LDV14

A liberation we then savour to the full in the Fourth Ballade . . . There, Chopin goes even further with these harmonic experiments and this polyphony that invades the texture. That’s not to say he abandons accompanied melody, but he substantially enriches his palette. His invention surprises us at every turn. In general, whatever Chopin does by way of virtuosity or stylistic experimentation, nothing is ever forced or ostentatious. Everything he does is always placed at the service of the poetic discourse; and that’s particularly striking in the Ballade in F minor. This Fourth Ballade also displays a somewhat remote character, as if Chopin were distancing himself from the things of this world, even if the vigour of the coda takes us back to the epic combats of his youth. There’s already a foretaste here of the disenchanted, serene melancholy of the last years. One sometimes has the impression of moving into another dimension, of one’s feet no longer touching the ground, of going over to the other side of the mirror . . . In the course of the four Ballades, one can perceive an exceptional stylistic and emotional development. And it happened in a very short period: just seven years elapsed between the completion of the First Ballade and the composition of the Fourth! 21 PHILIPPE BIANCONI