Well that was just... lovely! - Chopin's Nocturnes and 24 Preludes

Whew, finally... historically speaking. I mean, with a world full of people thinking that "Nocturne" was synonomous with "pretty, simple melody line with the worst accompaniment ever" (perhaps I exaggerate, perhaps not...) it was about time someone showed them what pretty was all about. So in walks Show-Pan himself, who I am nicknaming so because he does indeed Show-(pan) up his contemporaries in the idioms in which he is most accustomed to writing.

It really feels as though Chopin was listening to his own compositions as he worked them out, a trait later ascribed to Debussy... and it is evident in both the nocturnes and the preludes just what he was listening to. Vocal gestures define most of his melody lines, as well as a sense of rubato normally reserved for the singer.

However... his isolation and rule-breaking does have a downside: I don't know that I care for some of his larger piano works, in comparison to his mazurkas and ballades and polonaises. Perhaps it is because he wasn't 'raised' on the work of many of his contemporaries that makes his longer works a little less palatable. Or, it could be a matter of simple personal preference. After all, his later chamber works are enjoyable.