performed by Idil Biret, or as below by Vladimir Ashkenazy

Hello again, and welcome back to our second installment today, continuing our discussion about Chopin’s early mazurkas. If you didn’t catch the earlier discussions of what a mazurka is, check out the articles from this morning or yesterday for more information.
In short, they’re (usually) brief Polish dance pieces in triple meter, with the accent on the second (but usually) third beat, giving them a characteristic folksy feel. These 58 published mazurkas are an important facet of Chopin’s work and career, tying him to his homeland, and are perhaps the most personal or close-to-his-heart works in his oeuvre. His op. 5 from yesterday was a rondo a la mazur, and the work from earlier today is a set of four unrelated mazurkas published together.
Today’s set was written around the same time, in 1830-32, with five pieces, numbers 5-9 of all his mazurkas when counted together (that is to say, no. 5 overall, by opus number is op. 7 no. 1, number nine is op. 7. no. 5, etc.).
The first mazurka of this set is in B-flat major and marked vivace. It is perhaps the most well-known mazurka of the set, says Wikipedia, and it is another standout, like the first work of op. 6. It is an almost circusy, fun, light piece, with a melody that’s easy to latch onto, or easily latches on to the listener.
The second mazurka is in A minor, and is the longest (at least in the recordings I’ve heard) of the set. Wikipedia says that “Despite the Vivo, ma non troppo marking, the mazurka is usually slowly performed, and the main theme is relatively mild.” If this is in fact a slower tempo, one can see how a more lively pace would make it sound less like a nocturne. It is quite mild relative to the others, without that spirited kick that is so contagious, but in a minor key, it seems almost like a funeral mazurka, if that’s ever been a thing. And remember, these aren’t movements of one work, but rather standalone pieces, so this is no slow movement of a larger piece. It is its own piece. Just remember. It is by far the most meandering of the mazurkas we’ve heard so far. Even the minor-key pieces of op. 6 (three of the four) had a lilt or mischievous dance rhythm to them, but it isn’t until later in this work that it gets livelier, and some passages in the preludes (which we have yet to address) come to mind. It is definitely melancholy and tragic.
The third mazurka is in F minor, and it sounds distant and exotic somehow after the preceding piece; our strong mazurka rhythm has returned, and while still in a minor key, it has some middle passages that sound quite bright, in contrast with the dark beginning. The opening F minor, rather elegant, theme returns to close out the work.