The Viper strikes to leave an indelible mark on your aural consciousness.

This has got to be the most popular Chopin being played all over the world these days. You might have seen it in the movie 'The Pianist', starring Adrien Brody in a dramatic account of how the Holocaust affected him and his family.

What could be more apt than this piece, in expressing one's inner emotions, that is forcibly suppressed repeatedly in his bid for survival?

And of course, this man is probably one of the few who can bring out such an outburst of passionate musical colour through his immediately apparrent clinical execution on the piano. It's easy to get lost, or even get enraptured, by his devilish virtuosity.

No matter, it should not detract you from feeling the raw energy that is despair. Even the most optimistic of us will have felt, at some point in our lives, some degree of emotional abyss.

Here it is, Vladimir Horowitz, playing Chopin Ballade No.1, opus 23.