, 1836; the latter September, 1833. The slow
movement of the F minor Concerto was composed by Chopin during
his passion for Constantia Gladowska. She was "the ideal" he
mentions in his letters, the adagio of this concerto. This
larghetto in A flat is a trifle too ornamental for my taste,
mellifluous and serene as it is. The recitative is finely
outlined. I think I like best the romanze of the E minor
Concerto. It is less flowery. The C sharp minor part is imperious
in its beauty, while the murmuring mystery of the close mounts to
the imagination.


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