Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Members Recordings - Pianist Corner Chopin! 3rd scherzo, nocturne op. 55 no. 2, etude 10/1...

Hi!
Recently performed a program including these three works by Chopin.
I'm not pleased with my performances, but I am unsatisfied by about 98 percent of recordings of these works (10/1 was kind of a throw-away--it's not technically proficient enough yet to demonstrate any sort of interpretation).
Scherzo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1BMrtUmMY0
Nocturne:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBttVgwQxk
Etude:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7dAc58Nq2Y

I also performed the complete Waldstein Sonata:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=Tsn1-kgKOC4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYOF-Q1PaI

And Stravinsky's Petrushka (NEVER PUT THIS AT THE END OF A PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!! It's already practically impossible, but with dead hands... anyway don't judge me on this...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ay37K-6Mbo

I listened to the Scherzo and the Etude.

First of all you should be satisfied with 98 percent of these recordings. Bravo! It is apparent that you are exceptionally talented.

For the 2 percent:

Maybe some less rubato at the choral section of the Scherzo and a more accurate coda.

Maybe a more stable tempo with the etude and some more accents as noted.

That said I very much enjoyed your performances. Thanks for sharing.

Nicely done! So far I've heard your performance of the etude and the scherzo. After that I was distracted by your Bach Prelude and Fugue in G major. I played the prelude in the past and was curious. I was floored by this performance, especially the fugue. I never played the fugue but your marvelous performance of it has inspired me to give it a look again. Thanks for sharing.

While I really enjoyed the Etude and Scherzo, I found the Scherzo to be a bit technical and could be improved by more dynamic contrast and something that I can only describe as more drama. I'm sure you will get there. I think you are quite fine with the details and any missed notes are quite irrelevant in my opinion. It's more the big picture that I'm thinking, especially noticeable in the coda. With the technique you've got, feel free to get a little bombastic here.

Liszt himself wasn't satisfied with is technique...
May I ask if there is a reason to play the fast octaves of coda the way you played? I used to play them with both hands (throwing some notes away) or with glissando (not possible in every piano at first attempt). From recordings I suppose Horowitz played it as you did, but most others I think played that octaves glissando, and in a video I saw Barenboim playing them with both hands, leaving more notes unplayed than the way I used to play, surprisingly the difference is not audible
Something similar happens with fast octaves from first movement of Beethoven's first piano concerto, but they are slower...

Well actually, until recently, I never realized there was another option. I usually don't miss them...
They aren't marked as glissandos, and I see no reason to take them in both hands if I don't have to! Anyway, I have relatively small hands (a ninth is a stretch) so octave glissandos are off the table

If I had the technique attributed to Liszt, I would be quite a different musician My "musicality" disappears when I can't technically execute.

Also, I agree that the scherzo is too "technical" sounding. That is partially a result of my lack of tone and control in the chorale sections, and partially due to my ambivalence about Chopin. I love listening to it, but I have no real personal connection. Hence the specialization in Bach! Haha.

Speaking of Bach, I must include that the G major prelude and fugue from book 2 is one of my least favorite of the whole 48. It was quite a struggle to interpret, and I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it.

I was told to "cheat" using that tricks as option to play those "impossibly fast octaves", until I heard Horowitz recording I thought no one played those octaves as "pure" octaves, I don't have big hands meither, so form me, glissando works in some pianos and doesn't in other, that's why I used to play in the safe side (with both hands).

Well then, I must concede that the only recording I ever listened to was Horowitz's; it (along with his appassionata) played over and over in the car for over a year. That was why I learned the piece originally--I was quite obsessed with that recording as a twelve year old. I suppose remnants of his interpretation must have stuck