Nocturne · Nocturne in C-sharp minor
Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor (posthumous) was written around 1830, when Chopin was 20 and about to leave Poland for Vienna. The score was dedicated to his sister Ludwika and composed as an aid for her practice of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2; it quotes the melody from the concerto’s second movement. Chopin did not publish the piece during his lifetime. It appeared in 1875, 26 years after his death, and is therefore known as a posthumous work. In recent years it has become widely known through its use in the film The Pianist (2002). The piece is suffused with loneliness and restrained lyricism, with finely detailed and moving harmonies.
In 2020, I was working for Microsoft in Shanghai. I recorded this excerpt on the company’s piano after work one day; only a section is included here.
Recorded in Shanghai · 2020