Today marks 175 years since the death of Fryderyk Chopin.
A good opportunity to remember that at twenty-one, the composer wrote one of the most transcendental yet simple moments in the history of music. I am forever grateful that the Rubinstein recording of this exists, because no other pianist seems to understand how time should stand still during this passage.
Chopin is often gently mocked for the "hypocrisy" of his statement that 'simplicity [..] is the crowning reward of art,' but this is because people choose to remember only the embellishments of his works. Beautiful as the latter are, many of Chopin's greatest moments are his most devastatingly candid- the passage cited above, the return of the introduction in Ballade 4, this aching moment from the second concerto, the chorale from Op 15 no 3.....
His mazurkas, as a genre, are a fine example of the enigmatically simple. Few pianists play them convincingly despite their apparent triviality.
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