Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52, was composed in 1842 in Paris and Nohant and revised in 1843. The work was dedicated to Baroness Rothschild, wife of Nathaniel de Rothschild.
Franz Liszt composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124 over a 26-year period; the main themes date from 1830, while the final version is dated 1849.
Chopin Prelude No 4 in E minor is one of the 24 preludes opus 28 for piano. By Chopin request, this piece was played at his own funeral, along with Mozart’s Requiem.
The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work was written for private performance by an ad hoc ensemble of two pianos and other instruments.
Chopin’s Waltz No 9 in A-flat major, Op. 69, No. 1, is called The Farewell Waltz or Valse de l’adieu. The waltz was originally written as a farewell piece to Maria Wodzińska, to whom Frédéric Chopin was once engaged.
Franz Liszt‘s Transcendental Etude No. 4 in D minor, Mazeppa, is the fourth Transcendental Étude, published in 1852. This complex and virtuosic staple of the Romantic Era repertoire was inspired by Victor Hugo‘s …
Two videos of Maurizio Pollini playing Frédéric Chopin’s last and dramatic Prelude No 24 in D minor. The first video is from 2002, Pollini is 60 years old, the second seems to be around 1960.
Rachmaninov’s Prelude No. 5 in G Minor, Op. 23, was completed in 1901. It was included in his Opus 23 set of ten preludes, despite having been written two years …
