chopin ballade

[jeremyjchilds]

This statement was made by chopin fans...would the tradeoff be worth it?

[Skeptopotamus]

meh...... we already have 4 ballades, 4 scherzi, a polonaise-fantasie and the fantasy op. 49.  I think that's enough.

[jehangircama]

as much as I love Chopin, I have to say Beethoven's sonatas are absolutely brilliant. as
skepto said, there are already 4 ballades....

[Bouter Boogie]

I agree with Skeptopotamus!

[maxy]

Ballade 4 is already a pure gem of piano music.  I don't see how a 5th ballade could be better... 

[thierry13]

There are some Beethoven sonatas I would play over any chopin work... If you remove the Beethoven sonatas to this world, you remove the hammer from the pianos...

[da jake]

Heh, I love the 1st and 4th Ballade individually far more than any Beethoven Sonata, but I wouldn't subsitute 30-some works (some great) for another Ballade. It's just not fair to Beet-dawg.

[viking]

Bach P&F's are the Old Testament.  Beethoven Sonatas are the New Testament.  How would life be like without Jesus?? 
SAM

[jeremyjchilds]

Bach P&F's are the Old Testament.  Beethoven Sonatas are the New Testament.  How would life be like without Jesus?? 
SAM

I should repent for my foolishness...

I read that somewhere, I guess it's not as controversial as I thought it would be...(I thought we had some "hardcore" chopin people here) I don't agree with the statement either...

forget I posted, read something more interesting.

[Barbosa-piano]

 No way... Chopin himself would disagree, I would say, because he valued those works greatly. These Sonatas are a collection that will remain as a mark of extraordinary human invention, and they are related to the history of the piano building as well. I love Chopin's music very much, but doing this exchange, would be like trading all of Scarlatti's Sonatas for a Waltz.

[etudes]

No way... Chopin himself would disagree, I would say, because he valued those works greatly. These Sonatas are a collection that will remain as a mark of extraordinary human invention, and they are related to the history of the piano building as well. I love Chopin's music very much, but doing this exchange, would be like trading all of Scarlatti's Sonatas for a Waltz.

i prefer scarlatti more than any chopin waltz 

[Jacey1973]

Oh come on! Beethoven over Chopin anyday, as much as i love Chopin i just can't put his music on the same level as Beethoven. Beethoven's music was Godly Chopin's slightly less so...

[mlsmithz]

If you remove the Beethoven sonatas to this world, you remove the hammer from the pianos...

Well, you would be removing the Hammerklavier, after all....

Not a fair exchange, I agree.  There are too many moments of magic across the thirty-two sonatas (even the weaker ones have such moments) to make it worth getting rid of them just to get one more Chopin ballade.  As Barbosa says, without the Beethoven sonatas, there would have been no Chopin (well, at least, he probably would not have been the composer we all know and we almost all love).  Even sacrificing the complete Beethoven sonatas to prolong Chopin's life by ten years or so to see what he could have composed had he not died aged 39 would probably be a mistake. (Although I do often wonder how things might have been different had such composers as Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Chopin not died in their 30s.  But it's not worth zapping the Beethoven sonatas to find out, I think.)