Chopin Etude op 25 no 2

[geelongfamily]

Hello everyone, I am trying to regain some degree of past proficiency after 20 years of casual playing and accompanying and a lot of family stuff. I am selecting a random group of pieces to work on my technique and thought i might try a page of this Etude.

Please excuse this rookie question-I don't think I have the timing groupings correct and listening to recordings haven't helped because I'm not playing it at speed. The clues I have from the placement of notes on the Urtext pub is that in the first measure, the second bass note g comes exactly with the b natural in the right hand, the next LH c with the RH e flat and so forth. When I play it this way the triplets in the RH have a very quaver/duple feel to them that I suspect isn't right but perhaps just sounds wrong because it's not at speed. 

When I play it like the above the triplets all sound like duplet quavers. Have I completely misread this?  All replies gratefully received and please be kind...I'm trying really hard to find a bit of my old life again. Meg in Australia

[bbush]

Well, Meg, I'm no expert - probably have had longer gaps in playing over the years than you - but it seems from the phrasing (one long phrase through the WHOLE right hand part of the piece) that your perception is true.  That is, of course the triplets' timing is going to sound like doublets with the bass line running under every-other one!

As with all pieces, the important thing is to play "musically", rather than in a robotic manner.  The phrasing in the left hand is the key to getting some break in the constant "doublet" sound.  If you're unsure, perhaps listening to some recordings would help.

Best Wishes!
Bruce

[eitel]

What I was told when learning this piece is to just learn it with the awkward sounding 2 against 1, because for memorization purposes this is very simple, and later accent the first beat in the triplet and focus on just bringing it out to get the proper sound. Also, your right about it sounding wrong when its not at speed. If its not played quickly even with emphasis on the triplet it does sound very wrong. I think the primary difficulty of the piece is bringing out the triplet and avoiding what most people are tempted to do which is the 2-1 rhythm.

[hansscherff]

What I was told when learning this piece is to just learn it with the awkward sounding 2 against 1, because for memorization purposes this is very simple, and later accent the first beat in the triplet and focus on just bringing it out to get the proper sound. Also, your right about it sounding wrong when its not at speed. If its not played quickly even with emphasis on the triplet it does sound very wrong. I think the primary difficulty of the piece is bringing out the triplet and avoiding what most people are tempted to do which is the 2-1 rhythm.

My advice would not be to first learn it wrong before learning right. The hard part is to unlearn wrong things then. Better to start from the beginning and start good.

The question you are asking is exactly the problem of this piece. Technically it is not as difficult as most others, but the rhythm is difficult. It is easy to play it with groups of 6 in the right hand, since the 4th note is then not accented and won't interfere with your left. But the essence is to have an accent on the 4th note. Which gives slight problems with the left hand note just before and just after.

Get that right from the beginning or you'll be in trouble. Once you have mastered that rhythm, i am sure you can cope with the notes.

[ch101]

please do not to be overly ambitious.
this is one of chopin's most technically challenging etudes and should not come after casual playing. i personally do NOT get this etude.