Chopin, Piano Concerto No 1

When Chopin settled in Paris in 1831, six years earlier the German-born pianist, teacher, and piano maker Friedrich Kalkbrenner had done the same. After a long period in London as a pianist and businessman, he had arrived in the City of Light, the center of European musical activity at the time, carrying the title of "the best pianist in Europe", made up by himself. Twenty-one-year-old Chopin, a newcomer, came to him for advice and contacts. Kalkbrenner offered to make him an accomplished virtuoso within three years if he would take lessons with him.

Chopin hesitates

It is true that Chopin had not had a piano teacher until then. Those who gave him the basic tools were his teachers in Warsaw, but one was a violinist and the other a composer. So it is not surprising that he wrote enthusiastically to his parents and sisters that he intended to stay in Paris for "about three years," precisely the time frame suggested by Kalkbrenner. But his enthusiasm for his potential teacher waned as, with the weapons he already possessed, he dazzled those attending the Parisian soirées where he was invited to play. Finally, Chopin resigned Kalkbrenner's support but he honored him with the dedication of his Concerto in E minor, when it was published in Paris in 1833.

A young Chopin, by Ary Scheffer

The second concerto

It was the second piano concerto Chopin wrote, but the first to be published. For this reason, the publisher assigned it No. 1. The first had been the Concerto in F minor, which would be published three years later, in 1836, and consequently designated as No. 2.

Both were composed in Warsaw, when Chopin was between 19 and 20 years old. They both had their premiere on the occasion of the numerous soirees organized to bid farewell to the young virtuoso who was leaving Warsaw with the idea of being away for "about three years", but who would never return.

Concerto No. 1 in E minor, opus 11

Then and now, there has been no shortage of opinions about the weakness, or the lack of ingenuity or brilliance of Chopin's orchestration. Uninteresting, is the most common imputation. It happens that the young composer does not have as models the Beethovenian or Mozartian concerto, but those of his contemporaries, less notable (Hummel, Hiller, or Kalkbrenner himself), in which the piano is openly the protagonist, with the orchestra on a secondary plane, in charge of the initial exposition of the themes and of underlining the moments of great expressiveness in support of the soloist. What they all agree on is that the piano writing is unparalleled.

Movements:

There are three, typical of the period:

00        Allegro maestoso

21:07  Romance. Larghetto

30:56  Rondo. Vivace

From the Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, on 27 August 2010. Martha Argerich and the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk.