Today – our first student-nominated piece!
“I would like to recommend Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor Op.11 by Chopin. One of my favourite pieces, particularly when the piano first comes in.“
Just like yesterday’s Beethoven piano concerto, today’s is a victim of strange numbering as well.
Chopin’s ‘first’ piano concerto (the E minor) was composed immediately after the premiere of his ‘second’ piano concerto (the F minor)! It’s just that his publisher published the second one (E minor) first. (yes, I’m confused too).
He was 20 at the time, and this formed part of his farewell concerts before he left Poland for Paris. When Chopin performed it in Paris, the fierce music critic François-Joseph Fétis (who was exceedingly rude about Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique) said of the concerto “There is spirit in these melodies, there is fantasy in these passages, and everywhere there is originality.”
Some think this is a great concerto, others that it’s just a Chopin piano work with an orchestra thrown in playing a minor backing role. Have a listen – what do you think?
The Listening Project Blog 