FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Following on from the recent announcement of the discovery (and DG world premiere recordings) of a new Mozart Serenade, The New York Times last week broke the story that a new Chopin Waltz has been discovered, 200 years after its composition. The discovery attracted media attention worldwide and star pianist Lang Lang was invited to make the world premiere recording, which we release today. The work is just 48 bars long and starts in darkly dramatic style, with soft, dissonant notes exploding into stormy chords. Lang Lang described the Waltz in A minor, nicknamed ‘Found in New York’, as “one of the most authentic Chopin styles that you can imagine.” 

As reported by The New York Times, the manuscript bearing the waltz was discovered by curator Robinson McClellan while he was cataloguing a collection of memorabilia bequeathed to the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan. The music, in tiny notation, appears on a piece of paper the size of an index card (10x12cm), is headed “Valse”, and has the name “Chopin” at the top of the page (this is not the composer’s signature, but an addition by another hand). Having carried out comprehensive tests on the paper and ink, analysed the penmanship and musical style, and worked closely with Chopin specialists, the Morgan believes the work to be, in all likelihood, a previously unknown waltz by the composer, written in around 1830–35.