More Grave than Gravy

Sometimes great music can't get a break. Robert Schumann suggested that Chopin had in this sonata "simply bound together four of his most unruly children." Rachmaninoff ignored Chopin's dynamic instructions for the third movement of this sonata just like Anton Rubinstein had before him. And the Polish virtuoso Ignacz Friedman played the finale as if ghosts were after him.

What piece of music had such a bumpy start? The Chopin Second
Piano Sonata in B-flat minor. Schumann was right, the funeral march came first and Chopin surrounded it with a highly romantic view of life and death. Most pianists today are more correct than terrifying when it comes to playing this masterpiece, but you can experience some of the many different ways this music can be played this Sunday on Texas Public Radio.

Hear what went into one of the all time best loved works of Chopin on the Piano, Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC & KTXI.

host Randy Anderson