Favorite Chopin Piano Sonata

[scherzo123]

I like Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 3 the best. 

[counterpoint]

Of course No.3 

What if the no.2 is not a work of Chopin at all?
I would not be very surprised   

[davidjosepha]

What if the no.2 is not a work of Chopin at all?
I would not be very surprised   

Interesting you say that, because my feelings on Chopin's works range from indifference to adamant hate, except his second sonata, which I absolutely love, although the marche funebre gets a bit much to listen to...

[patrickd]

No 3

[werq34ac]

Is this even a question? no. 3 by far

[pianowolfi]

Of course No.3 

What if the no.2 is not a work of Chopin at all?
I would not be very surprised   

How come? 
To me it's Chopin at his best, too, though I also like the 3d Sonata most

[forte88]

No 1 coz I like all the movements of that sonata. It's also got something that the later works lack. It's also around this period that he wrote the piano concertos. Maybe it was just youthful exuberance or perhaps it's an insight into how good Chopin would have become were it not for his bronchial troubles. I'm sure the connaisseurs will disagree, but know one connaisseur and you know them all as they all seem to have exactly the same opinion

[scherzo123]

No 1 coz I like all the movements of that sonata. It's also got something that the later works lack. It's also around this period that he wrote the piano concertos. Maybe it was just youthful exuberance or perhaps it's an insight into how good Chopin would have become were it not for his bronchial troubles. I'm sure the connaisseurs will disagree, but know one connaisseur and you know them all as they all seem to have exactly the same opinion

It's OK, it's your opinion.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I really like the third one.

I freaking HATE the second one!

I'll take any Bach p&f over that sonata any day!

[scherzo123]

I freaking HATE the second one!

I'll take any Bach p&f over that sonata any day!

That's...a lot of hate...

[forte88]

It's OK, it's your opinion.

That's what I'm getting at, why do all the educated opinions say the same thing? And not just with music. And why is that 'opinion' more often than not completely off the mark?
Perhaps coz the successful musicians/economists/etc don't have time to teach and the unsuccessful ones teach the new generation old ways to fail?

[j_menz]

What's wrong with the second?

The sonatas in general aren't my favourite Chopin works, but I don't see No 2 as notably more dire.

[davidjosepha]

What's wrong with the second?

The sonatas in general aren't my favourite Chopin works, but I don't see No 2 as notably more dire.

Ah, it's just that rach forever isn't a native english speaker. He said

I freaking HATE the second one!

I'll take any Bach p&f over that sonata any day!

but what he was trying to say was

I freaking LOVE the second one!

But I just love Bach so much, I'll still take any Bach p&f over that sonata any day!

Talk about lost in translation!

[49410enrique]

well, thought there's cello in it too, to me it's a piano sonata and my favorite of the Chopin sonatas.
Cello Sonata in G-, Op.65
background info, friendly FYI/for enrichment purposes (lifted from one of my program notes collection)
Key: G-
 Year: 1845-46

1.Allegro moderato
2.Scherzo: Allegro con brio
3.Largo
4.Finale: Allegro


Chopin's cello sonata, Op. 65, was his last major work. Apart from the piano, the cello was the only instrument for which Chopin composed substantial amounts of music; in 1832 he had written the Grand Duo Concertant for the cellist Auguste Franchomme. In part because of the presence of the cello, and in greater part because of the formal characteristics of the piece, the composition of the cello sonata occupied Chopin for an unusually long period. He worked on it through 1845 and well into 1846, sketching and drafting as he had not done before, and at one point complaining to his sister, "I write a little and cross out a lot." Extant sketches show that Chopin did indeed discard an incredible amount of material and redrafted most of his ideas before deciding on the final form of the work. The piece was printed in Paris in 1847. Chopin and Franchomme premiered the sonata in Paris to great acclaim, in what was to be the last performance of Chopin's career.

Much of Chopin's anguish stemmed from his difficulties in the shaping the relationship between the two instruments. That he mostly composed the cello part first was perhaps at the heart of the matter, for Chopin was forced to curb his keyboard tendencies and remove himself from his natural idiom. It is no surprise that the piano part often sounds uncharacteristic of Chopin. Furthermore, because he chose to engage himself with the Germanic sonata idea, as he had in his piano sonatas, he had to set aside his predilection for ternary forms with codas and achieve contrast and develop logical structures in new and unfamiliar ways.

Chopin takes great care to distribute the material equally between the cello and piano, and he accomplishes this goal in a variety of ways. For instance, in the first group of themes in the first movement we hear passages of piano solo, piano with cello accompaniment, cello with a substantial piano counter-subject, cello with only light piano accompaniment, and counterpoint in which the two partners are equal. After the second group opens with rounded phrases for each instrument, a three-part invention involving both instruments ensues. The Germanic aspect of the movement becomes clear in Chopin's development of an integrated sonata form from a few related motives. Inversion and other transformations of motives from the first few measures occur even in the exposition. One of the cello's most important motives, a rising and falling half-step, comes not from the main theme but from prefatory material, and what seem like mere connective gestures evolve into parts of themes. It is not surprising that Chopin moves to the relative major (B flat), but what is striking is his path—a string of dominant-seventh harmonies—toward this goal. Throughout, Chopin diminishes the punctuating potential of his cadences by writing continuous melody over them, giving a sense of constant growth.

Chopin creates relationships among the four movements of the sonata through melodic references. The primary cello motive of the first movement, a rising and falling half-step, opens the lush second movement, the folksy scherzo, and the tarantella finale—further evidence that Chopin was consciously experimenting with German compositional methods. The clear divisions between cello and piano in the second movement contrast with the more integrated use of the instruments in the first movement, while the finale sounds, at times, like Mendelssohn. The end result is a unique, un-Chopinesque work

[unholeee]

bachmaninoff

ahahah

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Ah, it's just that rach forever isn't a native english speaker. He said

but what he was trying to say was

Talk about lost in translation!

Hey I speak English just fine!  Don't twist my words!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

[davidjosepha]

Hey I speak English just fine!  Don't twist my words!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

What's wrong with the second?

I think it sounds too cliche.

[outin]

My favorite is the 3rd (and also the cello sonata if that counts) since it is more coherent than the 2nd and feels like one piece unlike the 2nd one. Also some of the writing is much more beautifil in the 3rd. In the second I like some movements more than others, the 3rd I like as a whole. The only part that I don't like is the end, I always feel it ended too soon