Piano Forum

If it was written by some obscure composer that no one gives a sh*t about, the "I prefer to listen to unknown composers" crowd would praise it as a work of genius. The thing is, if you compare it to his later works, it pales it comparison, but for its time (late 1820s) it is a remarkable, musical, and radical concertante piece. The variations are imbued with an energetic and imaginative pianistic writing style that no one at that time could rival.  The adagio and finale polonaise-like variations are just fantastic. Any 'mature', adult pianist-composer like John Field, Kalkbrenner, or Hummel from that era would have killed and sacrificed their families to have written at least one work like the op. 2. 'Immature' for us because of say the fact that we are not only out of touch with the era and its respective values, but also the fact that we have Chopin's entire catalog at our disposal and 150+ years of music too.

In the eyes of his contemporaries? Far from immature. In fact, Schumann called it a work of genius in his own review. Clara Wieck-Schumann herself a great up and coming concert pianist, expressed nothing but joy and excitement after examining the newly-published work.