Naruhiko Kawaguchi, Poetry in virtuosity: Chopin's ballads

In 2025, he impressed during PIANONOCTURNESinPRIMETIME. Now Naruhiko Kawaguchi – laureate of the first Chopin competition on historical instruments – returns with the Ballades of the most pianistic of all piano composers. The works are considered an absolute highlight in the romantic keyboard repertoire. Each of the four Ballades has its own character, from dramatic and virtuoso to lyrical to meditative. Yet they share structural features, such as the mirror reprise that brings themes back in reverse order. With his pioneering work, Chopin influenced generations of composers, including Liszt and Brahms, who later also wrote ballades themselves. Kawaguchi takes his place at a Pleyel from 1843, exactly the type of instrument for which Chopin wrote this music. The program frames the Ballades with a funeral march, nocturnes, a prelude, polonaise, and mazurka: poetry in virtuosity – and vice versa.