Chopin: Polonaises

For Frédéric Chopin, the polonaise was far more than a social dance: it was closely linked to his Polish heritage and his relationship with his homeland. The seven polonaises collected on this album, dating from 1836 to 1846, demonstrate how far Chopin departed from the traditional forms of the dance, developing the genre into an independent and increasingly free piano form.

Janne Mertanen presents the two Polonaises op. 26, the two works op. 40, the Polonaise op. 44, the famous "Heroic" Polonaise op. 53, and the Polonaise-Fantaisie op. 61. The program thus traces a development from works still clearly anchored in the polonaise rhythm to the nearly completely dissolved dance form of the late Polonaise-Fantaisie.