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gerg - your mailbox is full. I tried to thank you for your last message, which was read.

Everyone - you have my admiration for having stayed the course, worked hard and managed to record (or be on the brink of recording) your choice of Etude. It's more than I could do and each and every performance will be magical and individual. We don't want perfection - we want passion.

Hehe ... I'm rather glad you said that, as it does lower the bar for the sort of performance you can expect from me!

Steven

Just sent mine in.

What I found difficult about this was what I guess is called voicing -- bringing out different lines and submerging others. Also avoiding making it too metronomic and bangy on the eighth-note accompaniment. When I first started on it, the runs seemed just about impossible, but persistent slow practice seemed to help eventually.

What this etude seems to do as an exercise is force one to work on tone, nuance, phrasing -- all that good stuff.

About the "cello" title for this: the melody in the left hand is not really playable on a cello as is -- much of it is too low, and it's certainly not idiomatic. It's more for an imaginary cello than a real one.

Since you mention it ... I knew I'd seen some transcriptions for cello, and there are two at IMSLP.

By Glazunov in e minor (along with 10/6):
http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/d/d3/IMSLP07328-Chopin_Etudes_cello.pdf

By De Swert in d minor:
http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/b/bb/IMSLP15101-Chopin_Etude_Op.25_No.7_Cello-piano.pdf

I had never really examined them, as I can't read any kind of C clef anyway.

FWIW, just in case anyone's interested.

Steven

I'm listening to them all as they come in, so as to ensure the download works, and good voicing is the thing I particularly appreciated about your performance, PianoAgain. I would say 'well done' but that sounds kind of condescending considering I can't play any Etudes myself.

Generally speaking, I think people need to exaggerate voicing and dynamics a little as recordings tend to flatten it all.

OK, I'm exhausted! I just now submitted my 10/6. I had an awful time recording TNE 1, which I had known for so long, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was so hard to get through this piece that I have only been playing for a few months and have just barely gotten through learning.

I'm reminding myself that a couple of months ago 10/6 caused me so much pain and disability that I thought I was going to have to give up on it entirely. I couldn't really practice it because I could only get through it once or twice at a sitting. After some excellent lessons, which I wouldn't have sought out if I hadn't been attempting this project, and some useful revelations, it's now well within range for me. It almost seems simple, in a way. I don't have it memorized (terribly hard for me), but I think I will keep it in my repertoire forever, and in not too long I think it may even be the piece I play best, something I really "own."

I've heard 25/7 played on the cello, too, and it works pretty well. This discussion has whetted my appetite to play it again; I've let it fall by the wayside. I'm looking forward to PianoAgain's performance, along with all of yours.

I don't think we have to worry about Chopin being annoyed. He's really not all that hard to please!

Elene

Elene, it is so encouraging to hear your story: that you not only didn't give up in the face of difficulty, but actively sought out lessons for the express purpose.

Gonna need every last minute folks! Let me vent a little: I am feeling discouraged by this piece, that the demands exceed my abilities. It is a friend indeed, but not a close friend yet, and definitely not a girlfriend. She is dark, sultry, sophisticated (asynedon!), and I'm a simple country boy who waters cows and harvests orchards. Her proclivity is toward finesse and precision. She is on-the-dot punctual, and her passion is that of the burlesque.

Imperfections with notes will not be tolerated for my performance. I can see sliding of dynamics and minor pedal mishaps as acceptable in this venue for amateurs.

This is a harvest reaped by sowing sparsely and waiting until the last minute. This week, however, is set aside specifically to attempt to record something acceptable (2:30 is my reasonable target), with lots of practice until then.

Thanks for listening. I'm off my soapbox now.

The story of my playing life....

greg,

I say this with utmost and unqualified friendly affection: Get a grip!

If you need to change your conception of this piece from the one you describe (intriguing though it may be!), so be it. IMHO, the first thing you need to rethink is speed.

Maybe I am unusual in my complete detachment from awareness of the time a performance takes, as I do see regular references from others to the minutes and seconds that the other pianists take to play a given piece. Maybe I should be more conscious of this detail, but it doesn't seem useful.

In my blissful ignorance, I'm ignorant even of how 2:30 correlates to familiar recordings. But keep in mind that there's frequently a discrepancy between verbal tempo indications and what we've become accustomed to hearing. There's even a discrepancy between those tempo indications and Chopin's own suggested beats per minute.

It's not helpful at all that most professionals play the fast-tempo etudes as fast as possible. But why did Chopin choose Allegro if he meant Presto possibile? Why must pieces that say Allegro played Presto at all?

Now, my friend, it's my turn to get off the soapbox! But you know my point is that IMHO your focus on accuracy is well placed. I suspect that the unadorned, unqualified, prosaic (asyndeton!) Allegro that Chopin calls for is already there in ample measure and should be the least of your concerns.

Steven

Re speed - - After I recorded it I compared the speed of my recording to the speed of several professional recordings - I actually have it up to about 3/4 professional speed which surprized me. I thought it was slower.

Thanks for the reality check and encouragement! (And the spelling check ) The usual pro performance is about 2:00. DIanara Nadhafoza is about 1:51, Pollini at 2:01.

3/4 pro speed is quite satisfactory, Joe. That will be my aim too.

Where are the links intended to be posted?

On the same recital site as the prelude and mazurka recitals- chopinrecital.org

25/4 is in. I have to give 25/11 a few more tries tonight.

Gerg,

I am very sorry to hear that "imperfections with notes will not be tolerated for a performance," because after working to the point of literally making myself ill, I could not play 10/6 with all the notes correct. Sorry. Just not there yet.

Elene

Elene, I am so very sorry! Yes I see how you read it that way.

Was speaking for myself in a moment of despair, not others. Merely expressing I'd rather play at a slower tempo and try to minimize missed and incorrect notes, than at full tempo. My piece begs for mistakes, and there is no way I can attain, in the timeframe, to perfection at the prescribed tempo.

So sorry about that misunderstanding. I know your 10/6 will be fantastic. Like MaryRose expressed, passion and authenticity.

Uh-oh gerg! No wrong notes tolerated.... Gee, I can't even say that I played all notes; I am sure I missed more than one!

If I got a penny for every wrong note I played in mine I could retire a very wealthy man!

I'm feeling so down right now. Yes I will record something, but I cannot play it as well now as earlier today. My right hand hurts from repetitive motion. My keyboard weight is 62 grams at middle C - 10 grams heaver than a typical grand according to a Steinway rep at Steinway Hall, so my hands have to be stronger to play all the thirds in unison at a respectable tempo.