"His preference for the salon had multiple repurcussions for his compositions. For example, Chopin decided to confine the circulation of the so-called 'Fantasy Impromptu Op. 66' (he probably meant to name the piece simply 'impromptu'), to a very specific salon: having presented a manuscript of it as a gift to the Baroness d'Este, he opted not to publish it. And this was not unusual: Chopin often withheld from publishing works he presented as gifts. (We may thus put to rest the oft-repeated canard that Chopin did not publish the impromptu because he had somehow improperly modelled it on pieces by Ignaz Moscheles or by Beethoven.)
"In a milieu that valued pianistic spontaneity, it is not surprising that Chopin would choose to give an impromptu as a gift. The excitement and charm of Op. 66 comes less from its relatively simple three-part design than from the virtuosic energy of the main theme (some of the vitality of which derives from the melody and accompaniment unfolding in cross-rhythms) - a theme that vividly convey the sense of quasi-improvisational freedom implied by the genre title - and from the aching beauty of the tune (one of Chopin's most famous) that begins the middle section. In one unexpected formal twist, the melody from the middle section returns briefly just before the end of the piece, lending an air of resignation to the closing.
"When Chopin returned to composing impromptus, he circulated them more conventionally through publication. Two of these published impromptus hew closely to the model established by Op. 66. Indeed, the 'Impromptu in A-flat major, Op. 29', and the 'Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 51', resemble each other closely enough that we may suppose Chopin modelled the later piece on the earlier one: the decorative shapes and animated rhythmic profiles of each principal theme, and conventionally song-like melodies of their central sections all seem cut from the same cloth.
"The 'Impromptu in F-sharp major, Op. 36', embraces the extemporaneity that is characteristic of the genre, but in way that distinguish it from the other three impromptus: the initial repeating bass figuration opens the way to a kind of variation technique in the melody that anticipates the Berceuse, Op. 57, and moments of complex transitional harmony (as in the move out of the march-like central section and into the wrong-key reprise of the opening theme) give the impression of a pianist extemporizing chromatic chord progressions.
"An act of social generosity may have prompted Chopin's initial foray into the impromptu genre in which he was motivated to behave in this way. He particularly enjoyed giving manuscripts of his waltzes as gifts, and because of this withheld from publication more than half of the waltzes on this recording to multiple acquaintances (we know of at least three manuscripts of Op. 69 No. 1, and two each of Op. 70 No. 3 and the Waltz in A-flat Major, KKIVa/13). He initially gave a manuscript of the 'Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 69 No. 1' to Maria Wozińska, to whom he was briefly engaged. The chromatically decorated melodies of this waltz convey an air of melancholy that is easy to associated with personal loss, but whatever personal memories may have been attached to the origins of the work did not prevent Chopin from later giving manuscripts of it as gifts to Eliza Peruzzi and Charlotte de Rothschild. The 'Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 70 No. 3', dates from Chopin's Warsaw period, and it too indexes his nascent romantic life. In a letter to a friend, Chopin confided that the low melody that begins its trio was inspired by his (alas unrequited) crush on the young singer, Konstancja Gładkowska. Chopin entered the 'Waltz in A-flat major, KKIVa/13' into an autograph album of a certain Mme. Le Brun in 1830. His only waltz notated in 3/8 metre, it captures some of the vibrant energy that drew him into the salon. Chopin entered the 'Sostenuto in E-flat major, KKIVb/10', into the autograph album of Émile Gaillard in 1840; he did not identify its genre, but its mood and style make it an excellent companion piece to the waltzes.
"Chopin's mazurkas are no less tied to the salon, but rather than drawing attention to the atmosphere of vibrant sociability in the salon, the mazurkas instead underscore their role in fostering intellectual discourse. Not that Chopin shied away from giving manuscripts of mazurkas as gifts - the early version of the 'Mazurka in A minor, Op. 7 No. 2', on this recording was preserved because Chopin wrote it down in the autograph album of the daughter of his composition teacher - but he clearly intended the import of the mazurka to reach well beyond the realm of social exchange. Chopin sought through the mazurka to forge a sounding image of his native Poland, not by quoting folk melodies, but by crafting sophisticated harmonies, rhythms, and forms that would limn a politically oppressed country that was at once exotic and profound. (Although the early version of Op. 7 No. 2 begins with an evocation of a bagpipe - Chopin emphasized this by writing the Polish word for this instrument, 'duda', in the score - that he eliminated this opening phrase from the eventual published version of this piece is telling with respect to his ultimate desire to avoid folkloric references in the genre. In this recording, both the main theme and the bagpipe motif return after the middle section, Kolesnikov exercising the same sort of interpretative freedom with respect to form that we know to have been common in Chopin's day.) The images of Poland that Chopin promulgated in the mazurka forced his salon listeners to reckon with the complex cultural and political legacies of his country.
"The 'Mazurka in E major, Op. 6 No. 3', composed around the same time as the early version of Op. 7 No. 2, begins to hint at the complexity and ambiguity that Chopin embraced in the genre. The opening evokes a drone, but Chopin immediately adds destabilizing accents, making the metre sound duple rather than triple. The lively first tune behaves oddly: rather than end conclusively, it trails off on the dominant chord, with a recollection of the syncopated drone and low bass line of the opening. This tuen recurs basically unchanged until the very last phrase of the piece, when Chopin finally allows it to resolve quietly, almost pensively. These and other gestures in the mazurka leave the realm of ethnographic reportage far behind.
"Chopin at times deployed forthrightly simple forms in the genre. It is straightforward to parse the three-part shape of the 'Mazurka in C minor, Op. 30 No. 1'. But this unassuming form allows the enigmatic qualities of the work to emerge with greater force, as, for example, in the first section, where a halting quality emerges as a result of Chopin's avoidance of sounding bass notes on the downbeat. Nor is the form difficult to perceive in the 'Mazurka in A-flat major, Op. 41 No. 3' - a fact that does not lessen the surprise of its ending, which stops mid phrase (compare the first iteration of this phrase directly before the start of the middle section). The conventionality of the ternary form in the 'Mazurka in B major, Op. 63 No. 1', allows unusual aspects of its construction to come into greater relief, as in the sudden shift to a distant key for the start of the middle section (a section made to sound more unstable by Chopin once more avoiding bass notes played on the downbeat), and the brief and hushed allusion to this unsteady theme just before the boisterous final cadence. Likewise, the simple form of the 'Mazurka in F minor, Op. 63 No. 2', allows the delicious dissonances of its principal theme to carry maximum emotional weight.
"But Chopin at times essayed complex, even experimental structures that strain against the boundaries of conventional sociability. The concentration of a number of very different types of theme in the 'Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 30 No. 4' - an opening theme whose arpeggiated accompaniment suggests the strumming of guitars, another theme that hints at fandango rhythms, a heroically triumphant theme near the middle of the piece, and an extremely chromatic and highly mysterious coda - lends a narrative quality to the piece. The 'Mazurka, Op. 41 No. 4', also in C-sharp minor (a key that elicited some of Chopin's most innovative efforts in the genre), packs each section with multiple themes (in the opening section, drawing on an inherent ambiguity of triple metre, he shifts from a theme that sounds unstably like a mazurka to one that sounds ebulliently like a waltz). Most notable is its extended coda, where the opening, unstable 'mazurka' tuen finally thunders out in stable form, but in a way that sounds tragic rather than triumphant. Most complicated of all is the 'Mazurka in B major, Op. 56 No. 1', which alternates between seemingly disparate themes, in different keys and tempos, and concludes with a chromatically intricated and lengthy coda.
"'Today I finished the 'Fantasy' - and the sky beautiful, my heart sad - but that doesn't matter at all. If it were otherwise, my existence would perhaps be of no use to anyone.' Here Chopin unaffectedly admitted in 1841 what salon listeners then and modern audiences now have immediately intuited - that an air of overriding melancholy not only lends expressive force to his creative work, but also identifies it as something uniquely to be revered. Much of the Fantasy, Op. 49, seems governed by the sober mood of its opening march, whose minor mode and crisply differentiated rhythms conjure funereal associations. Even when Chopin twice at culminating moments returns to the idea of a march in a major key, nervous energy prevents the brighter key from seeming triumphant. So, too, the central slow and lyrical theme that interrupts the second progression towards a march in the major marks a turn to the contemplative. That Chopin reminds us of this pensive chorale just before the peroration of the piece serves to confirm the significance of the 'sad heart' to the mood of the Fantasy." (Jeffrey Kallberg, 2019. From the liner notes.)
Performer: Pavel Kolesnikov
1. Fantasy Impromptu In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66
2. Waltz In A-Flat Major, Op. 69 No. 1
3. Waltz In D-Flat Major, Op. 70 No. 3
4. Waltz In A-Flat Major, KKIVa/13
5. Sostenuto In E-Flat Major 'Waltz', KKIVb/10
6. Impromptu In A-Flat Major, Op. 29 No. 1
7. Mazurka In C Minor, Op. 30 No. 1
8. Mazurka In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 30 No. 4
9. Mazurka In A Minor, Op. 7 No. 2a
10. Mazurka In E Major, Op. 6 No. 3
11. Mazurka In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 41 No. 4
12. Impromptu No. 2 In F-Sharp Major, Op. 36
13. Mazurka In B Major, Op. 56 No. 1
14. Mazurka In B Major, Op. 63 No. 1
15. Mazurka In F Minor, Op. 63 No. 2
16. Mazurka In A-Flat Major, Op. 41 No. 3
17. Fantasy In F Minor, Op. 49
18. Impromptu No. 3 In G-Flat Major, Op. 51
