Tom Borrow: Chopin recital

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Nightscapes, fantasies and inventive brilliance in this all-Chopin programme.

Chopin’s works for solo piano frequently broke the rules. They delighted and baffled contemporary audiences in equal measure; today, they still have the power to startle. In pieces such as the Polonaise-Fantaisie, the composer embarked on wild, expressive journeys, sustaining the intensity across an extraordinary span. In the earlier Nocturnes, he conjured dreamy, sometimes disturbing landscapes. His Piano Sonata, while more or less following a conventional format, runs riot with rhapsodic melodies, a tiny, dazzling Scherzo and a tempestuous finale. The effect is exhilarating.

Described as having a ‘mesmerising coiled-spring stillness’, Tom Borrow is celebrated for his instinctive and poetic musicianship – an ideal match for this programme.

Programme: Frédéric Chopin · Nocturnes Op 15 · Polonaise-Fantaisie · Piano Sonata No 3 — Tom Borrow piano