Ballade No. 3 in A‑Flat Major

With its sighing two-note motif sewn into a delicate song-without-words passage—alternating with a lilting, dance-like section—Chopin's third Ballade is more lighthearted than its counterparts, bringing an upbeat flavour that contrasts dramatically with the ending of Ballade No. 2. The free-flowing style belies its carefully crafted structure, so that rumours suggesting the work stemmed from an off-the-cuff improvisation are unlikely to be true. Ballade No. 3 was composed in 1841 and first performed at a salon recital in 1842, in which the singer Pauline Viardot also appeared. The broken-octave theme—where Chopin uses the same note in different parts of the keyboard—reappears under various guises over the course of eight minutes, developing from gentle, lapping melodies into scalic progressions. The opening theme returns for a triumphant final outing, moving up and down the piano in increasingly complex forms before a typically Chopinesque descending scale brings the piece to an uncluttered conclusion. About Chopin's Ballades Composed between 1831 and 1842, Chopin's Ballades broke new ground with their free-form structures. The four pieces for solo piano are played as individual works in their own right, yet are united by a distinctive use of contrasting musical ideas (sometimes referred to as subjects). As a devotee of the newly invented piano, Chopin's compositions highlight the instrument’s poetic capabilities—finely wrought melodies and layered textures are central to the Ballades. But the Polish composer was also boldly innovative: the series is sprinkled with freewheeling keyboard acrobatics, punchy bass lines and harmonic surprises.