Chopin's Mazurkas - Part 1 @ r1
This is my third installment in the 2022 music project series. Chopin is my favorite composer, except for the stuff he wrote that I don't like. However, I have at one time another either played or listened to everything he's done. Or so I thought.
I recently realized that I had not listened to all of his mazurkas. The reason for this is that I don't really like them. They're supposed to be traditional dances or something, but they're not very dance-like. The melody is generally either boringly simple or way too complex. And my god the repetition!
Anyway, I figured I could blow through 51 of his mazurkas and then I can say that I've listened to them. Apparently there are more, published after his death, or whatever, but those ones aren't in my book of Chopin's Mazurkas, so I'm going to ignore them.
The Mazurkas
My plan is to listen to them, while following along in the score. Perhaps I'll write some thoughts, but mostly I thought it might be neat to rank them in a purely objective manner, i.e. how much I like them. Or maybe not. I haven't really decided, yet.
Quatre Mazurkas
For Contessa Pauline Plater. I'm sure she was thrilled.