All three of these waltzes are well known favourites and were the last to be published in Chopin’s lifetime, dating from 1847, two years before his untimely death. The first, nowadays known as the Minute Waltz, has always been by far the most widely performed - even street organs used to play their helter-skelter versions of it. It was published as Valse du Petit Chien, the little dog in question being that of the novelist George Sand. The dog, named Marquis, amused Chopin by continually chasing its tail one night at Sand’s house in the Square d’Orleans in Paris. Sand suggested that Chopin should put it to music - which he did. The second waltz is in the ‘Moonlight’ key of C# minor and is wistfully laconic and full of charming twists and turns. It was used in Glazunov’s ballet, Les Sylphides and has always been popular with pianists and audiences alike. The third waltz is, by complete contrast, genial and forthright and has a subtly syncopated feel that playfully delights with its curves of quavers that momentarily stop over the third beat of the bar and resume as if in another curve in a different direction, like a dancer acknowledging acquaintances with a nod while weaving across the dance floor. Peter Lawson
- ISMN: 9790222329645 (M222329645)
