Chopin: The Four Ballades (Cho Seong-Jin)

Chopin’s ballades are written to such a pitch of harmonic innovation, expressive power and structural novelty that they sort of exist in a valley of their own making. Nothing any other composer wrote (even other ballades, to be sure) really compares to them. The most immediately striking feature about them is their narrative musicality: transitionary passages are extraordinarily beautiful, and really do not need to be justified by what they are moving to or from; and a small digression might open up a whole new harmonic or developmental vista, a trait especially evident in the last ballade. Each ballade offers radical new treatment of (or engagement with) sonata form. #1 and #3 superimpose on the goal-oriented sonata form an arch-like symmetry (both have a mirror reprise and a striking central episode with new material that serves as pivot), #2 imposes a two-key scheme upon what initially looks like a simple alternation between two themes but really is not, and #4, the most structurally rich of the set, fuses sonata form with the more static form of the theme and variations. BALLADE 1 00:00 – INTRODUCTION in Neapolitan harmony [Note minor 9th motif in LH at 0:34, wrongly indicated in this edition as D-G-D; it should be D-G-Eb] EXPOSITION 00:42 – Theme 1 02:20 – Transition 03:19 – Theme 2, limb 1 [Note its harmonization in 4ths, mirroring the horn calls which introduce it, and the use of subtle hemiola in the LH] 03:59 – Theme 2, limb 2 [Really a diminished version of Theme 1] DEVELOPMENT [This section puts both Themes in direct and violent contact with each other: there is no transition bridging the two, only a section where Theme 1 tries desperately and almost fails to reach the high B which begins Theme 2 (5:07). The themes’ tonalities (G min/Eb maj) are also brought into unstable alignment (A min/maj)] 04:48 – Theme 1, opening with a minor 9th descent 05:15 – Theme 2, climax 05:49 – Transition 06:05 – Theme 3 [A brilliant waltz much like Chopin’s waltzes of this period] 06:20 – Transition RECAPITULATION/REPRISE [Note the arch-like symmetry: Theme 2 is presented before Theme 1, in its original key] 06:40 – Theme 2, limb 1 07:09 – Theme 2, limb 2 07:44 – Theme 1, again heralded by a falling minor 9th CODA – 08:30. Note the profusion of falling minor 9ths in RH figuration, as well as the Neapolitan harmony from the introduction, BALLADE 2 EXPOSITION 10:00 – Theme 1, F maj, a siciliano/pastoral 12:20 – Theme 2, A min DEVELOPMENT/FALSE REPRISE 13:13 – Theme 1, F maj. Looks like a reprise, but – 13:52 – veers off course, into harmonically complex modulatory territory. This section is where the heavy lifting that shifts the entire tonal centre of the work takes place. 15:33 – Theme 2 [In D min, which is revealed to be a suspension that resolves to A min. This section substitutes for a reprise proper.] CODA/CLOSING SECTION – 16:15 [References to Themes 1/2] BALLADE 3 EXPOSITION 17:33 – Theme 1, lyrical 19:40 – Theme 2, dancelike, developed in F maj/F min/C maj. 21:47 – Theme 3 DEVELOPMENT/ REPRISE [As with Ballade 1, note how the themes are presented in reverse order] 22:36 – Theme 2, Ab maj 23:02 – Theme 2, C# min, developed with LH counterpoint. Note that the LH figuration is based on a diminished version of a section of Theme 2 (heard most clearly in the LH at 23:25) 23:27 – Theme 2, developed with RH figuration, climax. 23:42 – onset of harmonic instability 24:29 – Theme 1, now triumphant CODA/REPRISE – 24:58, Theme 3 BALLADE 4 25:19 – INTRODUCTION in dominant (C maj) EXPOSITION 25:50 – Theme 1 [Note how the theme itself is sequential/variational in character, being made of a short phrase repeated in different keys] 26:51 – Theme 1 VAR.1 [very slight decoration] 27:46 – Episode 1 [Based on Theme 1] 28:53 – Theme 1 VAR.2 29:29 – Transition 29:49 – Theme 2, a chorale/barcarolle DEVELOPMENT/EXTENDED BRIDGE [in contrast to the typical development, while there is harmonic exploration there is no buildup of tension, and the material comprises the only lighthearted passages in the entire piece] 30:57 – Modulating sequential passages 31:45 – Strands of Theme 1 combined in three contrapuntal lines. One of the lines turns into – 32:08 – The magical return of the INTRODUCTION, whose distant A maj harmony functions as dominant to – RECAPITULATION/REPRISE 32:48 – D min, where Theme 1 returns in VAR.3, a striking canonic variation that fully exploits the theme’s sequential qualities to modulate back to F min 33:51 – Theme 1, VAR 4. It’s extraordinary how Chopin places a Bachian variation (No.3) right beside a full-blooded romantic one (the cantabile-decorative treatment of no.4). 34:33 – Theme 2, in Db maj, climax. [Note how beautiful the writing is: see e.g., 34:50, with the overlay of notes in groups of 4/6/9] 35:44 – Extended pause on dominant [structurally mirroring the introduction] CODA: 36:14