Grande Polonaise Brillante op.22

[hakki]

What do you think about this interpretation?
Are the rubatos too much?
Should I play it in a more academic way?
Do some minor mistakes distract you from the music?

regards,

P.S. Please exclude 7.18 and the rushed finale.

 

[rachfan]

Hi hakki,

I believe this is an impressive performance of the polonaise.  You play it with thoughtful musicianship and artistry.  Your technique is formidable, and you play with wonderful musicality and bring a nice sweep to the work in its entirety.  I envy your amazing dexterity!  This piece is difficult to play, and the figuration contains challenging passage work, ornamentation and short cadenzas so characteristic of Chopin. There is bound to be a minor finger slip once in awhile, but your articulation overall is nearly flawless.  There is no such thing as a perfect performance, although we strive for it.  The best the artist can to do is to draw ever closer to perfection--but not one of us will actually get quite close enough to touch it.  Michelangeli was never satisfied with his performances, yet we marveled at his incredible accuracy.

As to your questions, I believe your rubato is appropriate.  Chopin invented rubato, and you apply it in good taste throughout.  It allows the piece to breathe, gives the phrasing a nice ebb and flow, facilitates your nuances, and enables you to imbue the performance with a bit of your own individuality which is desirable.  So I would advise that you not pull back on your rubato.  This music, after all, is of the Romantic Age.  Any mistakes are hardly noticeable, and in any case you always have a musical solution at hand.  The fact is, your overarching goal is to put a piece across to the audience, which you certainly do very convincingly here.  As long as you succeed at that, the audience won't care about minor mistakes.

I really enjoyed hearing you play!  Thanks for posting your recording.

David    

[emill]

I may not be able to make an academically intelligent comment as I do
not play the piano ... but I really like the way you play this!!!  Bravo!!

[parishrut]

What should I do? Should I envy you, or should I love you! I listen to this piece frequently and let me tell you, this is a good and unique interpretation. The thing which I liked the most, as a listener, is that you do not rush things, allowing the effects to settle down and you allow the listener to take in every note you played there. But in certain places (I am not too familiar with this piece), better clarity in distinct notes would have been good, and in some places it got slow enough to make me yawn. Yes, there were mistakes, and they were strikingly noticeable, thanks to the wonderful recording quality. You can always improve on that. With such a good technique, which sure you achieved after a lot of hardwork, you can make a hell lot of improvements on this piece!   
So, that was brilliant-e!


Don't make your next interpretation sound like this one; you would be suppressing art!

[gn622]

I have a book the dover edition of chopin nocturnes and poonaises but i cant seem to find op.22, why is that  i wanna know how many pages it is.

[costicina]

Outstanding perfomance, Hakki!!!
I liked every bit of it. What to say other than BRAVO BRAVISSIMO!!!!

Margherita

[arielpiano]

I love your sound and articulation. I would tone down the rubatos though, especially at the beginning (or maybe I got used to them after a while). And if by more academic you mean more restrained, I'm for it. But David, Chopin did NOT invent the rubato!..

[rachfan]

Hi ariel,

Sorry about that error.  Although Chopin used and taught the technique to his students, and while his own music benefited greatly from it, rubato predated Chopin, going back to the first half of the 18th century. Although it's uncertain, it might have originated with Tosi in the 1720's.  Later, others including Mozart also applied it in performing.  Somehow though, whenever we hear Chopin, we've come to closely associate rubato with him and his music.

David

[pianowolfi]

Sorry but I think that this recording, (a truly wonderful interpretation btw.) has been copied from somewhere, I don't know from where, I have no time to look for it on the internet, for hours and hours. But I'm almost sure. Maybe someone will find the source, per chance.

[hakki]

Sorry but I think that this recording, (a truly wonderful interpretation btw.) has been copied from somewhere, I don't know from where, I have no time to look for it on the internet, for hours and hours. But I'm almost sure. Maybe someone will find the source, per chance.

pianowolfi, it is not copied from anywhere. I recorded it myself. Actually I was hesitant to post it here then, because of the mistakes I made and that I had rushed too much at the finale.

Anyway, I take it  as a compliment, thank you very much.

regards,

[pianowolfi]

Well if I am wrong I am really very sorry, and I will apologize, but still, my pinky keeps telling me that there's something fishy about it. I can't prove anything but something just doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm terribly wrong, but still, I can't help it....

P.S Well yeah maybe I am really terribly wrong and it's you and I've become paranoid   Sometimes I'm not sure about all that internet stuff, though I love it  But yes, in that case, take it as a compliment, of course, I really like that recording

[arielpiano]

Hi David,
I was just kidding... I know exactly what you meant when you said that Chopin invented rubato. Technically it is not accurate, but musically, when we talk about rubato we of course have Chopin in mind.
Ariel

[rachfan]

Hi Ariel,

That's OK, as it stirred my curiosity such that I looked into the actual origin, and shared that here.  With that, hopefully my original statement won't be taken too literally by others.   

David 

[hakki]

costicina, parishrut, rachfan, emill , arielpiano:

You all are very nice !! 

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions.

regards,

hakki

[arielpiano]

David, to which Frank Zappa would say: "Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music, and Music is THE BEST."