Chopin: 4 Ballades Op.23, Op.38, Op.47, Op.52 (Perahia)

Chopin’s 4 Ballades are pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire, and they’re each played here by Perahia with translucent clarity, a fantastic sense of narrative, and complete naturalness. There’s no attempt here at “inverted comma” playing: the music is allowed to speak for itself, whether we’re in one of the fiery passages the first or in the transcendent static moments of the fourth.

00:00 – No.1. An ingeniously constructed piece. The opening statement, apparently unconnected to the rest of the piece, mirrors the coda in its emphasis on the Neapolitan. The mysterious and controversial minor 9th at [0:29] in fact binds the entire piece together – the entrance of the first theme is always heralded by a falling minor 9th [3:58, 6:54], and that interval also more or less defines the coda. The second theme is harmonized, extraordinarily, in fourths, and the waltz tune that suddenly erupts in the middle of the piece is, if you think about it, a chain of interlinked fourths. Structurally, this ballade features the inverted recapitulation (2nd and 1st themes reintroduced in that order) that characterises all the ballades, and is a ingenious fusion of sonata and fantasy/variation form ([0:36] and [3:29] are the same theme, though not everyone notices).

08:57 – No.2. A kind of exalted homage to the idea of contrast. The 1st theme is tranquil and pastoral; the 2nd is almost unimaginably violent, and in an unusual key – instead of the parallel minor (F minor), or the relative minor (D minor), it is in A minor. Another striking feature is that the piece ends in A minor. This ballade features some fascinating harmonic episodes, and a coda which displays masterful use of chromaticism (and counterpoint).

15:43 – No.3. This ballade opens with a very long introductory conversation before the main themes eventually emerge. The introduction again looks unconnected to the body of the piece, until the opening theme returns with ecstatic brilliance in the coda. This ballade has an incredibly tight structure – ABCBA + coda, an arch. The A theme is the introductory theme; the B theme is in two parts, one major and one minor. After it is introduced we encounter the sunny and scalar C theme, before the B themes return with a vengeance, and the A theme leads up to the coda. The return of the B themes contains some of Chopin’s most ingenious writing – consider how the left hand chromatic runs at 20:38 are structured after that dramatic recurring cadence at 18:50, and the elemental majesty of the G# octave section.

22:45 – No.4. Almost universally considered the greatest ballade, and for good reason. A gorgeous opening passage whose beauty seems to dwarf its structural function, which is merely to establish the dominant. A 1st theme which undergoes four cumulative transformations with decorations, counter-melodies, counterpoint, and a nocturne-like fioritura. A huge wealth of breathtaking counterpoint, 25:39 being the most well-known instance. Transcedent transitional passages in the Neapolitan [24:43]. 26:37 – a beautiful chorale as the second theme that’s developed with scales [30:04], burbling 4th/5th harmony, and some heart-stopping polyrhythms at 30:18 (9 against 6, with the melody coming every 4(!) notes out of the 9). Note that the development of the 2nd theme has been prepared by that enigmatic G-flat passage, which eases us into the relevant key. A transition to the coda that’s alternately violent, with a crazed climax at m.202, and quietly meditative (and mirrors the harmonic pattern of the opening, with a close on the dominant). And a coda that is dense with counterpoint and acid with eruptions in diminished 7th harmony.