Piano Concerto No. 1 (Chopin)

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The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 by the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin was composed in 1830. Although it is numbered first, it was composed slightly after his Piano Concerto No. 2.

It contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

Allegro maestoso
Romance - Larghetto
Rondo - Vivace

Classical critics usually fall in to one of two schools of thought concerning the piece. The first of these says that given that Chopin was a composer for the piano first and foremost, with only a small amount of his music not containing a piano part at all, the orchestral part of this piece acts more as a vehicle for the pianist, which the individual instrumental parts being uninteresting to perform. The second suggests that the orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony.

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