two chopin etudes and a nocturne

[le_poete_mourant]

Here's a couple cuts from a live session last month.  Ingle Auditorium.  Baldwin Concert Grand.  My modest attempt at these wonderful pieces of music: Etude Op. 10 No. 4 and Op. 25 No. 6; Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 in B-flat minor.    Hope you like. 

[lava]

Your etude 10.4 is so good!  Especially the left hand.

You could spicy it up a little bit more by some "con fuoco" as is indicated. Accentuate more on the beats, make greater crescendos for instance towards the last beat in bars 13,14 and 15-16.

[le_poete_mourant]

Thanks!  That was actually the best one of three takes I made.  The others weren't bad, but I wasn't as happy with them as this one.  It was also the first one.  It's interesting to me how it happens that way sometimes.  You'd think that when you play it a second or third time, it would be better just because you know what you want to change from the first itme. 

I think probably the greatest challenge for me in this piece is making it musical.  The dynamics, the voicing.  The icing on the cake, so to speak. 

[pianistimo]

i also studied the op. 10 #4 and found the same difficulties.  perhaps the idea, after a while, is to make less choppy and less harsh accents.   do you think?  and, smoothness through difficult sections.  really hard to learn this piece without having a sort of ghosting over the keyboard with your hands to follow the paths of least resistance (possibly reminding yourself of those places) and then using those direct paths.  for instance, heading for the high sharped notes - angle in and use the middle of you pinky for hitting the notes a bit crosswise.  sometimes we try to be so precise.  i'm learning that it's not about precision with notes as much as hand comfort and angles and 'flow.' 

[pianistimo]

sorry to be a little bit of a bugger, but in the nocturne your left hand follows the rubato of your right hand.  i though chopin wanted the left hand to be steadily keeping the beat (not too steady, but you know what i mean) and the right hand to be the flex.  but, you surely put a lot of beauty into your feeling.  occasionally notes jump out at me, but for the most part it's really nice!

[le_poete_mourant]

sorry to be a little bit of a bugger, but in the nocturne your left hand follows the rubato of your right hand.  i though chopin wanted the left hand to be steadily keeping the beat (not too steady, but you know what i mean) and the right hand to be the flex.

I must respectfully disagree with this.  I interpret Chopin's intentions slightly differently.  I would point to the fact that this is the longest right-hand alone introductions to any of the nocturnes.  (The pickup measure leads 3 beats.)  I believe that this suggests that Chopin wants the right hand to lead the left hand; as opposed to Op. 27 Nos. 1 & 2, E minor posthumous, where the left hand obviously sets the rhythm.  I would even say Op. 48 No. 1 does the same, on a less dramatic scale, by putting the left hand alone on the first few down beats. 

but, you surely put a lot of beauty into your feeling.  occasionally notes jump out at me, but for the most part it's really nice!

Thank you. 

[gyzzzmo]

Both of the etudes and the nocturne sound great, nice technique!
But, i hear only little dynamics in the pieces. Is that an effect of the recording method, or is that something you might put a bit more attention on?

Gyzzzmo

[le_poete_mourant]

Both of the etudes and the nocturne sound great, nice technique!
But, i hear only little dynamics in the pieces. Is that an effect of the recording method, or is that something you might put a bit more attention on?

Gyzzzmo

Thanks.  I know the piano was mic'd very close with a couple different mics, but I'm not sure how all that works.  It is quite possible it was the mics but also equally possible it was me.