We take a moment to celebrate one of the great diplomats of classical music: Bugs Bunny. He turns 75 today, and so we begin with Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXAe-pL4J-g
For our mid-afternoon masterpiece, Chopin's Preludes Op. 28. Composed during an ill-fated winter retreat with his mistress, George Sand, and her children, it is a work of great beauty and some mystery. Why call them Preludes? Most believe that the individual pieces are not meant to introduce works other than the preludes, and, like Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, which Chopin had packed along, they have a formal design that binds them together. Are they simply introductions ad infinitum? Did he find himself beginning something beautiful with Sand that would end without proceeding? Were they a way to carry the listener to a perfect idea of tonality, at which point the listener can only be left in silent contemplation? Who knows? What we have, though, is one of the great works of piano music. And a little mystery only makes it more enjoyable.
