I reviewed earlier volumes of this pianist’s interpretation of the music of Chopin. Now we can enjoy volume 3.
Chopin Recital, Vol. 3 features the following works:
Polonaise No. 7 in A flat major, Op. 61 ‘Polonaise-fantaisie’
Nocturne No. 3 in B major, Op. 9 No. 3
Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2
Impromptu No. 3 in G flat major, Op. 51
Waltz No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69 No. 2
Waltz No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42
Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
Prelude Op. 28 No. 14 in E flat minor
Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major ‘Raindrop’
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
All performed by Janina Fialkowska (piano)
On December 15, 1842, Frederic Chopin wrote to Breitkopf and Haertel, his publishers in Leipzig, Germany, offering them a newly composed Ballade and a Scherzo, and mentioning a new Impromptu. The pieces involved were the 4th Scherzo, the 4th Ballade, and the 3rd Impromptu, without a doubt three of the composer’s greatest works.
Janina Fialkowska’s third Chopin Recital album is built around these late works. Also included is Chopin’s final major work, the Polonaise-Fantaisie, a piece which stirs up wild and wishful speculations over the direction in which his compositional genius was heading before his fragile life came to its tragically premature end.
Here is Ms. Fialkowska in several of Chopin Nocturnes:
