The Sound of Youth!

Composed in the years 1830-34, the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante is the last work by Chopin in the brilliant style. At first, it was supposed to be a work for solo piano, but later Chopin decided to include an orchestra. He began working on the piece in Warsaw, and its premiere, with Chopin as a soloist, took place in exile, in Paris.

This was a period in Chopin's work that musicologists often refer to as the "romantic breakthrough", which coincided with the years of the composer's European wanderings and is characterized by, among others, many strong patriotic experiences. It is commonly believed that the greatest works of music, and perhaps art in general, are the result of the great suffering of their creators. If this is so, then Mahler's Symphony No. 5 is a glorious exception to this rule. It is perhaps even the most emblematic symphony of the great Austrian composer. Although the piece is not a musical portrait of a romantic idyll, it was born out of the composer's fulfilled love for Alma Schindler.

The most recognizable motifs of the work include the trumpet solo opening the first part of the work with a rhythmic theme reminiscent of the beginning of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Perhaps Mahler wanted to show that in the old we should look for the seeds of the new? Mahler's "Five" is in many ways a revolutionary work, just as Beethoven's symphonies were in their time. The piece enters new musical territories that listeners appreciated only many years after the composer's death.