Chopin's Tarantelle?

[sel]

Hi,
has anyone studied this piece? for some reason regardless of how much i practice i can't manage to get it to where i'm happy with how it sounds. it seems odd that it would be because of technique shortcomings as i know several chopin and liszt etudes etc. however, this piece seems to lie very oddly under the hand and have among the most awkward hand positions i've ever experienced. especially the coda is cumbersome to play and tiring. notes have to be held out with one finger while the rest of the hand plays fast eights. using pedal blurs everything into one mess. does anyone else experience this or am i just odd?

[allchopin]

This piece seems oddly discarded and neglected- i have never heard of it being played- well anywhere  (i guess people dont like the abstract sound of it...).  Anyway, you could use the middly pedal to sustain the half notes in certain measures, but might be coordination-tricky.  Play the whole thing slow at the beginning because it is presto and very tricky (with many constant key changes).  If you just cant get the sustained notes, dont even worry about them at all.  Really, nobody (and probably even yourself) will be able to tell the difference.  Do you have a recording of this piece?  Everything goes by so fast that it really doesnt matter.  What point are you up to?

[sel]

Actually the key changes are what make it interesting to me. i'm not sure why it's been ignored to this extent (even listed among chopin's worst pieces rather often). Though it seems very unpianistic (weirdly enough to be chopin, the way the hands cramp up in certain parts reminds me of schumann).

the left hand has these constant eighth notes, but often the lowest is far away from the others, making the hand having to jump in certain measures. also, it really taxes the fourth finger of the hand sometimes, making finger independence very important. the coda is really annoying, as the right hand has to keep the eights going while accompanying itself with the thumb. at the same time the left is jumping octaves up and down for what seems an eternity. it seems odd that many list this as being intermediate.

there is no recording i really like of it (didnt hear rubinstein or cortot, though they recorded it). most new ones i hear are overpedalled. maybe i can post my version of it once i manage to record it.

[sel]

and i actually know the whole piece, but the problem is no matter how often i play it, the outcome seems very random. i have practiced it slowly for rather long but to no avail. i'm beginning to think my hands are the wrong shape for this, it reminds me of chopin's op 28 no 24  and op 10 no 9, two pieces i never manage to pull off well even though i know all the notes by heart since 1993

[allchopin]

wow you know op 28 #24? ive always loved this prelude, but cant seem to be able to play it (the runs). is it very hard (can you do the runs well?)

anyway, it sounds like this tarantelle is the devil to you- maybe you shouldnt be playing it (theres a thought)!  I have a great version by alexander brailowski.

For the tough jumps, theres another post about this ("accuracy- on jumps" or something).  For the finger power thing, i have this problem as well in Op. 10 #9- my left gets sore.  I havent gotten over this yet, so i cant help there.

[bmusicd]

Hi Sel,
    I've been playing this piece quite a bit as an encore recently and I can remember what it pain it was to learn. It's an exhausting piece to get though in performance as well. The trickiest spot is probably at m. 122 executing that repeated G. After considerable experimentation I found that the best fingering I could muster for the right hand was (321) on the first chord followed by 3 2 4 (321) then sliding down with 3 on the final g of that measure. From there I go to 21 on the e and g. Then I'm sure to take a big breath before m. 124. Then next extraordinarily awkward section I solved by keeping a strong steady bass (I don't use any finger substitutions, just 5 as an anchor note) and being sure my wrist was loose and kept in an outward position. As for the coda my best suggestion to you is to be sure to drop your wrist into each 3 note group. Hope this is helpful. By the way, if you want a good recording of this piece I strongly suggest Malcom Fager's.

[sel]

Thanks all for your advice. Progress is rather slow but i'll keep you updated and maybe post a recording when i manage to play it properly