Chopin - Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 by Enzo

[emill]

One of several pieces that my son Enzo is preparing for a recital sometime
February 2011.  Your comments and suggestions will be most appreciated.
So many thanks ......

[birba]

Welcome back!  It's been a while since you've posted something here.  It's always fun to hear you play.  There's a refreshing ingenuity at times that's so appealing!
As always, your finger-work is excellent and you have definite ideas about what you want to present.  But I hear here (!) some outside influence.  (Like maybe some cds of your favorite pianist?) There's quite a bit of arbitrary slowing down and pauses.
The first page: up until the first ritenuto, it should be one presto fiery tempo with no gaps.  Count the opening chords in your time you're going to take in the following battle.  The tempo begins here.  There are no fermata.  Then, in the 5th measure of the running eight notes, you always drop a beat.  Always.  You pause for some reason.  And you do the same thing in the parallel passage that follows.  This whole page has to rip right through to the first rit.  And not too much rit.  The same thing regards the following agitato.  No pauses or hesitations.  Play it straight.
The reason for this is because it's so easy to lose the tension in this piece if you don't keep at that driving pulse.
The middle section is way too slow for my tastes.  You have to feel it more in one, rather then three.  Don't exaggerate the pianos and pianissimos.  I don't know what edition you use, but the idea, of course, is to accentuate that polish christmas tune that is played primarily by the thumb.
When those two strikes of the sword come at the end of the middle section, we have to hear it exactly as they were presented at the beginning of the scherzo.  I feel it like a call to war.  So work out the tempo so that we have the same values as the opening.
I used to play the octaves at the end, but someone pointed out to me that it's really more incisive the way it's written.  (and more difficult!)  Just make sure you don't slow down.  Go in tempo up to the last chord!
Good work, though!  Really good work.

[emill]

So many thanks to birba for the constructive comments .....

Showed your comments this morning to Enzo (it's Sunday here) and I could not help notice a big smile on his face as he read your post. I asked him why . . . and he said that practically all your suggestions were the points he and his teacher talked about during practice the other day. He then asked for a printed copy of your post and that ended the bonding!!   During self practice this afternoon, he played it fast, a few seconds under 9 minutes, while in the video it was a few seconds over 10 miinutes.  It sounded much better with a faster tempo ... and quite bombastic too!

Again many thanks ..... and this is to wish for more suggestions from others.