Chopin: The Four Ballades (Cambridge Music Handbooks)

In a wide-ranging and illuminating discussion, Jim Samson combines history and analysis to provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of these popular piano works. He begins by investigating the social and musical background to Chopin's unique style. He describes the manuscript sources and evaluates the many subsequent printed editions, then considers the critical reception of the ballades and the differing interpretations of well-known nineteenth-and twentieth-century pianists.