Any opinions?Gyzzzmo
Besides the quick close fingerwork of this etude, another "educational effect" of this etude is the cross rhythms.
What cross rhythms?
The right hand has four groups of eighth note triplets against two groups of quarter note triplets in the left hand.
Yes, we are both making the same point. Even if the meter is 2/4 you have triplets in the right hand, so the pulse is 123, 123, 123, 123 not 12,3,4,5,6. The accents in each hand fall in different places and only line up twice in each measure. It is a very subtle but very important cross-rhythm. That's what makes it so difficult to play correctly. Many people play it incorrectly.
First, good afternoon everybody!About the etude, every time i play it i have something like, `this etude is far too simple, are we supposed to play it differently?'Most editions say it's in 2/4, but has anybody tried playing it in 4/4? I tried playing it like this, thus giving every first note of the RIGHT hand triol an accent. Its splitting my brains up, but at least i have the idea that this way the etude is actually hard
Cortot's take on the cross rhythms in this etude.
I disagree. The pairs of triplets could as well have been written as sextuplets, and the character of the study, which requires that there is no disruption of the fluidity via "cross-rhythm," supports this. Examine, for example, the first measures of the study, during which the right hand gesture is clearly (at the most minute level) in groups of two, which correspond to the quarter-triplets in the left. And though I prefer to use the score first, which I have, I must also direct your attention to recordings which have been made, none of which highlight this so-called cross rhythm. Moreover, in Cortot's particular example, there is absolutely no reason that the rhythm should be divided in such a way, on account of the impulse on beat which leads into beat two, with a quarter pick-up (in both hands!) into the next measure. The fact that Chopin has written triplets rather than sextuplets is nothing more than a notational formality.Best,ML
Wow, that's a good example for head bopping too Yes I play 4/4 with accents on every first of the triplets of the right hand. It sounds completely different. Otherwise this etude would be rather boring.