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Hi all. Here’s my quick take of this. Messed up the middle section a bit and need to get the fast scales at the end better. Would appreciate feedback thank you.

Hello...

I just attempted this piece yesterday as well - I'm still learning myself, so I'm not really in a position to say much, but I can give a few pointers...

I'd try to get a few notes in your trills, and maybe put very (very) slight pauses in between the phrases to help the piece "breathe". Also (and I know you're still working on it) - in the Mazurka section, you seem to play two quarter notes instead of the syncopated rhythm, so I'd try brushing that up.

In any case, I hope you keep up the good work - it's a beautiful piece worth being able to play for a lifetime.

Thank you.

I was playing it safe with the trills for the recording, I should probably be a bit more flamboyant with them.

Yes I messed up the mazurka section quite badly in the recording and I also struggle with the rhythm a bit. I don't hold the B# long enough and the jump from the G# to the D# isn't quick enough. I'll keep working on it.

Also please post a recording of yourself when you are happy with it. I look forward to hearing you play.

I'm actually very impressed if you have only been playing since May 2018. Most people who play more complex pieces have a lot of technical issues but you seem not to have. I think your left hand was ok as often it is too loud and ruins the piece. Some tips I was told was trills. Try starting slower gradually build up the speed to get faster and then slow down near the end. I think the very long ones start slowly, get faster, then slow down. Dont quote me if this is all of them as its a long time since I played. Certianly it is robotic to play them as you are and I doubt this is what Chopin intended. I was also told left hand to make sure all the notes are slurred. I feel that you are playing all the left hand notes with the same intensity whereas it has louder on the beat and notes off the beat should be quieter. I was also told to make sure all the left hand notes were slurred (although some people may disagree and say dont worry as you are pedalling),

I think there are many versions of this by Chopin. I am not really sure why. Perhaps Chopin must have kept changing it and we do not have one clear version. I'm not aware of your version of the piece but I have not heard it end in major very early straight after the E major scale runs. I have recently played this piece again. To be honest even though I never play it for months I find it very easy to play it better and every time. I would perhaps therefore not worry too much if you have got it to a reasonable standard unless you want to carry on working on it. Perhaps it is just me or because the piece is quite slow but I do tend just to come back with more experience and play it better without needing to work on it. Good luck

Hi yep I’ve been playing a year and 2 days.

This is the version I have: https://www.henle.de/en/detail/?Title=Nocturnes_233

You can ‘look inside’ on their website. I agree I have heard many versions. And in this book alone there are 2 versions. The long trill in bar 9 and 54. Every recording I hear keeps consistent speed but swells. I need to work on the swell. The other shorter trills do speed up, and I am doing that but it’s not that exaggerated. You are the first person to mention feedback on my left hand across the many forums I’ve sent this too. I think it’s more I need to make the right hand louder. I can see the midi values of my left hand and they are around the 20s which is pp. I’ll speak to my teacher about it tomorrow.

Ok mate. I hope you have not gone to too many forums for advice. I think I have decided to stop doing this more recently and I dont think I need online advice anymore. From my experience online advice is a bit hit and miss. It also can be demotivating when you get negative advice and I have tried to stop doing this myself as I'm not sure the usefulness to others. From my own perspective I did not find it particularly useful online mainly because you get people saying what is wrong. I think it is relatively easy to know what is wrong and often we can tell this myself. I think the difficulty is knowing how and what to improve. I think this very difficult to know and what teachers are for. You must have a good teacher if you are playing this well so I would argue you dont really need online advice.

Sorry if it came across defensive. I haven't posted it on that many, just to some piano playing friends, here and reddit. My teacher actually encouraged me to post my playing online. And I look for criticism, and I want it. So I thank you for yours. Now you mention it, when it goes into the B section before the mazurka bit, I pedal too much and the left hand is heavy there so you are right.

I appreciate you listening and providing feedback, you did so on my Mendelssohn piece too. Thank you

Quite remarkable to play that in a year. Perfect? No. But definitely good enough for you to enjoy and I’m sure you’ve learned a lot from it.

Quick comments - I think there are a few rests that you missed. Such as in the opening and in M19.

M24 and M28 - the grace notes need to be quicker.

I have Henle but initially learned this from Schirmer. I use two hands at the end of the transition section. M42, 43 I think. R hand. This section should be faster.

The runs at the end are pretty good. I’d work on shaping them.

3rd and 4th measure from the end - should be E’s. I think you played E#’s as in the second to last measure.

Quite good for 1 year!! A little refinement left.

This was extremely good for only one year of lessons. In fact, I think only a tiny percent of people could even attempt this piece after such a short time. I think most people would say this performance is good even if you had been playing for three years.

The trills need some work and you should think about exactly where they should end so that any notes after the trill fit in appropriately with the LH. The other thing I noticed was some awkward looking fingerings so I'd suggest thinking about that and looking at some fingered editions on IMSLP to see if the suggested fingerings seem better in some passages. Even if you can play a passage quite well with a certain fingering you may find some other fingering is far better.

Thank you. I think our editions are slightly different.

Agreed on the pauses, spoke to my teacher about them on Saturday and she agrees with that.

I think our measure numbers are different, for me they are in M22 and M26, the chord grace notes? First is E&C second is G+E.

M42+43 do you mean the mazurka section or the arpeggios? The mazurka bit I messed up in the recording and in general I do need to work on that bit. The arpeggios up to the pause are marked adagio and then morendo in my Henle book. The pause after the arpeggios me and my teacher agreed was too long. There is no fermata here and I am pausing for a long time,

Thanks about the run, to my ears they still sound heavy (I want a really light delicate run). And my teacher pointed out my left hand in the runs is a bit 'jagged' and not smooth.

As for the end :P seems from listening to a lot of performances it differs. My Henle version has E#s but I've heard plenty of people play it minor. I'm happy with the way it sounds here.

Thanks so much for your input and kind words .



Thank you for your kind words . Yes me and my teacher agreed on the trills. We were quite happy with the earlier ones although they need a bit more speed. There are a couple that I struggle with and that's shaping dynamically the long ones. And the E to F# trill that finishes with a D# E F# flourish at 3:23 in my vid. Also the short little trill at 2:07 needs work.

My book has fingerings and I adhere to some of them, some I don't. Is there anywhere in particular that you think looked especially awkward?

It’s not in front of me at the moment but your version may differ by 2 measures if it shows the first two as repeats rather than 4 separate measure. I’ve seen it written like that. If so just subtract two from each one I listed.

Keep it up. I learned this at 5 years and still need work!

Oh, and apparently you're correct about the E# in the second and third to last measure; some versions have it as E#. The version that I learned has it as E natural, until the final measure....I like it this way as it adds a nice distinction to that last run. Maybe you'd like to try it this way and see if you like it?

Hey all, teacher asked me to record this again, so here it is. Messed up the mazurka again and didn't sound a few notes, but it was one take so not bad. Also think the fast scales at the end were better in my first video but never mind.

Thanks.

PS. This is the built in Bosendorfer sound off of my digital piano, the other video was Garritan CFX VST. Please let me know which one you like the sound of more.

I think you have been doing very well Will. It is not an easy piece. I recently played this again 2 months ago and it is always better every time I play it so it just get better with time. My teacher was talking about giving space and time to notes. I was given these two examples in another Nocturne to illustrate. If you listen to the start to the first seven notes where more space is given to notes and compared to the second where it is not. I found it a helpful example of rubato. Both have rubato later the piece so only the start really shows the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb4VY8gYZt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnFs85pLmj4

In the Chopin nocture I would suggest in places, especially trills, there needs to be some change in the time and a bit softer. I tended to start them slower and work up to a faster and maybe slow down again slightly in a longer one. Good luck