The best Chopin ballade coda

[piabanoch]

The best chopin ballade coda?

[the_franzliszt]

Most known - Ballade no. 1
Hardest - Ballade no. 4
Easiest - Ballade no. 3
Best - (Get ready for an unpopular opinion) - Ballade no. 2

[piabanoch]

it's not unpopolar your opinion. ballade n 2 coda gives me op 10 n 7 vibes

[mjames]

Most known - Ballade no. 1
Hardest - Ballade no. 4
Easiest - Ballade no. 3
Best - (Get ready for an unpopular opinion) - Ballade no. 2

2nd Ballade is pure genius, agreed. The 4th ballade however, is way too cleverly written for it to not be the best. It has the best build up out of all the 4, the recap before the pianissimo chords are so climactic it fools newcomers into thinking it's a majestic grand finale; only for the coda to swoop in and blindside you with a dark, twisted encapsulation of all the thematic material in the piece, all wrapped in its glorious virtousity. The final 4 chords just being another but final reinstatement of the main theme perfectly ends the piece.

I love all the 3 previous works, but no. 4 is just Chopin's magnum opus imo. The first 3 ballades can't compare to it. The level of writing he displays here is just in another world really - only matched by his Barcarolle and maybe his Polonaise Fantasie.

[transitional]

I'm not a big fan of those crazy impressive codas as much as the depth and profoundness of the actual pieces, but they're still enjoyable. My favorite codas are: 3-2-4-1

Ballade 3's maintains the original, dance like state in a faster form, making it my favorite of the codas. It's the most consistent, predictable, ballade. And I like how it's fast and fun but not too fast, major key but still dramatic, not over the top.

After that, I like Ballade 2's approach of bringing out the ideas while maintaining the chord progression and nature of the piece. It fits in nicely with the general scope of the piece, and keeps it from being a dull 5 minutes.

Ballade 4's coda, while not as deep as the rest of the piece, comes afterwards. It wraps up the piece quickly and effectively, though I do think that the transition from the long enjoyable droning that came before it does not work the best.

I love all of ballade 1, but the ending is made to impress. All those scale runs, just make me want to finish listening to the piece, despite its attractive motifs throughout the exposition.

If you're wondering, my favorites of the entire pieces are 3-4-1-2. They're all great though, really the pinnacle of chopin. I also wouldn't say there's a single underrated ballade. So far I've heard the interpretations of Krystian Zimmerman, Seong-Jin Cho, Lang Lang, Rubenstein, Goldstein, Prjevalskaya, Traum Piano, and some musescore copies. There's so much more I've got to explore with them I suppose

[lelle]

I love all of ballade 1, but the ending is made to impress. All those scale runs, just make me want to finish listening to the piece, despite its attractive motifs throughout the exposition.

I disagree. I think it's some morbid dance of death, and the ending is a tragedy. They should sound like flashes of lightning, shuddering screams, interjected with chords like heavy tombstones. If the scales sound like boring technical show-off rather than evoking death it's the pianist's fault.

[flyusx]

Ballade 4 has the better buildup. Ballade 2 closely follows, because it's the only Ballade I am good enough to play.