Chopin's Op.25 No.1 Etude (Aeolian Harp)- Sarah Kang Performance

Étude Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat major is a solo piano work composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1836, and published in 1837. The work consists entirely of rapid arpeggios and harmonic modulations based on A-flat major.

Background: Sarah Kang received degrees in piano performance from the University of Minnesota (B Mus.), Indiana University (M.Mus) and is in the DMA program at the U of MN in Piano Performance (deferred). Sarah has extensive experience teaching piano students of all ages in both Chicago and the Twin Cities, and she currently maintains a home studio and teaches at St. Joseph’s School of Music. Recently completing all levels of Suzuki piano teacher training, Sarah will teach Suzuki individual and group lessons in Minneapolis beginning in September, 2014. Sarah is also a frequent performer in the Twin Cities area.

Robert Schumann praised this work in a dissertation on the Études; calling it "a poem rather than a study", he coined for it the alternate name "Aeolian Harp".[1] It is also sometimes known as "The Shepherd Boy," following an unsupported tale by Kleczyński that Chopin advised a pupil to picture a shepherd boy taking refuge in a grotto to avoid a storm playing the melody on his flute.[2]