In mei 1846 ontvluchtte Chopin Parijs waar hem het werken onmogelijk was geworden door al het bezoek. Hij trok naar Nohant, het landgoed van George Sand, waar de schrijfster werkte aan de roman Lucrézia Floriani en Chopin, ondanks een vreselijke hittegolf, een aantal van zijn geliefdste werken componeerde: de cellosonate, de ‘minutenwals’, de laatste twee nocturnes, drie mazurka’s en de barcarolle. Zeer uiteenlopende werken die door celliste Emmanuelle Bertrand en pianist Pascal Amoyel prachtig uitgevoerd worden en in hun historische context een meerwaarde krijgen. Het zou Chopins laatste zomer in Nohant blijken.
1846: Last year at Nohant
Cello Sonata, Piano Works
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
Mazurkas Op. 63 Nos. 1-3
Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65
Emmanuelle Bertrand (cello)
Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz'
Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2
Waltz No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64 No. 3
Mazurka No. 45 in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4
Two Nocturnes Op. 62
Pascal Amoyel (piano)
After a relationship lasting some ten years, the last few of which were stormy, Frédéric Chopin finally separated from George Sand in July 1847. It was on her estate at Nohant that, over seven summers, he had composed or completed the core of his oeuvre: the Fantaisie Op.49, a dozen mazurkas, the Berceuse, several nocturnes, two of the ballades, two of the scherzos, his last two sonatas, the Trois Nouvelles Études, three impromptus, three waltzes, two polonaises, among others. The summer of 1846, the last he spent in the Berry region, saw the birth of his final masterpieces for it was at Nohant that he composed, started, or finished the last pieces to be printed in his lifetime: ‘miniatures’ like the Mazurkas Op.63 and the Waltzes Op.64, or pieces with a more elaborate structure such as the Barcarolle Op.60, the Nocturnes Op.62a and the Sonata for piano and cello Op.65, the final published opuses that are brought together in this programme.
Pascal Amoyel and Emmanuelle Bertrand plunge us into the heart of those few months before the couple’s separation, when the ailing Chopin did not yet know that he was leaving his musical testament.