Of the first Mazurka, in B flat major, Szulc wrote that ‘it has hied the length and breadth of Poland. Who does not know it today?’ It is perhaps the most typical of Chopin’s mazurs, similar in character to the ‘drinking song’ titled ‘Hulanka’. This Mazurka has the form of a rondo. The refrain, of unconventional design, thrusts its way upwards, swinging and swaggering, before falling back down in a delicate scherzando. The first of the two episodes, the one in F major, is a kujawiak.
The second episode – its key not easy to specify – makes us wonder at its mysterious otherness; Vyacheslav Paskhalov heard Jewish intonations midst its notes. One might say about the B flat major Mazurka that it is one of the few that could be danced; indeed, it seems to pull us up onto the dance-floor.
Author: Mieczysław Tomaszewski
[Cykl audycji “Fryderyka Chopina Dzieła Wszystkie”]
Polish Radio, program II
