Pedal help for Chopin E Minor Prelude Op. 28, No. 4

[scrumhalf]

I am learning this beautiful piece and am having a bit of trouble
preventing the left hand from sounding choppy.  I am using the pedal
exactly as the sheet music markings indicate I should - for the
measures where pedal use is indicated, I of course have no trouble
making the repeated chords sound smooth and flowing, but for the
measures where no pedal use is indicated, try as I might, I am having
a hard time not making the chords sound choppy with gaps between them.

I never hear this when I hear recordings of this piece and while I
have no illusions about my own skill level, I wonder if this is
because others use the pedal more liberally than what the sheet music
indicates.  If I basically use the pedal everywhere, just release/
clarify at each chord change, it sounds much better, but I don't know
if I am just using the pedal to cover up my lack of technique.

Any advice would be helpful!!

[jabbz]

in the left hand with the chords, don't allow the keys to return to their original height after you have played them. Keep that going and it should sound all right. Also, perhaps pedal each bar.

[scrumhalf]

Thanks for your suggestion - that was very helpful.  I think that's what I have intuitively been trying to do... I'll concentrate a bit more on making sure I reduce the travel of the keys.  Thanks!

[arctica]

hi can anyone tell me why this prelude was called "suffocation"

though i know he composed his preludes when he was at majorca during winter

[minimalist]

As a general rule I don't bother with the sustain pedal until I've got the piece sounding half decent without it.  Also perhaps think of pressing into the keyboard with the left hand for this piece, almost 'massaging' it, rather than jabbing it...
T

[scottmcc]

hi can anyone tell me why this prelude was called "suffocation"

though i know he composed his preludes when he was at majorca during winter

I thought this prelude was called "opus 28 number 4."  chopin did not apply the moniker himself, and so the origin of it is anybody's guess.  certainly some listener got a suffocating feeling while listening to it, and certainly some people prefer a name to a number, but alas, such is life.

[alessandro]

I thought this prelude was called "opus 28 number 4."  chopin did not apply the moniker himself, and so the origin of it is anybody's guess.  certainly some listener got a suffocating feeling while listening to it, and certainly some people prefer a name to a number, but alas, such is life.

Truth, it is not Chopin that gave this 'names' to his pieces.   Though, I like the story behind suffocation, and it helps me in a certain way for the interpretation.   Chopin had a lung-illness, tuberculosis-like, since childhood.   It got a lot better during the biggest part of his life, but it could be that in Mallorca, due to bad weather, rain, humidity, the cold monastery where he was located, the harshness of the climate and the people there, that it went very bad with his "breathing-health".   It is common that one, a little bit like astma, has this feeling of suffocation ; and when you listen to this prelude there is this drowning (suffocating) effect in it.   The melody goes deeper and deeper.   Than, a pause, a moment for a good deep breath, but not for long, immediately after that, we drown again more and more, and just before the final, there's this shouting-like passage, where there's an attempt of having a really life saving amount of air, like a scream.   But finallly, total drowning, absolute suffocation (strangely combined with a feeling of resignation and even peace), extremely dark, dark ending.

There is also trace of a writing of Chopin during his stay in Mallorca, where he states (probably not without any dark humour) that in the rooms he lived in, "it felt like living in a coffin".  It must have been a dark grey period in his life, his relation with Sand was not good anymore.  These things combined, sadness and sickness, often lead to (in his case early) death.

It took me years to have a not too disappointing interpretation of this piece.   I'm still not totally satisfied of it.

Very kind greeting to you all.