Louis Lortie’s programme for this eighth and final volume of Chopin spans the composer’s entire career, from the teenage Rondo, Op. 1 through to his final published piece, the Cello Sonata, Op. 65.
Inspired by a visit to the estate of Prince Antoni Radziwill in 1829, the Introduction and Polonaise brillante, Op. 3 was written for the prince (a keen cellist) and his pianist daughter Wanda, and was published in 1831 in Vienna, shortly before Chopin’s move to Paris.
Variations brillantes, Op. 12 was based on the theme ‘Je vends des Scapulaires’ from the (now long-forgotten) opera Ludovic.
Single-handedly responsible for establishing the popularity of the mazurka, Chopin wrote almost sixty of these works in his lifetime. The two sets here date from 1842 (Op. 50) and 1844 (Op. 56) whilst the composer was at the height of his powers – and popularity in the salons of Paris.
Chopin struggled with the composition of the Cello Sonata, taking two years, from 1845 to 1847, before finally premièring it at his last public concert, in Paris, on 16 February 1848. He was striving to find a ‘new style’ in his composition, whilst at the same time struggling under failing health and the breakdown of his long-standing relationship with the novelist George Sand. His perseverance paid off, and the sonata remains a cornerstone of the repertoire.