This, according to Niecks, was the only time he played the
Polonaise with orchestral accompaniment. It was practically a
novelty to New York when Rafael Joseffy played it here,
superlatively well, in 1879.
The orchestral part seems wholly superfluous, for the scoring is
not particularly effective, and there is a rumor that Chopin
cannot be held responsible for it. Xaver Scharwenka made a new
instrumentation that is discreet and extremely well sounding.
With excellent tact he has managed the added accompaniment to the
introduction, giving some thematic work of the slightest texture
to the strings, and in the pretty coda to the wood-wind. A
delicately managed allusion is made by the horns to the second
theme of the nocturne in G. There are even five faint taps of the
triangle, and the idyllic atmosphere is never disturbed.
Scharwenka first played this arrangement at a Seidl memorial
concert, in Chickering Hall, New York, April, 1898. Yet I cannot
truthfully say the Polonaise sounds so characteristic as when
played solo.
The C sharp minor Polonaise, op.
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