DESCRIPTION:
Chopin's first nocturne op. 9 no. 1 in B flat minor played by Rubinstein.
The Nocturnes, Op. 9 are a set of three nocturnes written by Frédéric Chopin between 1830 and 1832 and dedicated to Madame Camille Pleyel. The work was published in 1833.
This nocturne has a rhythmic freedom that came to characterise Chopin's later work. The left hand has an unbroken sequence of quavers in simple arpeggios throughout the entire piece, while the right hand moves with freedom in patterns of eleven, twenty, and twenty-two notes.
The opening section moves into a contrasting middle section, which flows back to the opening material in a transitional passage where the melody floats above seventeen consecutive bars of D-flat major chords. The reprise of the first section grows out of this and the nocturne concludes peacefully with a Picardy third.