Saturday Art: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. In E Minor

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If art evokes emotion, music qualifies as a most evocative art form, as it can bring out the most complex emotions.

Today's edition of 'Saturday Art' is one such piece. It is deeply expressive and a profoundly emotional work. What makes this piece so overwhelming lies in the way Chopin weaves emotional complexity into the music. The opening orchestral introduction is dark and brooding, setting a tone of longing and restlessness. When the piano enters (at 4:25), it doesn’t burst in with bravado but with a poetic intimacy, almost as if the piano is speaking directly to you.

I wish to share some background on how I first encountered this piece. I was a member of the British Council Library, which was at one time behind the LIC building at Nariman Point. It also had a Records (LP) library where you could borrow records just like books. I was in my twenties and having got interested in Western Classical music had once picked up this Chopin LP.

While there is grandeur in Beethoven's work, Chopin style is of intimate expressiveness. I had picked up and started appreciating these nuances at the records library. There was this Parsi gentleman, a member, who was kind enough to initiate me in appreciation of genre of music. He even pronounced the names of the composers correctly, for example, Chopin is pronounced as "SHOW-pan", Concerto as "kuhn·cheuh·toh". Must also mention of a Parsi lady at Kharegat colony at Hughes Road, from whom I had purchased a number of cassettes of Western Classical music. Each cassette was neatly labeled, with a typewritten sleeve meticulously detailing the music.

More than Beethoven or Mozart, there was something profoundly moving about Chopin. Ever since I first  heard this particular piece, it has remained my all time favourite musical composition. Somehow it always brings tears to the eyes whenever I listen to it and it happened this time too when I heard it again for writing this.

The emotions I feel probably stem from how Chopin’s music bypasses intellectual defenses and speaks directly to the heart. The longing and nostalgia embedded in the concerto could reflect my own life’s journey, memories of youth, the passage of time, and the bittersweet beauty of life. Chopin had a rare art for distilling the most complex human emotions into music, and perhaps that’s why it feels so personal and overwhelming every time I listen to it. 

The concerto also reflects intense emotional vulnerability—a mix of hope, sorrow, and nostalgia and it is no surprise that it continues to stir such deep feelings in me after all these years. 

Coming to the piece, it is a pianist’s dream. More than an orchestral composer, Chopin's strength lies in the sheer beauty of the piano part. The concerto is filled with sweeping, expressive melodies, intricate filigree, and moments of sublime tenderness. Unlike other composers who sought orchestral grandeur, Chopin keeps the concerto introspective. Thus we get drawn by its emotional depth and  poetic lyricism.

The accompanying video is one of the finest interpretations of the piece. Olga Scheps would do Chopin proud with her infinite grace and artistry, while taking us through a deeply moving emotional journey. The way she raises her hand and drops it ever so gently on the piano keys is an indication of her immense control, at the same time  giving her interpretation an immersive, aesthetic appeal. When the piano enters, we are stunned with the sheer delicacy and emotion with which she plays. Her smile and expression show supreme confidence, complete involvement...and enjoyment.

Olga Scheps

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