In Episode 3, pianist Garrick Ohlsson explores the most tender, heroic, and even sadistic passages of Chopin’s Four Ballades at the keyboard ; gold medalist of the 2020 National Chopin Competition, Avery Gagliano, reacts to her performances of the 1st and 3rd Ballades from both Miami and Warsaw ; Chopin Biographer Alan Walker returns to the show to tell the story of Chopin’s Fourth Ballade; and finally, music critic Jed Distler recommends some very special recordings of Chopin’s Ballades from the past century.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Chopin Foundation of the United States, which presents the National Chopin Competition every 5 years. The Chopin Podcast comes on the eve of the 11th National Chopin Competition, to be held in Miami in January 2025. For more, visit chopin.org.

Tickets to the final rounds of the National Chopin Competition are now available:

• https://ci.ovationtix.com/1811/performance/11533416?performanceId=11533416
• https://ci.ovationtix.com/1811/performance/11533420?performanceId=11533420

Each episode in this series is dedicated to one of Chopin's major compositional genres, and features Garrick as well as 1-2 special guests approaching the pieces within that genre from a number of different angles – analytically, historically, and pianistically. Follow us at chopinpodcast.com.

Created and hosted by Ben Laude.

Special thanks to Abby Tilton and Mark Rau for their assistance in the production of this episode.