Frédéric Chopin is among the most gifted piano composers of all time. There is hardly another musician whose work is so fixated on the piano, and there is hardly another musician who understands how to write as pianistically as he did. He initially learned to write melodies borrowing Italian opera’s virtuosic ornamentation, and he was able to adapt its cantilena lines to keyboard instruments superbly. Chopin’s thematic inventions are deeply rooted in the accompanying harmonies characteristic to the piano. His boldness often points far into the future, showing how much of a progressive he was. However, he rejected a career as a travelling piano virtuoso. Frédéric Chopin, who only lived to be 39, grew up in Poland and later worked in France, where he was celebrated as a darling of the Parisian salons. There are a few constants seen in his work. He not only had strong nationalistic feelings but was also open to the trends and influences of his day. Also, he took a creative look at the music of the past and in turn was able to influence the style of younger generations of composers. In contrast to his contemporary Robert Schumann, however, extra-musical inspiration and poetic titles hardly played a role in Chopin’s work. Beyond that, this Polish-French composer limited his piano works to just a few types of forms. Pianist Andrey Pisarev touches upon the most important areas in his album recital, where both great virtuosic compositions and poetic miniatures are represented