The Chopin concerto known as No.2 was actually the first to be composed, between autumn 1829 and early 1830. The so-called No.l was written during April-August 1830 and published in 1833, whereas the F minor, because of delays in preparing the orchestral parts, was not printed until 1836. It contains features that were to remain characteristic of Chopin, for example the type of dotted rhythm figure which opens the Maestoso and can be found throughout his subsequent work. This first theme is, in fact, memorable, and the initial orchestral passage well prepares for the soloist's dramatic entry. Usually the orchestra's role is subsidiary, the piano's responsibilities almost continuous and often elaborate, nearly self-sufficient. A real sonata-form development is not undertaken, for rather does the keyboard part elaborate and comment on the movement's themes with fantasy and constant invention. A Larghetto, Chopin's slow movement is the heart of this concerto, and it may be significant that it was completed first. Great lyrical intensity is conveyed, and the piano writing is still more original, above all in the central declamatory section, a kind of instrumental recitative. Polish folk music has its place in this concerto's finale, an Allegro vivace. This is a large scale rondo with piquantly contrasting episodes and a solo part that is more overtly athletic than in the preceding movements. Yet the result is still both picturesque and expressive. The Concerto in E minor follows a similar path though rather more decisively. It was composed when Chopin and his compatriots were hoping for Polish independence. The Russians duly crushed the insurrection in September 1831, but there is no mistaking the heroic spirit of the Allegro maestoso. Like its equivalent in the F minor Concerto, it is hardly a masterpiece of formal structure, and Chopin's keeping to the tonic for both first and second subjects is most unusual. True, when the first subject reappears in C major at the start of the development the effect is striking. And weaknesses of form and orchestration seem of comparatively little moment beside the poetry and brilliance of the solo part. As in the F minor Concerto, there is an outpouring of passionate melody in the central Larghetto, which Chopin in this case entitled "Romance". A calm, melancholy piece, this is succeeded by a rondo, headed Vivace, that is in E major like the slow movement, though it starts in the relative minor. It takes part of its character from the "krakowiak", a dance from the Cracow region of Poland, in fast duple time and noted for syncopated rhythms. END
