Chopin's best genres

[mc ukrneal]

Etudes, by a mile. After that Mazurkas. Then it was a tough choice between waltzes and nocturnes. I went for Waltzes. Preludes never grab me the same way.

[Karl Henning]

I worry about the 1 out of 27 who cast the I don't like Chopin vote

[springrite]

I worry about the 1 out of 27 who cast the I don't like Chopin vote

Why? I know many people in that category, including myself at different times.

[Jo498]

Most of these wouldn't bother to vote at all, I guess.

[Karl Henning]

Why? I know many people in that category, including myself at different times.

I should hesitate to ask this of a psychologist, but do you really dislike Chopin at those times, or do you simply wish to hear other music?

[Madiel]

Preludes, Polonaises, Ballades.

Snap.

I don't quite know why the Ballades are thrown in with the Barcarolle and the Fantaisie, but that made my first choice an absolute no-brainer. You've got most of his great larger-scale masterpieces right there. The only one that might not be is the Polonaise-Fantaisie, but I took care of that by voting for the Polonaises.

[Brahmsian]

I voted Nocturnes, Preludes and Sonatas.

[jochanaan]

I do love the Préludes, and I repent of omitting them from my votes, but for me the Mazurkas are always first!

(Just had to say it . . . .)

In 2/4 or 3/4?

[Brian]

I worry about the 1 out of 27 who cast the I don't like Chopin vote

Imagine my shock when Len, the publisher of MusicWeb, thanked me for requesting 3 Chopin CDs and wrote, "None of our other writers like Chopin." My reply was a more eloquent version of "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!"

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Imagine my shock when Len, the publisher of MusicWeb, thanked me for requesting 3 Chopin CDs and wrote, "None of our other writers like Chopin." My reply was a more eloquent version of "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!"

They might as well say "we don't like breathing".

[Brahmsian]

They might as well say "we don't like breathing".

+1   

[amw]

Snap.

I don't quite know why the Ballades are thrown in with the Barcarolle and the Fantaisie, but that made my first choice an absolute no-brainer. You've got most of his great larger-scale masterpieces right there. The only one that might not be is the Polonaise-Fantaisie, but I took care of that by voting for the Polonaises.

I'd just say the Polonaise-Fantaisie belongs with the Ballades et al. anyway. So would Charles Rosen apparently. Either way it's certainly a country mile ahead of the remainder of the Polonaises, however nice some of them may be.

Of course I also voted for a category because of a single work as IMO the B minor sonata is the greatest piano sonata after Beethoven. >.>

[springrite]

I should hesitate to ask this of a psychologist, but do you really dislike Chopin at those times, or do you simply wish to hear other music?

Well, more often than not, I dislike all the emoting going on (same goes with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov). I can only take them at specific times and small doses.

[Brian]

Of course I also voted for a category because of a single work as IMO the B minor sonata is the greatest piano sonata after Beethoven. >.>

Would you like to expand/geek out on this? I have had a hard time digesting that sonata, aside from the final movement, which is maybe the most straightforward. Last I heard it was live in Paris last month, and I was captivated by the entire second half, but the first movement confuses me - it seems so patchwork. What should I listen for? Is it unreasonable to ask you this?

They might as well say "we don't like breathing".

Well of course, they were also saying "all the new Chopin albums are yours from now on," so I wasn't offended for too long!

[Karl Henning]

Well, more often than not, I dislike all the emoting going on (same goes with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov). I can only take them at specific times and small doses.

I understand, though somehow I can probably take larger doses of all three composers than your esteemed self.

That said, maybe that is why I like the Mazurkas best of all:  I feel them as dances, not as soliloquy.

[Jo498]

For me Chopin is a far more "classical", even sometimes terse and austere and usually more tasteful composer than Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. I like some pieces of the latter, but others I can only bear once in a blue moon. But I can almost always listen to Chopin

[Karl Henning]

For me Chopin is a far more "classical", even sometimes terse and austere [...] composer than Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

I agree with this assessment, although I do not at all hold that as any fault on the part of the two later Russians.

[Madiel]

Playing Chopin is damn difficult, because he asks you to have the lightness of Mozart while giving you twice as many notes to play as Mozart would.

[Florestan]

It is impossible for me to definitely pick only three. I have not heard anything by Chopin that I did not love (as distinct from like). (Ditto for Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, BTW).

Therefore I say only this: Chopin best genre was music for piano, in whatever combination he saw fit to use it. 

[Brian]

For me Chopin is a far more "classical", even sometimes terse and austere and usually more tasteful composer than Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. I like some pieces of the latter, but others I can only bear once in a blue moon. But I can almost always listen to Chopin

I am fascinated by Chopin's style because he has such a unique mixture of classical rigor and romantic expression. There are pieces which are formally perfectly old-fashioned but full of odd harmonies. Chopin seems to have been simultaneously 50 years behind his time and 50 years ahead of his time.