Chopin Ballade in G Minor, help?

[omar_roy]

Hello all, long time no see.  The new Major has been time consuming, but I find myself more in love with the piano now that I am not chained to it!  I still take lessons with the piano department head and she treats me as though I'm still a Piano Performance Major, so all is well!

With that out of the way I am having troubles with Chopin's G Minor ballade.  If it makes any difference to anyone, I am using the Henle edition.

Measures 48 through 53, when the right hand crosses over the thumb on D to land on the F# and Bb with fingers 2 & 4 respectively I have to hit an A natural with the 3rd finger after landing on that interval.  No matter how I drill it or how long I let it rest, I just can't seem to get it to be even and precise.  My 3rd finger either clips the note short, doesn't sound the note, or runs into the Ab.  It's fine on the "upper" F#/Bb to A natural, but the problem resides when I cross over to the "bottom" interval and then have to hit the A natural.

Also, any advice for the octave passages from measures 119 through 123?  I'm having trouble with tension in the shoulder as I accelerate through the octaves.

Thanks in advance.

[birba]

Wow.  If those are the only problems you're having with the g minor ballade, you're a whiz!!  The first passage you mentioned is really very easy and fun to play when you've acquired the muscular freedom in the hand.  Think of "flapping" the hand over when you turn on the thumb.  Holding the thumb down, flatten and raise together all four fingers high (the whole palm of your hand, actually) and flip the hand over landing with the whole weight of your forearm on the b-flat abd f-sharp.  This preliminary excercise will, of course, turn the passage into triplets.  That's alright, for the moment.  After you've mastered this movement, practise at moderate speed, stopping on the a between the b-flat and f-sharp.  Speed it up, but always stop on that a.  Honestly, the passage is a cinch!
Practise the octaves doing just the opposite.  Start fast and make a rallentando at the end.  Do it a lot.  Afterwards, start with the last three octaves.  Working slowly, initially, speed it up.  Add an octave and use that as an upbeat to those last three octaves.  Add another, etc. etc. The thing is not to get bogged down in individual octaves, but to think of the direction and final octave to get the momentum.

[omar_roy]

Haha, surprisingly enough, those are really the only places giving me trouble from a technical standpoint at this point in time.  Musically is another story.  But even the coda isn't giving me too much trouble, it's just a matter of relaxing my hand between chords so that it doesn't cramp up.  There are the expected noodly parts that are kind of a pain in the butt to get straight, but they'll sort themselves out with time.  For example, the left hand in measures 138-144 is a real pain, but practicing it blindfolded is really helping.

Thanks for the help, I'll give it a shot when I'm practicing today!