Frédéric Chopin - Waltz in A flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3

The last of the three waltzes from the set published as opus 64, in A flat major, which Chopin dedicated to Katarzyna Branicka, Zygmunt Krasiński’s sister-in-law, differs considerably from the other two works. Apparently, at first glance, it is cheerful, high-spirited, boisterous even. The next moment, however, those first impressions are dispelled. What remains is music that seems to be seeking – relentlessly, but hopelessly – its proper tone, or perhaps a way out, repeating the same pattern on successive tonal planes: in F minor, in B flat major, then in G flat major. Yet the narration does eventually arrive at its goal, which is the music of the trio (in C major), filled with a simple, hushed song in cello timbres. In keeping with the laws of the form (the dance with trio), the music of the beginning, that path-seeking music, returns. Before that, however, transitional music is heard: sketched with a subtle line and endowed with the harmonic half-light of chromatic hues.

The Waltz in A flat major is a work for connoisseurs. As James Huneker put it, ‘It is for superior souls who dance with intellectual joy’. For Hedley, this Waltz ‘possesses a discreet, suave elegance’.

Author: Mieczysław Tomaszewski
[Cykl audycji "Fryderyka Chopina Dzieła Wszystkie"]
Polish Radio, program II