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I want to add one or two of Chopin's Mazurkas to my repertoire, but I find it difficult to decide which one(s) to choose. I have the sheet music, and have looked at quite a few of them, but haven't heard many of them performed. I'm open to any suggestion.
If you are planning on studying and playing some of them, why would my favourite interest you? I suggest you start playing through some of them to find one - or more - that you like.
My favorites are 30/4 and 33/2. There's a night-and-day difference between them:
I completely understand why some people would question the value and purpose of knowing other people's favorites in a given category, and yet there's certainly precedent for it. It's a standard part of people's profiles in any online community to cite likes and dislikes generally and even favorite books, films, etc.
Consumer reviews are an integral part of sites such as Amazon, Epinions and the like. Netflix even goes to the extra length of specifying the predictability that a given reviewer's tastes match one's own, obviously taking for granted that the opinion of someone who shares one's own interests and predilections would be given greater weight.
Even if Piano World can often fall short of its potential for feeling like a "community," I really am interested in knowing the favorites and least-liked whatever of folks here whose opinions I value and whom I consider to have discerning judgment (and that most certainly includes you, BruceD! ).
There's a difference between being curious about what someone else likes and choosing a piece to play on that basis.
I think that's obvious, and therefore probably obvious to the OP as well.
There are around 60 mazurkas, after all. Gaining familiarity with all of them in order to make an thoroughly informed choice would be a long and arduous process; even listening to them once-through back-to-back makes them a blur.
I think it's logical, therefore, to glean what others have a preference for and perhaps start seriously auditioning them there. It's not like the OP asked anybody to choose a piece for him.
There's a difference between being curious about what someone else likes and choosing a piece to play on that basis.
I think that's obvious, and therefore probably obvious to the OP as well.
Perhaps, but PW gets countless requests just like this one and they usually are in effect a request for someone else to choose a piece for them. That was the point of Bruce's comment which he's made many times for the same reason. Someone doesn't have to listen to all 60 Mazurkas to choose one they like.
In defense of the original question - my somewhat truculent, unsympathetic response notwithstanding - he did say that he had read through several and was having difficulty deciding which one(s) to add to his repertoire. In further defense, he did not ask "which one should I play?"
I don't feel that his request was totally pointless, therefore, and perhaps his own decision will eventually be based on direction given him by others, direction that may help him understand on what others find musically interesting.
Sometimes it's better to ignore the curmudgeons in our midst.
C major, Op 24 No 2 - First I ever studied, and it holds a special place in my musical world. Love the abrupt transition from C major to Ab7/Db. E minor, Op 41 No 2 - So beautiful. B minor, Op 33 No 4 - I find the alternating high and low registers very interesting. C# minor, Op 63 No 3 - Another one I love playing. Those interweaving staggered voices in the end are quite magical.
Daniel
Currently working on: -Poulenc Trois pièces -Liszt Harmonies du Soir -Bach/Brahms Chaconne for Left Hand
I love hearing people's favorites, least favorites etc. I just enjoy the whole extended conversation and hope it goes on forever.
That said, might I suggest getting Eleanor Baillie's guide to Chopin. You can go through the Mazurka's, see which ones might be playable for you (if all of them congratulations :>), and the ones that are of interest you can check out on YouTube, as PL suggests.
Hope that helps. If nothing else, it's a damn enjoyable way to spend some time.
1) op. 17 #4 in a minor: Already mentioned a few times, and for good reason. Not very difficult, but poignant and complex. The four measures that open and close the piece are ambiguous, resigned, almost mystical. And the major middle section just feels good.
2) op. 59 #1 in a minor: I almost literally fell in love with this piece when I played the first six measures of the A major section (m. 37-42). Go ahead: play them right now!
3) op. 59 #2 in Ab major: I hear this more as a solemn andante than the allegretto as marked. Whatever it is, the main theme is surely one of Chopin's most noble statements. And I can't find words to do justice to the ending.
Oh, and my own two cents on the usefulness of the post, for whatever it's worth:
Surely "What are your favorites" is a decent stand-in for "I don't really know this literature yet; can you please give me some pointers".
I'm thinking of getting to know the nine rather daunting symphonies of Alfred Schnittke. If I had a friend who loved them all, and I asked him where I might start, I would be pretty dismayed if he responded "What does my opinion matter? It's you who are going to listen to them. Just listen to them all and form your own ideas"!!
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