Fr. Chopin: Piano Sonata no. 3 op. 58 in B minor (programme notes)
Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata no. 3 in B minor op. 58 (programme notes)
Composed in 1844, the Piano Sonata no. 3 in B minor certainly marks a summit in Chopin’s creative output. The Sonata has been created during some of his most productive period of his life - a period which coincided, unsurprisingly, with the happiest years of his relationship with George Sand. It was a time when the Polish composer would experiment with old contrapuntal techniques after having delved into the study of earlier polyphonic compositions of Baroque composer J. S. Bach. The constrains of writing a cohesive work in sonata form never really suited Chopin’s style, he much preferred writing shorter pieces: Ballades, Mazurkas, Preludes, Impromptus, Scherzi or Nocturnes, yet during the last years of his short life he challenged himself crafting some of the most imaginative works for this genre: the Sonata no. 2 in B-flat minor op. 35 “Funeral March” and the Sonata no. 3 in B minor.
The narrative of the first movement of the Third Sonata echoes the structures of his ballades. The music begins with a resolute descending theme in B minor paired with emphatic decisive chords. This moment is reiterated multiple times, but always in constant evolution - the composer guides us through a variety of keys, ultimately leading to a cascade of chromatic scales in the left hand, that accompany a lyrical canon of two voices in the right hand. From the extremities of the piano, the hands move in contrary motion towards the centre of the keyboard creating a highly original pianistic moment in Chopin’s music. The turbulence that follows condensates into the second theme - a gushing melody of towering proportions that ebbs and flows in a nocturne-like atmosphere. What is truly surprising here is the myriad of melodies that follow this exquisite second theme. We witness a truly visionary composer who reinvents the Sonata form - the music does not end with the polarity between the first and second themes, but it provides the drive to an incessant outpouring of melodies. A truly miraculous passage is the development section: an audacious moment from a harmonic perspective. The use of chromaticism and polyphony emphasises the relentlessness of the music to find the home key, B minor. Unlike the classical sonata blueprint, the music never returns to its first theme - but instead we land on the majestic second theme this time in the key of B major.
The second movement is a S cherzo, a witty impromptu with light and feather-like streams of rapid runs in the right hand. The hazy middle section with incessant prolonged harmonies – dissonances that are unable to find their resolutions, allows us to enter a dream world, transporting us into the unreal.
A majestic gesture in dotted rhythms signals the beginning of the Largo, our third movement. A remarkable nocturne follows, where one recognises Chopin’s great love for Italian opera in the singing melodic line of the right hand. The accompaniment has a distinct rhythmic design, echoing the dotted opening gesture of the movement. The inner section is shaped as a contemplative act, a passage where the harmonic paces slows down dramatically opening the gates to a territory of immobile, quiet introspection.
The great finale takes the form of an inexorable rondo - a surging and unstoppable movement whose refrain gives a feeling of incessant power. Episodes of bravura appear, with fast descending scales. The music is swelling unstoppably and as the dam finally breaks, we are faced with a highly virtuosic coda that proclaims the conclusion of this masterpiece.
