VIDEO: Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2

[tekime]

I finally made my way through the last bit of this piece a few weeks ago, and decided to take a little video today. I still have much practice remaining, but any feedback you have would be appreciated.

So far this is only the second piece in my repertoire (if one can even consider themselves as having a repertoire when it consists of only two pieces!). That said, I'm a total amateur but I would still like to play this piece well eventually. Although I have my own style of playing I also want to be true to Chopin's vision of this piece and feel I still have a ways to go (even aside from a few obvious technical flukes I have yet to remedy).

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Anyway, enough blathering. My apologies for the audio quality - you can hear the keys clacking away, and the general quality is far from professional - but I recorded this on my iPhone by duct-taping it to my bookshelf.  

I know the guidelines say an acoustic piano is preferable, but this is all I've got. Trust me, I'd much prefer playing on a nice grand!

Thanks so much for any feedback you might have!

Gabe

[faj]

Having know this is your 2nd repertoire, you are amazing!
It's not easy to play this piece as beautiful as yours, but you already have everything.

the only little more work left is please check the score carefully abt some notes, mordant, and ... you don't need to press tied note .. or you can check other pro pianist play this ...
After this little thing, I think you already played at pro level.

[tekime]

Thank you, that really means a lot to me!

I will start reviewing the score more closely.. I know I'm still missing a few notes, and I must study up on the tied notes. I didn't even know what a mordent or a gruppetto were until learning this piece so it has been a real lesson for me.

The advice is deeply helpful and appreciated.

I'm elated to think I'm even getting close! Slowly but surely. 

[pianoplayjl]

I agree with Faj. Just your timing of some notes let your performance down. Other than that, it was great. I am pleased that you used rubato for this piece. I've seen a couple of guys make this very mistake. In some parts I think you over used rubato and got a little excited. I also feeled heartened that this piece can sound good even though you played the trills/cadenza/ what ever you call it at the end a bit slower. At least you had control of this piece. Dynamics excellent. Good job.

JL

[chauncey]

Love it! I've also learned and preformed this piece (numerous times). You've won half the battle by learning the song! I would suggest you take time with the mordants, trills and the turn. Chopin is really known for his use of ornamentation, he sorta makes them there own thing or stand out a bit, if you know what I mean. I know this might be hard because you are on an electric piano, but be careful of accenting the root note of each chord in the left hand, try to make the left hand softer than the right hand as well The accented note draws attention to the left hand rather than the melody. Being your second piece, softer volume in your left hand will come in time.  Also, I would be mindful of the dynamics and some of the poco rubato parts. Great job on the con forza part (near the end) and the four note cadenza near the end. Your tempo was really good as well.  Great great job overall, bud!

I know I've written a lot but, it helps me to visualize the composer before I play. Chopin was very sick and frail most of his life, therefore (I personally believe) he did not portray fortissimo or forte as loud as a "normal" pianist would.

[tekime]

Wow, so much good advice. I don't know any other pianists so the advice is just extremely helpful for me.

All great stuff.. I'll probably read over this several times as I continue to study the score. Don't get a lot of time to practice so it's kind of slow going but your ideas really help me to understand exactly where to focus.

I'm not sure what the right term is for the section, but the part around 0:43 - 0:45 sec in the video, I feel like I play a little faster than a lot of the performances I've heard (from Yundi Li, Lisitsa, Aubrey Hillard...), for some reason it just doesn't feel right to play this slower...