In 2025 he impressed us during PIANONOCTURNESinPRIMETIME. Now Naruhiko Kawaguchi – a finalist in the first Chopin competition on historical instruments – is back with the Ballades by the most piano-minded of all piano composers. The works are considered an absolute climax of Romantic keyboard repertoire. Each of the four Ballades has its own character, from dramatic and virtuoso to lyrical or meditative. Nevertheless, they share structural characteristics, such as the mirror reprise that brings back themes in the reverse order. Chopin’s pioneering work influenced generations of composers, including Liszt and Brahms who would go on to write ballades of their own. Kawaguchi takes his seat at an 1843 Pleyel, exactly the type of instrument that Chopin wrote this music for. The programme frames the Ballades with a funeral march, nocturnes, a prelude, polonaise and mazurka: poetry in virtuosity and vice versa.
Program
F. Chopin: Funeral March, opus 72 no. 2 | Ballade no. 1, opus 23 | Nocturne no. 12, opus 37 no. 2 | Ballade no. 2, opus 38 | Prelude in D? major, opus 28 no. 15 | Ballade no. 3, opus 47 | Polonaise no. 6, opus 53 | Ballade no. 4, opus 52 | Mazurka, opus 68 no. 4
Performers
Naruhiko Kawaguchi, piano (Pleyel, 1843)