Hyperion Records

The nickname is not Chopin’s—he loathed descriptive titles—but the moniker nonetheless conveys something important: the waltz unfolds as if it lasted only a minute. What the clock measures does not matter; we sense the birth and death of a musical world in a seeming instant. In this metaphorical minute, time bends: bars and beats stretch (Chopin’s famous rubato), the outer sections bustle by, the middle section sings. Chopin condenses the whole idea of the dance into a few brief moments.

from notes by Jeffrey Kallberg © 2011