In
the next, in C, we find, besides the curious content, a mixture
of tonalities--Lydian and mediaeval church modes. Here the trio
is occidental. The entire piece leaves a vague impression of
discontent, and the refrain recalls the Russian bargemen's songs
utilized at various times by Tschaikowsky. Klindworth uses
variants. There is also some editorial differences in the
metronomic markings, Mikuli being, according to Kullak, too slow.
Mention has not been made, as in the studies and preludes, of the
tempi of the Mazurkas. These compositions are so capricious, so
varied, that Chopin, I am sure, did not play any one of them
twice alike. They are creatures of moods, melodic air plants,
swinging to the rhythms of any vagrant breeze. The metronome is
for the student, but metronome and rubato are, as de Lenz would
have said, mutually exclusive.
The third Mazurka of op. 24 is in A flat. It is pleasing, not
deep, a real dance with an ornamental coda. But the next! Ah!
here is a gem, a beautiful and exquisitely colored poem. In B
flat minor, it sends out prehensile filaments that entwine and
draw us into the centre of a wondrous melody, laden with rich
odors, odors that almost intoxicate.
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