The piano concerto as a salon piece
Chopin was not keen on playing in front of a large audience or in large concert halls. Even during performances with large orchestra his sound is often said to have been too soft and subtle. It would seem it was for this reason that Chopin created a version of the E minor piano concerto for string quintet in order to enable performances of this wonderful work in small salons ? his preferred concert setting. Later, a similar version of the F minor concerto was found which is also attributed to Chopin. The pianists Krzysztof Broja and Alexander Reitenbach perform both concerti in one evening together with the Apollon Musagete Quartet which won the first prize of the 2008 ARD-competition.