VIDEO: Chopin Scherzo Op. 20 No. 1 in B minor

[nathan_qi]

Nathan just learned this piece. He is preparing a local small competition. Any comments will be highly appreciated.

[video unavailable]

[perfect_pitch]

The only thing that annoys me about that recording, is that the audio recording equipment seems rather bad. I can barely hear the treble notes over the bass, so is it possible to get another recording device, or maybe play it with the camera up the treble end to see if that makes it better???

The piece does seem to have the sense of bravura that Chopin wanted, however some of the rubato parts I think are way too rubato.

Anyway, I'd rather leave judgement and advice/praise/criticism until there's a good recording of it.... however you seem to be on the right track.

[becky8898]

I can only second what was already said.  Trying to listen made me dizzy.  Hope you can get a better recording .

Cheers, Becky

[birba]

[daniloperusina]

Nathan is obviously a young kid who is very gifted and needs no other advice than those from his teacher. Why shouldn't he win "a local small competition"? Great playing, great musical and technical grasp etc. When older he should apply for the famous institutions, you know, Royal College/Academy (London), Julliard (NY) etc. You should however tune the piano several times per year, this is important in order to be able to work at those finer details, here it's heavily out of tune...
Nice work!!

[nathan_qi]

Hi, birba, it is so nice for you to help Nathan through your video. That will help him a lot. You remind him to take a look at the history background of this piece so that he can have a deeper understanding towards it. After he is back from school this afternoon, he is going to watch your video in details and take notes from it. Thank you so much! I wish you could help him on other pieces he is learning too.

[nathan_qi]

Nathan will be 13 in March. He has a wonderful teacher. However, Nathan has a very intensive learning plan under his teacher's instruction. He only had 5-6 lessons on this piece and now the teacher guides him to revisit Beethoven Sonata he learned last year. At the same time, he needs to learn one Bach Prelude & fugue in every 3 weeks. He has one 2-hour lesson every week already. His teacher just doesn't have enough time to help him more. It is very helpful for him to get some feedback here and improve his playing whenever he has time. Going to Julliard is Nathan's dream. Thank you again for your strong encouragement. He will read your comment this afternoon.

Also thank you for reminding me to have the piano tuned more often. I thought once a year was enough, which seems not true. I have called my piano tuner last week and he will come at the end of Feb. I will get new recordings of this work in March.

Thank you!