The remainder of the work, with the
exception of the Lento Sostenuto in B--where it is to be hoped
Chopin's perturbed soul finds momentary peace--is largely
repetition and development. This far from ideal reading is an
authoritative one, coming as it does from Chopin by way of Liszt.
I console myself for its rather commonplace character with the
notion that perhaps in the re-telling the story has caught some
personal cadenzas of the two historians. In any case I shall
cling to my own version.
The F minor Fantaisie will mean many things to many people.
Chopin has never before maintained so artistically, so free from
delirium, such a level of strong passion, mental power and
exalted euphony. It is his largest canvas, and though there are
no long-breathed periods such as in the B flat minor Scherzo, the
phraseology is amply broad, without padding of paragraphs. The
rapt interest is not relaxed until the final bar. This
transcendental work more nearly approaches Beethoven in its
unity, its formal rectitude and its brave economy of thematic
material.
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