Full album available // Chopin: 4 Scherzos & 4 Ballades by Arthur Rubinstein
🎧 Qobuz (Hi-Res) https://cutt.ly/ww4bW2WK Tidal (Hi-Res) https://cutt.ly/4w4bEg11
🎧 Deezer (Hi-Fi) https://cutt.ly/zw4bEAPQ Amazon Music (Hi-Res) https://amzn.to/3JwcEDj
🎧 Spotify (mp3) https://spoti.fi/3Ub9Mll Youtube Music (mp4) https://cutt.ly/nw4bTHLm
🎧 Apple Music (off), Napster, Pandora, Anghami, Soundcloud, QQ音乐, LineMusic 日本…
❤️🔊 If you like CMRR content, please consider membership at our Patreon page.
Thank you :)   / cmrr  
Discover our Website: Expand your music collection https://www.classicalmusicreference.com/
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) The 4 Ballades
00:00 Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
09:20 Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38
16:03 Ballade No. 3 in A flat Major, Op. 47
23:22 Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Piano: Arthur Rubinstein
Recorded in 1959
New mastering in 2023 by AB for CMRR
🔊 Join us with your phone on our WhatsApp fanpage (our latest album preview): https://bit.ly/3Mraw1r
🔊 Download CMRR's recordings in High fidelity audio (QOBUZ): https://bit.ly/370zcMg
🔊 Follow us on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3016eVr

Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
Whether or not Chopin had a specific work of the Polish poet Mickiewicz in mind for each of his ballades, as some have suggested, there is no way of telling. It is sufficient for me to see in this opening introduction (the one in common time mentioned above) a kind of preliminary scene setting, and in the ebb and flow of the following music a strong continuity leading to a climax, to be aware of a tale being told musically. A note of suspense, so to speak, is imparted by a clash of tones in the last chord of the introduction (D in the bass, E-flat in the alto) which some writers, even of this century, thought might be a misprint. Clearly it is a mixture of G minor and E-flat, the two keys which come and go in the body of the work.
That body is torn between supplication (at the outset) and rejection (the following agitato), more tender appeals (the E-flat section that comes next) in which the triplet figure of the introduction makes an insinuating reappearance, a stormy outburst of adamancy, a rather hopeless resort to other arguments (marked scherzando), then a return to the opening supplication, angrily pushed aside in the presto con fuoco, and finally crushed for good and all at the end. (In opera, this is what would be known as the Argument.)

Ballade No. 2 in F, op. 38
The F major ballade (dedicated to "Monsieur Robert Schumann") is, prevailingly, of a more tender character, beginning with a pensive andantino, in the basic long-short, long-short rhythm, followed by a blustering presto con fuoco. The dedicatee, being something of a musician and critic himself, noted a pertinent fact in his review of it, upon publication: Il l recollect very well when Chopin played the 'Ballade' here He then said that he had been inspired by some poems of Mickiewicz to write this Ballade. On the other hand, his music would inspire a poet to write words to it." Could there be a more perfect summation of what a great creative artist does in sublimating the matter of one medium into another? The end is in the mood of the beginning (marked, if there should be any doubt of his intent, Tempo l).

** COMPLETE PRESENTATION: LOOK THE FIRST PINNED COMMENT **

Album available // Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 by Arthur Rubinstein
🎧 Qobuz (Hi-Res) https://bit.ly/4aDdryt Tidal (Hi-Res) https://bit.ly/3Mul2mZ
🎧 Deezer (Hi-Fi) https://bit.ly/35X2cnD Amazon Music (Hi-Res) https://amzn.to/3tIP6Cx
🎧 Napster (Hi-Fi) https://bit.ly/41EIE09 Spotify (mp3) https://spoti.fi/3RLHhbt
🎧 SoundCloud (aac) https://bit.ly/39HZJ2N Youtube Music (mp4) http://bit.ly/3vMIaWN

Frédéric François Chopin PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849)