111 Years of Deutsche Grammophon - CD 3

Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28; Preludes Opp.45 & post.; Sonata, Op.35

24 Préludes, Op.28
1 1. in C major [0:31]
2 2. in A minor [2:10]
3 3. in G major [0:51]
4 4. in E minor [1:51]
5 5. in D major [0:30]
6 6. in B minor [1:46]
7 7. in A major [0:44]
8 8. in F sharp minor [1:29]
9 9. in E major [1:30]
10 10. in C sharp minor [0:25]
11 11. in B major [0:33]
12 12. in G sharp minor [0:58]
13 13. in F sharp major [2:44]
14 14. in E flat minor [0:29]
15 15. in D flat major ("Raindrop") [4:51]
16 16. in B flat minor [0:58]
17 17. in A flat major [2:50]
18 18. in F minor [0:47]
19 19. in E flat major [1:04]
20 20. in C minor [1:32]
21 21. in B flat major [1:34]
22 22. in G minor [0:34]
23 23. in F major [0:43]
24 24. in D minor [2:13]

Prélude No.25 in C sharp minor, Op.45
25 Sostenuto [4:02]

Prélude No.26 in A flat, Op.posth.
26 Presto con leggierezza [0:40]

Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor, Op.35
27 1. Grave - Doppio movimento [6:40]
28 2. Scherzo - Più lento - Tempo I [6:04]
29 3. Marche funèbre (Lento) [8:34]
30 4. Finale (Presto) [1:28]

Martha Argerich – piano

Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, are a set of short pieces for the piano, one in each of the twenty-four keys, originally published in 1839 and dedicated to Joseph Christoph Kessler, a composer of piano studies during Chopin's time. Ten years earlier, Kessler had dedicated his own set of 24 Preludes, Op. 31, to Chopin. Although the term prelude is generally used to describe an introductory piece, Chopin's stand as self-contained units, each conveying a specific idea or emotion.

The Op. 28 preludes were commissioned by the piano-maker and publisher Camille Pleyel for 2,000 francs. Chopin wrote them between 1835 and 1839, partly at Valldemossa, Majorca, where he spent the winter of 1838–39 and where he had fled with George Sand and her children to escape the damp Paris weather.

The Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45 (sometimes listed as Prelude No. 25), was composed in 1841. It was dedicated to Princess E. Czernicheff, and contains widely extending basses and highly expressive and effective chromatic modulations over a rather uniform thematic basis.

The untitled Presto con leggierezza was composed in 1834 as a gift for Pierre Wolff and published in Geneva in 1918. Known as Prelude No. 26, the piece is very short and generally bright in tone.

Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 was written mainly in 1839 at Nohant, near Châteauroux in France, though the third movement, the funeral march, had been composed as early as 1837. The third movement is structured as a funeral march played with a Lento interlude. While the term "funeral march" is perhaps a fitting description of the 3rd movement, complete with the Lento Interlude in D flat major, "Chopin's Funeral March" is used commonly to describe only the funeral march proper (in B flat minor). The "funeral march" has become well known in popular culture. It was used at the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and those of Soviet leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev. It was transcribed for full orchestra by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1933 (in D minor) and its first performance was at his own memorial concert the next year. It was also transcribed for large orchestra by the conductor Leopold Stokowski; this version has been recorded for the first time by Matthias Bamert. It was played at the graveside during Chopin's own burial at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

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