David Stewart wrote:

>I just wonder why you would want to bother with these works.  I have
>found Chopin to be incapable of sustaining a feeling of direction
>for any length of time.....

David is correct that Chopin's orchestrations leave much to be desired;
he was weak in this area.  However, I still greatly enjoy Chopin's piano
concertos and have a few different versions.  They are beautiful works with
highly memorable musical invention.  As for not sustaining direction, how
does David feel about Chopin's piano sonatas?

>Compare it to Brahms, whose subjects are infinitely developable....

Yes, Brahms cetainly displays a much greater command of orchestration than
Chopin.  But, I still prefer Chopin's piano concertos to those of Brahms.
Nobody in the romantic era could spin out great piano melodies like Chopin.
To me, this strength overcomes Chopin's orchestration weaknesses.

Don Satz
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