Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849): Étude Op. 25 No. 5 in E Minor

Jasmin Fors, piano

The “Chopin@Home” recording series continues:

Chopin’s Étude Op. 25, No. 5 in E Minor begins with what seems like an amiable tomfoolery on what is allowed and what is not, with undertones that never lose their elegance or brilliance. A dissonant theme builds into a texture of rich, vivid and delicate variations.

After the first theme, the listener is invited to enter a new world of sincere beauty: the midpassage, which flows on, striving for – before eventually taking wing – towards a musical and emotional freedom.

The return to the initial dissonant theme – with the agile alternating intervals turned into a series of triads – recreates the atmosphere, which is now more melancholic and resigned.

The fantastically creative climax for the musical tension built up through the entire étude includes a series of crotchets or quarter notes, accompanied by three fortes, stepping up along the keyboard without the constraints of time signatures, in a frantic search for an eventual freedom!

–JF

English translation by Päivi Tikkanen