Ballade draws inspiration from the Romantic piano tradition, and in particular from the expressive world of Chopin’s ballades—not as an imitation, but as a point of emotional departure. For Chopin, the ballade was less a fixed form than a poetic one: music shaped by narrative impulse, contrast, and an underlying sense of inevitability. That spirit guides this work. The piece unfolds as a lyrical, searching monologue, where songful lines give way to moments of agitation, urgency, and release. Themes return transformed, as if revisited through memory rather than repetition, and the music moves fluidly between intimacy and drama. At its core, Ballade is concerned with storytelling—allowing tension, tenderness, and volatility to coexist—inviting the listener into a space where the piano speaks with a human voice, and where virtuosity serves expression rather than display.
