Chopin's Piano Sonata No 3 in B Minor

Allyson Devenish compares recordings of Chopin's Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor and chooses her favourite.

Chopin's final piano sonata was composed in 1844 and dedicated to Countess Émilie de Perthuis. It is a work of immense complexity, both technically and musically, and comprises four movements. The sonata opens with heavy chords in B minor, but journeys through a Scherzo and dream-like Nocturne, before ending in a dazzling Finale, which starts in B minor but ends triumphantly in a B major Coda.