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I do that too of course, and I actually prefer it. But Mark_C said "checking as you go along to see what fraction of the way you are" (the italics are mine), so it is basically the same.

"Every piece is difficult. The more you know, the more difficult it gets, so every piece is difficult."

Vladimir Horowitz

My reason for mentioning the number of pages to my Schirmer’s Edition (21 pages to the Scherzo 4) was intended to indicate that poor old Fred had his time cut out (at that hectic Presto pace) to squeeze in 872 measures .

While listening to the work, I was turning pages rather fast ... (as though trying to get done before the house burnt down).

My guess is that Chopin wanted to spread the score to capture those slowing rubato passages ...so masterfully captured by Rubinstein.

My quack says that, after my attempting to play the giddy piece ... not only is the fifth metacarpal bone (RH pinky) cracked ... but my back has been put out ... necessitating traction.

You chaps have been warned!

Who said Scherzo 4 was easy?

Where is the original poster?

The reason I ask was purely curiosity, i'm tackling the 1st and 3rd

Working on the 3rd right now. Some awkward bits especially for a small hand.

I'm working on it too and I have small hands. I've got some great workarounds. Where are you having problems?

Deborah,

I've sent you a PM.

Sharon

I hope you are joking. Hard to tell sometimes.
Wasn't there a critic who wrote, in a review of Chopin's newly published Etudes, that the pianist attempting them should be sure to have a surgeon standing by?

A guy named Rellstab.
This is the only thing I know about him. I've been pretty content not to know more.

He's also the one who supposedly gave the "Moonlight" sonata its name.

Strike two!

But actually.....all things considered, ultimately, wasn't that nickname a GOOD thing?

I think anything that reasonably (or at least not unreasonably) popularizes classical music is good, and there's no doubt that this nickname has done that. And after all, it was such popularization, although different types of it, that pulled me into classical music: Popular songs that were based on classical pieces (partiularly "Till the End of Time," from Chopin's Ab Polonaise) and the use of classical music in cartoons were what did it for me.

That's an interesting question, meriting its own thread.

Mark - I'm a tad older than you - and I wasn't aware this song existed until you mentioned it here......thanks !!!

A rendition by Perry Como.......
http://youtu.be/KFXA_-2cIYU

....and how about Doris Day:



And actually it wasn't directly from the song that I got into this music, but.... As a kid I went to summer camp for a few years, and y'know, they had this thing called "color war" -- don't know if it still exists at kids' camps. The camp would be divided into two teams and over the course of a few days there would be various sports events, and then it would end with a "sing" where each team would do songs that had been written by the counselors. One of the songs that my 'team' did was based on "Till the End of Time," and somehow it absolutely grabbed me despite the complete wrecking of the polonaise rhythm, which of course is a pretty basic thing. When I got back home to my piano lessons, I asked my teacher what this thing was. She bypased the whole "Till the End of Time" thing (which I didn't learn of till years later) and just said it's from the Chopin polonaise.

P.S. In later years, through the internet I was able to find the counselor who had put together that song (and also did a lot of other terrific musical stuff at the camp) and let him know how wonderfully influential he had been for me. And BTW in his rendition of the song, he brought the melody closer to the original Chopin. (If not the rhythm.)

Mark - I would normally do this through a PM - but since you don't accept them....

Funny you should pick the 1945 Doris Day version with Les Brown. In 1945, in NYC my Mom dated Les Brown's brother, Clyde "Stumpy" Brown who played trombone in Les' band. A few years later in Los Angeles, Stumpy would stop by our house to visit - driving a little British made MG sports car (open top - two seater). Nice guy. (His nickname apparently had something to do with the fact that he wasn't very tall.)

Now - back to Chopin. I've been working on the A-flat Polonaise myself and hope to record it in the next few weeks. Finally mastered the LH octaves in the middle section. Fingering was the key.

Cheers !!

That's part of why I don't like PM!

(You would have wanted to keep that from the rest of the people here?)

I just had the pleasure of reading a marvelous performance analysis of the 3rd Ballade. I found this unexpected treasure in a used book store and only this morning did I find the time to read the section on the Ballade. The book doesn't cover a vast amount of repertoire, but the Ballade #3 section I just read was extremely helpful. It analyses the technical and interpretive challenges in the piece, measure by measure. I just finished marking up my score and sat back and said, "Wow." :

"Piano Repertoire, A Guide to Interpretation and Performance" by Bela Siki, Schirmer books, 1981

Thanks for the info Deborah. I just checked and they have it at my university library. I will definitely take a look.