Accompanied by the Noord Nederlands Orkest (North Netherlands Orchestra), Spanish pianist Rosalía Gómez Lasheras performs Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21. Conductor: Stefan Asbury. Recorded at the finale of the Young Pianist Festival in Amsterdam on November 24, 2013. Lasheras won the competition.
Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
Chopin wrote the Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1870, at around 20 years of age, before he had finished his formal education. Chopin’s two piano concertos were written within a year of each other. It was the second of his piano concertos to be published (after the Piano Concerto No. 1), and so was designated as “No. 2”, even though it was written first.
The Piano Concerto No. 2 contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period: Maestoso, Larghetto, and Allegro vivace.
- Maestoso (F minor). The first movement is cast in double-exposition form, a variant of classical sonata form dating back to the eighteenth century, typically employed in concertos. The movement opens with a long orchestral exposition initially characterized by dotted, mazurka-like rhythms. Once the piano enters, the orchestra retreats into the background, the soloist carrying the musical argument from then on. The solo part enthusiastically offers up the full panoply of the virtuoso style yet tempers its razzle-dazzle showmanship with a degree of poetic cantilena atypical for concertos of the day. There is no need for a cadenza, given the nonstop virtuosity of the solo writing throughout the movement.
- Larghetto (A-flat major). Chopin intended the second movement, (Larghetto) as an expression of his first acute love for a woman, Konstancja Gladkowska, of whom he writes: “I already have my perfect one whom I have, without saying a word, served faithfully for a year now, of whom I dream, in whose memory the adagio of my concerto has been put up.”
- Allegro vivace (F minor – F major). The finale of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, arranged in a three-part, rondo-like form, offers up unmistakable references to Polish folk music, in the piquantly off-kilter rhythms of the mazurka and its slightly slower cousin, the kujawiak. The entire movement is refreshingly free of the endless figurations and pointless bombast of contemporary concertos but nonetheless brings the work to an appropriately vivacious close.
Rosalía Gómez Lasheras
Rosalía Gómez Lasheras (Santiago de Compostela, 1994) began studying piano at the age of 5 and expanded her knowledge at the Professional Conservatory of Santiago, where she finished her professional studies in 2011 with an Extraordinary Prize. That same year she moved to Holland to pursue higher studies at the Utrecht Conservatory with the American professor Alan Weiss.
In 2013, she won First Prize in the Young Pianist Foundation competition performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as the “Laureates Award” and the Best Performances of Classical Sonata, Schumann and Modern Music. She gave her recital at the Concertgebouwin Amsterdam.
In 2015, the Spanish newspaper El Correo Gallego awarded him the title of “Galician of the Year” for her outstanding career.
Awards
- Chopin Prize, VII Minho Piano Competition (Portugal, 2010)
- XVI Infanta Cristina Piano Competition (Madrid, 2012), youth category.
- XV Spring Cycle (Barcelona, 2012)
- Young Pianist Foundation Competition (Amsterdam, 2013), First Prize.
Sources
- Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin) on Wikipedia
- Rosalía Gómez Lasheras official website
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