The Grande Polonaise brillante is a work for piano and orchestra, although the piano part is often played on its own. This is usually considered to be Chopin’s most difficult piece for piano. The Andante spianato (spianato means “even, or smooth”) for solo piano was composed as an introduction to the Polonaise after Chopin received a long-awaited invitation to perform in one of Habaneck’s Conservatoire Concerts in Paris. The combined work was premiered by the composer there on April 26, 1835.

Chopin’s first work, written at age seven, had been a polonaise. The Grande Polonaise brillante of 1830-31 was to be the last such he would compose for several years. It preoccupied Chopin in his final months at Warsaw. It was finished at Vienna in 1831.

Andante spianato in G major

The quiet rippling effects of this introductory section are borne in a gentle 6/8, rounded with a chordal trio in C major, and a more processional 3/4. The very serene middle section is not a trio, but only a contrasting episode to complement the overall texture of the movement. Not being a trio, it is not in C major but remains in G major.

Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major

The Polonaise opens in fanfare. It moves into the ebullient and fearless dance form of which he was such a master. Chopin’s unexpected and brief excursions, the many electric shocks of surprise and alarm, and the sheer poetic gusto with which he approached these materials was astonishing and, for years, unequalled. In 1836 it was arranged as a piano quartet and, two years later, the solo piano work known today.

Consequently the polonaise has been regarded as one of the most famous and brilliant polonaise pieces.

By Nadejda Vlaeva

By Claire Huangci

By Evgeny Kissin Part 1/2

By Evgeny Kissin Part 2/2

By Yuindi Li

By Lang Lang

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Krystian Zimerman

Grande Polonaise brillante Op. 22 sheet music

Polonaise Op.71 No. 2 B flat major sheet music

Polonaise Op.71 No. 1 in D minor sheet music

This work was slow to gain favour with musicians, due to its harmonic complexity and intricate form. Arthur Hedley was one of the first critics to speak in its favour, writing in 1947 that it ‘works on the hearer’s imagination with a power of suggestion equalled only by the F minor Fantasy or the fourth Ballade’, although Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau and Vladimir Horowitz had been including it in their programmes some decades earlier.

It is intimately indebted to the polonaise for its metre, much of its rhythm, and some of its melodic character, but the fantaisie is the operative formal paradigm (Samson, 1988). Parallels with the Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49 include the work’s overall tonality, A flat, the key of its slower middle section, B major, and the motive of the descending fourth.

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By Colleen Lee part 1/2

By Colleen Lee part 2/2

By Sviatoslav Richter part 1/2

By Sviatoslav Richter part 2/2

Polonaise Op. 61 A-flat major sheet music

Although the piece is labeled as a polonaise, it has little to do with the typical polonaise style. It presents two sections with a polonaise rhythm, but most of it has no particular polonaise attribute. It has been said that Chopin had composed the piece having a free and powerful Poland in mind, which may have led him to label it as a polonaise.

Another possibility is that the Heroic Polonaise is closely related to the Polonaise in A major, Op.40, No. 1, known as the Military Polonaise, which, unlike the Heroic, is a true polonaise.

The tempo of the piece is Alla polacca e maestoso (”like a polonaise and majestic”). The form is ternary (A-B-A), with a 30-second introduction.

The piece has a grand introduction with fast ascending chromatic notes in both hands, setting the mood of the piece. It shows the heroic side of Chopin’s art.The first theme is a dance-like theme and is in the tonic key of A-flat major. It is the familiar part of the piece, and has the left hand moving in pounding octaves. The theme is repeated up an octave with short trills that fill some of the auditory gaps in the theme. There is a brief interlude with a series of chord progressions that lead into a recount of the traditional polonaise melody, with the polonaise rhythm employed in the left-hand accompaniment. The theme of Section A then repeats once before closing. Section B opens with six loud arpeggiando chords before switching to a very soft bass ostinato of descending octaves first in the key of E major and then in E-flat major. A march-like melody follows the descending octaves and this occurs twice. Section B ends, with a long lyrical interlude firstly with harmonic chord progressions and frequent modulations. A flowing sixteenth note melody in the right hand and light accompaniment in quavers (eighth notes). This ends in a descending passage before Section A is replayed. The theme is played louder and more dramatically and ends in a coda which includes material derived from the main theme.

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By Rafał Blechacz

By Martha Argerich

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By Emil Gilels

Polonaise Op. 53 A flat major sheet music

The polonaise is in ternary form, with a central Mazurka section in A major.

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By Evgeny Kissin part 1

By Evgeny Kissin part 2

By Vladimir Horowitz

Polonaise Op. 44 F sharp minor sheet music

Polonaise Op. 40 No. 2 C minor sheet music

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By Tzvi Erez

By Arthur Rubinstein

Polonaise Op. 40 No. 1 A major sheet music

Polonaise Op. 26 No. 2 E flat minor sheet music

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By Julio García Casas

Polonaise Op. 26 No. 1 C sharp minor sheet music