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Topic: Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.3  (Read 3298 times)

Offline chopianist123

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Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.3
on: August 23, 2009, 08:29:22 PM
Hi all !

I have a question about Chopin's Etude No.3.  In bar 30, I believe the first two notes played by the right hand would be A and C#.  Then bar 31 it would be A and C natural.  Then bar 34 would be B and D#, followed by B and D natural in bar 35.

Most recordings follow this, but in Idil Biret's version, she somehow plays A and C# for both bars 30 and 31.  She also plays B and D natural for both bars 34 and 35. 

Are there different ways of playing this?  Or is her playing incorrect?

Your answers are greatly appreciated.
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Offline daro

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Re: Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.3
Reply #1 on: August 28, 2009, 04:15:52 AM
The notes to the Paderewski edition say this about bar 31 (MS refers to original manuscripts, FE to the original French edition, and GE to the original German edition):

"In MS1, this bar was written as an exact repetition of the preceding bar. Chopin subsequently changed this, lowering the F# in the middle voice to F. The same version appears in MS2, FE and GE . Mikuli added naturals to both C#'s, following the correction made in the copy belonging to Chopin's pupil, Madame Dubois."

Bars 34 and 35 are even more varied depending on which of the manuscripts or first published editions one looks at, so the answer to your question is that both you and Biret are correct, though Paderewski says the Mikuli version, in which the changes in bars 34 and 35 correspond exactly to 30 and 31 "has been accepted by a great number of recent editions", and "constitutes the most consistent and natural version."
 

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