Daniel Barolsky: Of all the Chopin Preludes, the E minor Prelude has perhaps elicited the most critical, analytical, and popular attention. Its technical simplicity notwithstanding, the E minor Prelude presents us with myriad analytical and interpretive ambiguities. While scores of analysts have reveled in the music’s complexity, so too have different performances illuminated the multiple and varying textural and melodic possibilities within the score. Each rendition allows the music to be seen in a different light. Some pianists portray the Prelude as a melodic lament, the vocal line struggling to soar above the underlying bass voices. Others explore the left-hand’s intricate inner world, its conversation between three lines that descend at their own pace before coalescing at the concluding harmonies. For still others, the bass line receives the most prominence, its weight pulling the harmony and the melody down with it.