I'm curious to know how you pianists out there deal with M.30-31 (and similar challenging measures). Are you able to use Chopin's fingering (Paderewski Edition) while playing it up to tempo? And if yes, does your RH span a 9th (F1-G2) or less?

I thought someone who can actually play the piece might answer, so I didn't but since nobody did yet:

My hand spans more than that and I still find those measures very awkward, that second measure more than the first (the first isn't too bad), with the marked fingerings or any other.
(BTW my Paderewski edition gives two choices for each of those.)

If those two measures are the first ones where you have that kind of trouble, you're doing pretty well.

Oh I can answer this for you! My hand span is about an octave, I can sometimes reach a 9th but most often not.

Yes all the measure around there are a bit tricky, there are a few ways to deal with them that you could possibly try. I play them with the fingering the score says, it puts some strain on my wrist to make those absurd pivots but if it's just for a couple measures I can handle it (maybe not ideal but whatever).

Previously when I played it for my piano teacher, she actually recommended changing the fingering to these measures. I think she said to start with 2 on the arpeggios so it'd look something like 2-1-3-5 going up or something like that? I honestly don't remember for sure but it would've been something like that to actually make it fit. I found I couldn't get it up to speed that way though.

Hope that helps .

I am far away from being called a professional, but dare to try this piece recently. My hand is small. I can barely reach a 9th. For measure 30, I had to keep my hand flat and was able to do 5421 as shown on this version. For measure 31, I used 1235 but not able to speed up. My teacher suggested using 231,3231. The other one she suggested changing the fingering for small hand players like me is on measure 35. She suggested using LH thumb for first A, then 12,3212.

Thanks to all who replied so far. I saw these replies when visiting this page, but I am not being notified by email. Can anyone suggest how I can fix my prefs so that I get notified? Many thanks!