The Chopin Ballade No1 and the three succeeding Ballades are big, sweeping Romantic declarations. In the opinion of many. these are his most successful compositions, not at all created for the salon, entirely suitable for performance in a large concert hall. In the Ballades, Chopin finds his most powerful and sustained voice. They are simply magnificent compositions for the piano.
The Chopin Ballade No1 is, to my mind, the most successful of the four. It seems to grow seamlessly out of a single thought, reach tasteful heights of passion and end when what needs saying is said. But along the way, there is a buffet of delights encouraging a range of options for differences of interpretation. Individual classical pianists return to this Ballade with new ideas performing it again and again in concert and in the studio.
Below you will find numerous excellent interpretations of the work including two performances each by Claudio Arrau and Krystian Zimerman, and, on a separate page all his own, six different performances by Vladimir Horowitz spanning some 40 years.
SOPHIA AGRANOVICH Ukranian Pianist Recorded in 2010
CLAUDIO ARRAU Chilean Pianist (1903-1991)
Recorded in 1977
VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY Russian Pianist (b.1937)
WILHELM BACKHAUS German Pianist (1884-1969) Recorded in 1952
IDIL BIRET Turkish Pianist (b.1941)
JORGE BOLET Cuban Pianist (1914-1990)
ALEXANDER BRAILOWSKY Russian Pianist (1896-1976)
TERESA CARRENO Venezuelan Pianist (1896-1976) 1905 piano roll
ALFRED CORTOT French-Swiss Pianist (1877-1962)
MONIQUE de la BRUCHOLLERIE French Pianist (1915-1972) Recorded live in Paris in 1962
Pietro de Maria Italian Pianist (b 1967)
YOURI EGOROV (1954-1988) Soviet Pianist Recorded in 1983
MASSIMILIANO FERRATI Italian Pianist (b 1970)
SERGIO FIORENTINO Italian Pianist (1927-1998) Recorded in 1995
ANDREI GAVRILOV Russian Pianist (b.1955)
Leopold Godowsky Polish-American Pianist (1870-1938) 1916 piano roll
