2 Mazurkas from Op 33 and Op 7

[adapa]

Hello! This is me playing some mazurkas by Chopin. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment!

/David

[pianowolfi]

Hello! This is me playing some mazurkas by Chopin. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment!

/David

Something makes me cringe!!
You have certainly got the technique and musicality and everything else that is needed for to play these Mazurkas, but at some points you lose the rhythm and the accentuation and it sounds like (sorry  ) messy.

I think actually your feelings are also reaching this point of "moja bieda" ("my agony" or "my suffering" ) and sometimes it seems to me that these feelings are actually overwhelming you. And therefore your playing loses it's clarity. The art might be to be overwhelmed and not overwhelmed at the same time, you know what I mean? staying clear, especially rhythmically clear but expressing the whole depth and dying......

[birba]

The tempo of the first mazurka was really too distorted.  A little bit of rubato in the polish folk dance style is alright, but I could not for the life of me follow your tempo.  It's a dance, but the beat and movement completely eluded me.
The second one missed the mark completely, I feel.  The indication "mesto" describes the character of the whole mazurka.  Even the B major section has a wistful and melancholy air about it.  It sounded like a very happy gay mazurka the way you played it.  Rather flippant and superficial.  This is one of the most forlorn and somber of the mazurkas.
For me, the mazurkas are the most difficult of Chopin's music to play.  That folk rhythm and dance are very hard to portray.  It takes a polish spirit, I guess, but with classical discretion.  If not, it really becomes almost a parody of the dance.  Plus, you have those moments of deep melancholy like in the second mazurka, where the dance takes on another function.  
Why don't you post something else of Chopin?

[sann85]

I recommend you to listen to the Horowitch version of the 33 no 4 mazurka. This is a version I really love. I'm sure it will help you to develop further. 

[pianowolfi]

I recommend you to listen to the Horowitch version of the 33 no 4 mazurka. This is a version I really love. I'm sure it will help you to develop further. 

I'm sure it will even bewitch you

[adapa]

When i listen to it, it sounds good to my ears. If i understand you guys correctly you want a more traditional interpretation of the mazurka? A little more dance-like? From what i learnt from my teacher and by reading about the form Chopin wanted it to be based on the dance, but not following exactly if it should be danced to. Given that this is my interpretation, is it at least musically appealing to you? Or are you just thinking about the fact that the rhythm isnt correct etc?

Thanks for the input

[birba]

I don't think you understand what we're saying here.  Well, I speak for myself, of course.  How can something be musically appealing to me if it's completely distorted?  I'm not just being didactic when I say the rhythm doesn't make sense.  If I can't feel the beat, (read: music)I don't feel the living pulse of the music.  Of course I don't want to hear a musical metronome that beats out the rhythm.  But the rhythm must express something.  Chopin's mazurkas certainly weren't meant to be danced to - although some of them could be  -  but the mazurka dance "feeling" is inherent to all of them.  and in your first mazurka, it is SO distorted, I can't feel it. 
I'm sure you feel your interpretation satisfies you.  But if I were you, I would take this input that you've gotten here, and give it some thought!

[sann85]

I dont think it's really a thing of rhytm, but more a feeling. I don't pretend that you dont have that feeling, im pretty sure you're close to it,
maybe if you start to play it slower, with more rest in it, concentrate on the interpretation, i'm sure you will do fine.