Chopin: Revolutionary Étude

[rapmasterb]

Quick question: Do you use pedal in this study?

All the performers I have heard seem to forego pedal when playing it.

[canardroti]

it's very easy to blur out the whole piece with the pedal. Only lighit pedal should be used if  you want it to sound clean.
However , If you're very good, you can try to play the piece without any pedal and make it sound legato..good luck with that.

[jlh]

If you use pedal, use it no more than every other quarter note on the downbeat for the opening passage, and judiciously after that.

I bet Chopin used pedal at least a bit on this one, and if you're careful, the pedal adds a lot to the etude.

[kriskicksass]

Playing without pedal is actually pretty easy once you get used to it. You just need to do two things: 1 make sure that you have fingerings and slow practice that allow you to make true finger legato, and 2 do your best to create a perfectly even tone, as that will aid the legato and can actually make something sound pedalled.

Playing pedal-free isn't all that odd. It's a state of mind more than anything. Search for beauty in the individual notes rather than in the overal tonality, like you would in Bach.

[jlh]

it's very easy to blur out the whole piece with the pedal. Only lighit pedal should be used if  you want it to sound clean.
However , If you're very good, you can try to play the piece without any pedal and make it sound legato..good luck with that.

I wouldn't recommend playing this etude sans pedal... it's too easy to make the RH chords sound faint and not connected.  If nothing else, use the pedal to make the RH work.

[houseofblackleaves]

I think that the only time you really need the pedal is right after the passages in both hands when your left hand starts the main bass "theme" at the very begining.

[krittyot]

Yes, you seriously need pedal in this etude.

[invictious]

Well for the left hand, you might want to add minimal pedal to make it sound full, otherwise, avoid the use of pedal, make your left hand legato, that is the main purpose of this etude, isn't it.

[raqmusic]

After carefully studying this piece (had to do an essay) listening to countless recordings and learning it myself,  pedal is a must. I feel that everyone has this mis-conception that one must play this piece without pedal completely. I feel that too many pianist feel that the pedal is just an embellishment, and "real" technique comes only from the upper body (shoulder's, arms, fingers).. pedal is vital in this piece, it allows the sound to resinate with a more full timbre. playing without pedal is almost "cheating" because one may not want to deal with blurring, but why now learn how to correct it? I would suggest pedal excercises with other moder like rhythms to get ready for this one

[pianogeek_cz]

After trying to play it without pedal and stopping halfway through in discontent, I definitely go for -with- pedal. There are times where you need to let go of it completely (bar 29, the chromatic passage), but some parts sound best when you keep it intact for half a bar. Bear in mind that the pedal can give you wonderful crescendos without blurring (bars 35-36, LH run towards the bass F) and without sounding choppy, more like an avalanche of sound emerging from the piano. Blurring is more a matter of fingerwork, not pedal (of course, it takes a lot more fingerwork to get rid of blurring using the pedal...). A great way to keep the full sound and get rid of any blurs is half-pedal (ex: bar 9, full pedal at 1st beat, half-pedal at 3rd beat - the bass note stays, the volume doesn't chop down suddenly at the es1 (as it would if you changed the pedal fully) and it doesn't get louder and louder as it would if you let the pedal be, but fluently diminishes as you return to the C - all it nees is to be played pp all the way back down and it will come quite naturally... Just an example of what half-pedal can do.)

Playing the whole thing without pedal makes its sound very raw and severe, and it doesn't utilize the potential of the piece at all...

Just my two cents.

[krittyot]

Well for the left hand, you might want to add minimal pedal to make it sound full, otherwise, avoid the use of pedal, make your left hand legato, that is the main purpose of this etude, isn't it.

This is just like saying 10-3 requires no pedals. Even Chopin himself used pedals in passages where he didn't remark. Imagine playing 10-12 without using pedals; it will sound dry and awful.

Your statement is incorrect.

[ramseytheii]

I wouldn't recommend playing this etude sans pedal... it's too easy to make the RH chords sound faint and not connected.  If nothing else, use the pedal to make the RH work.

I think that's exactly right!  Pedal according to the RH; if you can hear the chords sustained to their full values, then the sound of the LH will fall into place.  Too often pianists play this piece with the RH and LH at exactly the same volume, with zero difference in coloration.  It is just one mass of notes.  The RH has to have meaning, and has to be sustained for the true written value.  Then you will discover one thing that is great about this music!

Walter Ramsey

[waldesrauschen]

Use pedal. Just like the other people have said, pedal with the RH chords-and play them out, not the LH.