Chopin, "Raindrop Prelude"

I'm going to be brief with this piece. It is one of my favorite, and probably deserves more than I'm going to invest into it. Oh well. Using knowledge stolen from Form and Analysis, I would label this piece as a rounded binary form. In the first section, it opens with that most famous melody. A half cadence later, the melody repeats. I love the "improvised" feeling that chopin instills in his music. Under the repeated bass, the performer gives the melody a very rubato stretch. A unique aspect of this piano piece is the constant repeated note that underlines the entire piece. From beginning to end we hear drone like pitch which changes to identify brief changes in key. The exception to this is the cadenza like portion of the piece near the end. The pianist seems to almost improvise the melody briefly before the piece peacefully concludes, oh so softly. When you want to relax, and just enjoy the beauty of what music can be...this is the song for you.