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Chopin’s Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 42, is no ordinary dance—it’s a waltz supreme, a dance-poem where elegance collides with daring invention. On the surface, it dazzles with Parisian brilliance: swirling gowns, aristocratic pairs, a ballroom sparkling with wit and coquetry. But under the magnifying glass, it reveals Chopin’s genius for bending time itself. The left hand beats the familiar three of the waltz, while the right hand insists on two—duple against triple, particle against wave—creating an auditory illusion as if couples were gliding past each other in different dimensions.

Like a jeweler turning a diamond in shifting light, each return to this piece reveals new colors. Its interwoven themes play like refracted beams in a prism: amusement, drama, intimacy, and that unforgettable sostenuto melody blooming at the heart of the work, a melody Schumann said deserved to be danced only by countesses. Even Chopin’s humor flickers through—the sudden break in the reprise feels less like a mistake than sly stagecraft, as if a dancer had tripped, only for the music to whirl back into an ecstatic frenzy.

From a quantum lens, Op. 42 is superposition in sound: both gallop and glide, both order and abandon. Chopin carried fragments of it for years—echoes of youthful sketches, of tone-portraits of his beloved Maria, of earlier Valses Brillantes—before collapsing them into this final, mature form. The result is music that feels inevitable yet forever unstable, a ballroom spun inside a collider. It is Chopin the improviser and Chopin the architect fused into one: creating a waltz that is not just danced in time, but dances with time itself.

Frédéric Chopin Waltz in A-flat major, Op.42

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Archie Chen is a concert pianist, creator, and cultural leader whose music spans from the world’s great stages to the quantum unknown. Praised by the Irish Times for his “daring velocity” and “fiery temperament,” he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Gewandhaus, and beyond — captivating audiences across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

As Executive Director of Holy Names Music Center in Spokane, Archie brings the same artistry and vision he brings to the keyboard: bold, creative, and committed to transformation. His recordings on Sony Classical and Carnegie Artists showcase not just technical brilliance but an alchemist’s touch — turning rhythm into resonance, matter into music.

This page is where it all comes together: live takes, studio sessions, and sound experiments. A space to step inside the frequency and hear music not just as notes, but as energy in motion.

Frédéric Chopin Waltz in A-flat major, Op.42

Archie Chen

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