I’ve written about this nocturne twice already, through Sokolov and Pollini. I’m still not done. It’s so pretty.
It opens with two bars of chords: a plagal cadence, the “amen” at the end of a hymn. The piece starts where most music ends. Then the melody, over rocking triplets in the left hand. The middle turns stormy, through F minor to F-sharp minor, and finds its way back. At the end the same two bars return. Amen again.
It’s a sublime state of mind, a rare level of calm and peace.
This time, Rubinstein: