Description
Chopin's Ballade No. 3 is built on the warm sonorities of A-flat major, with an elegant, narrative-like melodic flow. Its ideas move smoothly from one to the next, giving it a brighter, gentler character than his other ballades. Advanced players need both a graceful cantabile touch for its lyrical melodies and the technique to negotiate its more virtuosic middle passages.
A genre Chopin pioneered — large-scale solo piano works with a narrative, epic quality.
About the Composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland and made his career in Paris, remaining unusual among great composers for writing almost exclusively for piano. He poured his longing for his homeland into mazurkas and polonaises, while his ballades and etudes combine poetic melody with harmonic innovation. This site includes 131 of his works, including the "Revolutionary" Etude, Op. 10, No. 12, and Ballades No. 1 and No. 4.
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