Ballade No. 2 in C

Ballade No. 2 in C major is both a tour de force and a delight—for the performer as well as the listener.

The piece is strictly symmetrical, structured in an A-B-C-B-A form, with harmony serving as the defining element. Accordingly, the individual sections move through the keys of C major, B-flat major, F major, B-flat major, and C major again.

After a brief introduction that plays around the key of C major and quickly dissolves the basic pulse of a 3/4 time signature, the main theme of the A section is introduced. A fiery yet open-sounding theme characterized by its two densely interwoven voices. These voices interplay with one another, plunging into the depths while simultaneously developing an intense drive in the left hand through the four-against-three accompaniment figure, which at times evokes rousing jazz passages.

Throughout the A section, phrases in 3/4 and 4/4 time alternate, building up to a climax in the form of short, rapid chord strums between the left and right hands.

The music transitions seamlessly into the B section with powerful sounds—a waltz that elegantly complements the A section. The four-bar waltz theme reaches the new key of B-flat major through an ascending chord progression supported by continuous octave-eighth notes in the left hand, which harmonically reach the upper fifth, ornamented by a melodically descending line of quintuplets. After a brief turn in G minor and the waltz theme’s reappearance, an augmented version of the same theme follows in a more heroic-sounding form. The thematic development culminates in a stretta, which, through a more complex and harmonically dense structure, leads the theme to a bright cadence.

The two eccentric outer movements are held together by the slow middle section, which serves as the piece’s center of calm. Even as the piece moves into the intermediate conclusion, the opening bars of the Adagio con spirito that follows can be heard, with its five-bar motif. The scene is set around the recitative tone “a,” which seeks to spread tranquility over the melodic line unfolding in the left hand. Yet this intention is quickly thwarted by the melodic outburst in the right hand, which represents a return to the eighth-note motif with an octave leap from the secondary phrase of the main theme in the A section. The middle section itself, structured in an a-b-a form, begins in the a-section to explore the possibilities of the five-beat motif, while the b-section, based on a modified motif and featuring a three-against-four movement of the voices, leads the listener into a three-part dialogue. A strangely darkly colored radiance unfolds. After the a-section sounds again, the piece returns to the powerful sounds of the waltz, resembling the awakening from a dream.

Now bathed in a new light, the waltz’s message emerges with even greater force and, following the stretta, culminates once again in a furious climax that also represents the piece’s most intense moment. Through undulating motifs, the climax ultimately builds toward the theme of the A section. The repeated development of this section leads to a radiant conclusion.

The piece for piano was written in spring and summer 2023.