Chopin: Prelude Opus 28 No. 20 C minor

[marsippius]

Piano is 1920s vintage Kurtzmann upright.
Recorded with small mic, Windows, and Audacity.exe .

Sheet music is from pianostreet.com and is phrased according to the behest of my first teacher.

In two places is marked // .
The last few measures are retarded significantly.  Also, the dynamics increase significantly up to the next to last chord.  The final chord is pronounced as a sort of afterthought, ok.

The overall tempo, "steady as she goes", allows 2 beats per quarter note, in order to
be counting slow enough.  This makes the dotted 8th - 16th easier.

Enjoy.
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P.S.  See below for a second posting of this Chopin Prelude, modified with tempo and volume space; the E natural is played, and the dotted 8th - 16th rhythm pattern is modified to suit.  A question arises, so I need more feedback from listeners please.  A special thanks to rachfan for his valuable tips.  So far, so good.
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[rachfan]

Hi marsippius,

You have the basis of a good rendition there.  Sounds like you're "going to town" on your repertoire.  Great!   A few comments that you might find helpful:

This short prelude represents a funeral procession.  In Chopin's day, this would have included a horse-drawn hearse with the mourners plodding behind.  Imagine yourself standing at the side of the road watching the procession as it begins to move down the road.  As it passes by and beyond you, it continues on the road, receding farther and farther away in the distance nearing the cemetery until it then travels over a small hill and disappears from sight.  That's the changing, ever diminishing sound you need to create, and why the initial iteration of the theme is marked ff, the next is p, and the last is only pp, a faint whisper. 

Some specifics:

Be careful not to "punch" those 16th notes within the third beats.  They are only passing tones with no particular significance.  So they don't merit special emphasis. Instead, you need to make them blend into the melodic line more.

In the third measure the top note of the last chord in the right hand is marked in some editions as an E flat (which you play) and in others as an E natural.  There has been endless debate for decades over that point.  So don't be surprised if you hear it played both ways.  I prefer to play the E natural.

Be sure in playing the legato chords in the RH that you voice (or emphasize) the top note of every chord, without losing the richness of any chord.  In so doing, think of the chords not as separate vertical clusters of sound, but rather as a horizontally moving melodic line in the top voice.

In measure 11 there is crescendo marking; however, I believe you make too much of it.  Remember, the funeral procession at that point has nearly disappeared over the distant hill.  Crescendo is always a relative, not an absolute, musical term.  By that I mean that it must be taken with due consideration to the context in which it is embedded, which in this case is only pp.  You play it f right through to all but the final chord, but it should really be not much more than mp at the most.  I can tell you that the first German edition of the preludes did not indicate any cresc. at this spot in Prelude No. 20.  So there is some, but not conclusive, doubt that it even belongs in the score at all.  All the more reason to be more conservative by not letting the cresc. get way out of proportion to its dynamic context.

If you're interested, here is my rendition of the piece.   

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,19333.0.html 

[marsippius]

Hi rachfan,

Thank you for your comments, and I shall be going to work on this to polish it a little more, and in the process will be taking what you have said to heart.

The picture of a funeral procession helps greatly, and answers a few questions on its own.  Now I understand why the dynamics begin with ff, proceed to p and then to pp.

I am going to be working on recognizing the 16ths as passing tones.  And I will be modifying the final three measures.  However, for now I will persist in increasing volume to the last notes of measure 4, due to an earlier exhortation to not fade at that point (it was a temptation and so it got corrected).  The first // is at the end of measure 4.

With the beginning of the p section, the descending octave pattern in LH is emphasized, contrasting the upper notes of the RH octaves. 

With measure 9, the pp section, the upper notes of the RH are louder than the corresponding LH descending octave notes.  And, the soft pedal is used here for measures 9 and 10.

At measure 11 the soft pedal is released, and at the end of 11 is the other // .  Measure 12 is rallantando, increasing volume to the antepenult, then the penult.   Floor plan.

Buried at sea perhaps?  Or just on land?


Working on it.  Thanks.

marsippius

[rachfan]

My visualization is that the interment is on land in a nearby cemetery.  But it depends on one's imagination.

Yes, the last notes of measure 4 should definitely not fade away, as that measure is in continuous crescendo.  Thus, you must continue carefully "spending" that crescendo.

In the p section it's alright to give SOME increased emphasis to the LH descending octaves.  The reason is that scale figures in compositions are important.  In this case the scale happens to be chromatic.  HOWEVER, the melody is still in the RH there, and remains supreme.  So that additional LH emphasis on the octaves cannot compete with or drown out the RH--it has to be kept in proper proportion.  The fact remains that the RH melody is foreground, that is, in the limelight, and the LH is background accompaniment.  Thus, those descending octaves cannot ever dominate by being even louder than the RH melody.  What gets most emphasized at any time in any piece is what holds the listener's greater musical interest.  Melody predominates over accompaniment, although certain things can be reasonably etched in the accompaniment such as an accent, an inner line, a scale figure, a strategic harmony, shift of melody to the LH, an independent LH crescendo, etc.--but only within the bounds of musicality. 

Following the subtle crescendo, the soft pedal needs to go back down in taking the final chord in the piece.  The rinforzato accent there means to reinforce it, but again, only within the dynamic context.  Except for that very short crescendo played non troppo (not too much), the dynamic of the third iteration is pp, and to that dynamic the ending must return.  ppp is even more effective there if you can manage it.  So that accent on the final chord is not punched.  It's a very subtle, gentle firmness of touch to produce clarity, nothing more.  It's like a soft tenuto.

The ritenuto in most editions actually begins on the third beat of measure 11 (not in measure 12) at the very same time as the crescendo.  Together they produce a combined allargando or broadening effect.  In the last chord of measure 11 you have a Cm first inversion chord, while in measure 12 there is a return to the tonic chord, as you point out. 

I hope this helps.

[marsippius]

Piano is 1920s vintage Kurtzmann upright.

The file contains some modifications.

Thank you rachfan.

Everyone enjoy.  Comments welcome.

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