Chopin

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani sees Chopin as the Romantic composer par excellence, who nevertheless held Bach and Mozart as his favourite musicians: a modern who prefers the Ancien Régime1. He stresses his harmonic modernity, with pre-Tristan innovations, and the unison finale of the B-flat minor Sonata, which no one had dared before him2. In Chopin there is never a gratuitous note, even in pianism3. He highlights his qualities as a performer, which Liszt judged superior to his own in legato, nuance and tempi4. He connects him with the salon piano, a place of intimacy, and with the society life of the Nouvelle Athènes. His often melancholy music expresses, in his view, his era rather than his life5. He also mentions the Nocturne as a passage into the world of night and dream, the Berceuse as the summit of the genre, the waltzes and the polonaises. Finally, he comes back to the way his repertoire is received, from Russian pianists to the Warsaw competition.

1. 1La laïcité, vérité de la religion ?18 Feb 2024 · 50:14
2. 2Musicosophie 3. Qu'appelle-t-on une musique moderne?3 Dec 2020 · 27:23
3. 3Musicosophie 6. La Variation Jazz... de Beethoven15 Dec 2020 · 7:22
4. 4Musicosophie 17. L'interprétation25 Mar 2021 · 35:55
5. 5Musicosophie 8. Bonheur et malheur en musique11 Jan 2021 · 23:32

Summary produced automatically from 32 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.