Legato chords?

[kghayesh]

Sometimes we are faced with a direction to play a set of chords legato. From the definition of legato, we must not leave the notes of the first chord before moving on to the following one. I think physically, this is impossible so to play chords legato, we much sacrifice some notes and do some other tricks to get it right.

Take for example this RH chord progression. (..excerpt from the Revolutionary Etude)
- F min. 1st inversion Ab C F Ab----> 1 2 4 5
- F min. Root  F C F ----> 1 2 5
- F min. 2nd inversion C F C -----> 1 2 5
- Bb maj. Root Bb F Bb ----> 1 2 5
- F min. 1st inversion ----> 1 2 4

Chopin indicated a legato on all these chords, so how can we play them legato and quickly??? Any advice..

[kriskicksass]

Legato chords is an illusion, believe it or not. It's a matter of playing horizontally along the keybed rather than vertically into it. Also, you need to know the chords well enough to be able to shape your hand to the right shape of the chords.

[mike_lang]

Sometimes we are faced with a direction to play a set of chords legato. From the definition of legato, we must not leave the notes of the first chord before moving on to the following one. I think physically, this is impossible so to play chords legato, we much sacrifice some notes and do some other tricks to get it right.

Take for example this RH chord progression. (..excerpt from the Revolutionary Etude)
- F min. 1st inversion Ab C F Ab----> 1 2 4 5
- F min. Root  F C F ----> 1 2 5
- F min. 2nd inversion C F C -----> 1 2 5
- Bb maj. Root Bb F Bb ----> 1 2 5
- F min. 1st inversion ----> 1 2 4

Chopin indicated a legato on all these chords, so how can we play them legato and quickly??? Any advice..

See the Cortot edition, published by Salabert.  Chopin Etudes, Op. 10

[allthumbs]

Translation of "legato" - [italian]:
bound, smooth; slurred

The Forum gives the above definition of legato, therefore legato chords must be the same way.

How does one acheive this? I'll make an attempt to explain it as I understand it.

Take a simple chord progression C major (CEG), A major (ADF#) (2nd inversion) and G major (BDG) (1st inversion).

Play    C E G with  1 3 5 fingering
          A D F# with 1 2 4 fingering
then   B D G  with  1 2 5 fingering

Without the sustain pedal, switching between these chords would produce a detached sound.

The idea of legato chords, as I understand it, would be to hold one or more notes of a chord down as you move to the next chord.

For example, try the same chord progression again without the sustain pedal, but instead of lifting the entire hand to change chords, do the following.

Play C major with 1 3 5, then hold 3 & 5 down as you position 1 2 & 4 over A D F#.

As you play these new notes for A major lift 3 & 5.

Now hold the F# down with your 4th finger and play G major with 1 2 & 5 as you lift your 4th finger.

As you will hear, there will be one or two notes playing during the transitioning of the chords and hence the legato effect.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I hope it made some kind of sense.


Cheers

allthumbs

[will]

Pedal.

[allthumbs]

Pedal.

That'll work, except if one of the other parts requires a staccato or detached sound.

[kghayesh]

Pedal.

Uhm, sorry but don't u think the legato sound produced by the pedal differs from that played from the fingers ?
I think the pedal blurs the sound somehow

[faulty_damper]

Uhm, sorry but don't u think the legato sound produced by the pedal differs from that played from the fingers ?
I think the pedal blurs the sound somehow

At the speed indicated of this piece, it would not matter assuming the pianist has the ability to nuance the damper correctly.

[will]

Uhm, sorry but don't u think the legato sound produced by the pedal differs from that played from the fingers ?
I think the pedal blurs the sound somehow

Depends on the situation. In most instances no.