Hyperion Records

Drawing tangibly on material for the first movement of a concerto sketched in Paris in 1832, and tentatively on ideas for a concerto for two pianos discussed by Chopin in Vienna a couple of years previously, the Allegro de Concert in A major was completed in May 1841. References to its concerto genesis are found, overtly, in letters from Chopin’s father written in 1834 and 1835 (‘You don’t mention whether you have finished your third concerto’) as well as in Chopin’s own correspondence (where it is specifically identified as a ‘concerto’ in a missive to Fontana from early October 1841).

In this allegro, Schumann told his readers in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, ‘a fine middle melody is wanting, though the cantilena is rich in new and brilliant passages; but it floats past us too restlessly, and we feel the absence of a slow after-movement, an adagio – for the entire plan suggests a complete concerto in three movements. The idea of raising the pianoforte to the highest point of independence possible, and of rendering the orchestra unnecessary, is a favourite one with young composers, and it seems to have influenced Chopin in the publication of his allegro in this form; but this new attempt again proves the difficulty of the task, though it will by no means serve as a warning against future endeavours.’

from notes by Ates Orga © 1992