Chopin's best genres

[yeongil]

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

This is probably going to sound just as bad, but I am not familiar with, nor do I have recordings of, any of the Mazurkas.  (I voted for Etudes, Preludes, and Nocturnes.)  Every time I hear one on the radio, I don't get any urge to buy the complete set (because I tend to buy sets when it comes to classical recordings).  Can't explain why. 

[Karl Henning]

This is probably going to sound just as bad, but I am not familiar with, nor do I have recordings of, any of the Mazurkas.

Well, that means you are in for a treat, when you get around to them!

[Drasko]

Ballades, Nocturnes, Mazurkas

[jochanaan]

...There are pieces which are formally perfectly old-fashioned but full of odd harmonies...

Indeed.  The best example I know is Prelude #2, in which the key does not become apparent until the very last chord!

[amw]

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?

I totally will at some point, too hard to think right now. Highlights to include - the first movement as the most perfect synthesis of classical sonata form with a romantic aesthetic (the sonata forms of Schubert and Schumann often being somewhat weaker due to their attempts to fit their material to the formal plan rather than vice versa, whereas Liszt and his followers more or less abandoned sonata form altogether and Brahms's and Dvorak's solutions often being less concise and cohesive), the second movement as proof of Chopin's mastery of pure monophony (unequalled by anyone except Bach), the third as proof of his mastery of Italian bel canto, etc. As long as we're looking into sonatas the 1st and 4th movements of the Second are also pretty exemplary—I've never actually liked the funeral march though

Good starting point for Sonata No. 3: how much Chopin manages to make out of the first five notes... without ever repeating them exactly for the rest of the piece.

[Marc]

I voted Nocturnes, Preludes and Sonatas.

Me, too.
With a tear shed for the Mazurkas.

Those are the four Chopin genres I return to the most.
I really love his 2nd and 3rd sonata. They've got all Chopin has got to offer. Great stuff.

[Karl Henning]

With a tear shed for the Mazurkas.

I always liked you

[Scion7]

Technically speaking, these aren't "genres," but it's an interesting poll.