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Chopin

This Nocturne is at first maybe not all that interesting, but the coda surely makes up for it.
It's a piece I worked on last week, and am maybe not completely convinced yet.. how one arrives to the augmented chord that begins the coda is a bit of a mystery, but I hope it will come.

Enjoy listening!

Enjoyed your interpretation very much - thanks for sharing !! I've been working on this Nocturne over the past few days myself, so it was helpful to hear your take on it. I agree that the coda is unexpected and somewhat extraordinary. I need time for everything to settle in a bit more (pacing, voicing, etc) before attempting to record the piece myself - plus it may be awhile before I have the house to myself so I can actually do some recording. While this may be one of the easier Nocturnes, it is lovely and definitely has a few challenges. I appreciate your weekly contributions here.

I think the piece is more interesting than it gets credit for.

Simon, your performance is truly fantastic. One can hear that you are a highly talented, professional pianist. This nocturne is among my favourite ones. The unexpected coda completely destroys (or enhances?) the romantic character of the sweet melody.

It seems there are some people here on PW who are working on this piece and might be interested in hearing different interpretations to get some inspiration how to play it, so would you mind me throwing my own interpretation (which I have uploaded to the IMSLP) into the ring? I perceive this piece and especially the coda in a slightly different way as you will hear.

https://imslp.org/images/7/74/PMLP02306-Chopin-Nocturne_32-1-Stephan.mp3

Thank you all for your kind comments!
Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration thst it's "not interesting at all". The fact that the first theme doesn't return anywhere in tge piece is interesting in itself, and all themes are of course all very beautiful but also a bit awkward at places.


The interruption with the e minor chord is also difficult to reach in a convincing way. Chopin writes sort of forward, and i go backwards. They need different preparation, and resolution, and I'm not sure there is one way that has a perfect solution...

Carey - good luck with recording. It is difficult when there are people around, that usually arent 😅

Pianist685 - I would say that we have very different views on this piece, not only slightly different.
I feel yours is much more straight whereas mine lingers more. Both have valid points

It's probably the slowest I've heard it played but certainly one of the most beautiful versions I've heard. It gives me the desire to take a whole new look at it. Thanks.

Beautifully and sensitively played.

Thank you for sharing.

Regards,

Katman: Really, is it that slow? 😅 I usually do pick quite slow tempis compared to others.. I just don't manage to bring out all the details I want to in faster tempis. I'm also grown up with musicians like Richter and Celibidache, so it's something I'm used to. Thank you for the comment

Bruce: Geez, next year you'll be 20 years old here. That's impressive! Thank you gor tge comment!

I checked about six YouTube performances by Rubinstein, Barenboim, Ashkenazy, Pollini, Arrau, etc. Two were just twenty seconds faster, Rubinstein was a few seconds slower, and the rest more than 20 seconds faster.