into the Burgmuller spirit once again.. What a great composer so attuned to growing a piano technique within a divine musical frame…
A piece that’s popular among piano students and often steers them back on course, is Burgmuller’s “Ballade.” In previous blogs, I highlighted “The Chase,” “Harmony of the Angels,” and “Tarentelle,” from this Op. 100 Collection of 25 Progressive Pieces.
Burgmuller’s tableau in C minor, (“Ballade”) seems to capture the spirit of Halloween in its opening that’s marked misterioso though the title might suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, when I play this composition, I think of scary images in the first two phrases of part A, before full blown Romantic era lyricism is on display in the Interlude, Part B, in mood changing C MAJOR.
Finally the spooks return in a repeat of Part A (back to “minor”) followed by an added miniature ending (Codetta)
Ballade presents many technical and musical challenges:
1) In Part A and its return, the left hand needs to be fleshed out above the redundant chords played by…
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