Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Chopin Mazurkas - Forum Recital!

Hello, Pianoworlders.
We are starting a new themed recital. Some of you may be familiar with the concept from the ABF where it originated. However, now we are opening it up to be site-wide. If you would like to participate, please enter below by telling us which piece you'd like, and we will update this list accordingly. Make sure someone else hasn't already chosen the piece you select. You may select as many as you want, as long as you will be able to complete them all.

Without further ado, here is the list of Mazurkas:

Opus 6
No 1 in F# minor
No 2 in C# minor
No 3 in E major
No 4 in Eb minor

Opus 7
No 1 in Bb major - WinsomeAllegretto
No 2 in A minor
No 3 in F minor
No 4 in Ab major
No 5 in C major

Opus 17
No 1 in Bb major
No 2 in E minor
No 3 in Ab major
No 4 in A minor - Michael Sayers

Opus 24
No 1 in G minor - PrestoconFuocco
No 2 in C major
No 3 in Ab major
No 4 in Bb minor - Derulux

Opus 30
No 1 in C minor
No 2 in B minor - TwoSnowflakes
No 3 in Db major
No 4 in C# minor

Opus 33
No 1 in G# minor
No 2 in D major
No 3 in C major - JoelW
No 4 in B minor

Opus 41
No 1 in E minor - Kreisler
No 2 in B major - Polyphonist
No 3 in Ab major
No 4 in C# minor

Opus 50
No 1 in G major
No 2 in Ab major
No 3 in C# minor

Opus 56
No 1 in B major - Morodiene
No 2 in C major
No 3 in C minor - carey

Opus 59
No 1 in A minor
No 2 in F minor - carey
No 3 in F# minor

Opus 63
No 1 in B major
No 2 in Ab major
No 3 in C# minor

Opus 67
No 1 in G major
No 2 in G minor
No 3 in C major
No 4 in A minor - jrcallan

Opus 68
No 1 in C major
No 2 in A minor - BruceD
No 3 in F major
No 4 in F minor

Posthumous
KK IIa No 2 in G major
KK IIa No 3 in Bb major
KK IIb No 4 in A minor
KK IIb No 5 in A minor
KK IVb No 1 in Bb major
KK IVb No 2 in D major
KK IVb No 3 in C major
KK IVb No 4 in Ab major

The deadline for submitting recordings or videos will be one month from the time of this original post - Wednesday, October 16. Please do try to get it in before then. Just send a PM to Derulux AND me containing your performance. The "recital" (recordings being posted by us in a list) will take place a few days later.

Put me down tentatively for 24-4. I'd like to perform it on a real piano, instead of my sticky-keyed keyboard, but we'll see what happens.

(Correction: op.59/2 is in Ab major, not F minor.)

-J

Ah, yes. Thanks for that.

Shall I put you down for any, beet?

Please temporarily put me down for Op. 17 No. 4 - before commitment there needs to be a chance to think about the deadline for providing a recording. I don't see the deadline in the initial post.


M.

Aha - forgot about the deadline. Please see above.

sigh... I played all of op.59, and performed them in an informal recital last year... But I'm on a hard-core Beethoven path right now, and can't really be distracted! Bad timing... sorry!

-J

Maybe next time.

Thanks Polyphonist!

One other concern is if all recordings are accepted. This is music where the playing would be anything but literal in terms of rhythm, pulse and even the accompaniment notes with melodic impulse supreme.

I've posted about this re. some of the other pianoworld recitals without a definitive response - maybe it is thought that this is to be provocative or in some way confrontational but no one wants to put a fair bit of time into fine-tuning the playing of a work, and then record, if it won't be accepted and that time could have gone to other repertoire.

Through many harsh experiences with professional musicians in the past I've been conditioned to anticipate negativity and to have this as a source of anxiety and stress in sharing music with others.


M.

Of course all recordings are accepted. Of course, try not to play the piece at half-speed, or miss most of the notes, but you get the idea.

I'll take 41/2 (in E minor - I think the list is wrong; #1 is C#m, 3 is B, and 4 is Ab)

Well that is just it . . . it might be half-speed or slower compared with other recordings, but with a highly differentiated palette of timbre and a flexible pulse to compensate and keep the momentum going.


M.

Check again. It's e/B/Ab/c# as I had it. So do you want 41/2, in B major, or the E minor, 41/1?

Michael, just submit whatever you want to. I promise you it will be included.

Um...e minor.

Interesting. Every score on IMSLP has the order as c#/e/B/Ab, as does Chopin's complete works list on Wikipedia and Rubinstein's recording.

However, your order is on the Op. 41 page of wikipedia and on the Chopin institute's website.

Is there a history to the numbering differences? I wasn't aware.

My Henle edition of the Mazurkas also has my order. I think we'll stick with that for this recital, but I'm going to look more into the numbering discrepancies.

...so 41/1 it is.

Fascinating! The answer lies here on pg. 42 of the introduction to the official Polish National Edition:

Click here for a pdf of the PWM Introduction

Very interesting.

Ha! So Chopin intended my order originally. I win.
(and you get to play the Mazurka you wanted, which is the first one. )

Interested to hear how it comes out.

I never knew there were two different orders, either. I'll have to go back and check my own list, to be sure! (I know the mazurka I chose is Bb minor, so I'm not worried about my selection being wrong.. just want to see which edition I have.)

Michael - I second Poly's statement that no recording will be excluded on merit. I, for one, shall not be judgmental of any performances. If our good friend, BachMach2, wants to contribute, well.. that should set the standards for recording quality, at the least.

(Though I would hope that the audio quality of the recording be at least capable of presenting the artist's thoughts and interpretation in a comprehensible fashion.)

Right now I'm trying to decide which mazurka to do. There are so many great ones.