Not Chopin Vals no.20 "Melancolique"

[lluiscl]

A rare piece... not always cataloged as a Chopin one (for me typical from Polish genius).
Firtst attempt to recording...

[awesom_o]

Some nice ideas here but be careful with the pedal.

I would recommend you practice the whole thing without pedal for a little while, then decide how much your want to add in later.

[faulty_damper]

It's not melancholic enough.

[mjames]

Awesome playing man!

But there's a reason why this is considered to be a spurious composition it's not like him

[lluiscl]

It's not melancholic enough.

Personally I believe, in this piece, that the "melancolique" mote is the only which doesn't came from Chopin (and certainly I don't like to play it with too melancholic feel...). All the notes remember me more like a its nocturnes than a vals.

[mjames]

Personally I believe, in this piece, that the "melancolique" mote is the only which doesn't came from Chopin

That and the piece itself.

[lluiscl]

But there's a reason why this is considered to be a spurious composition it's not like him

Well this is your opinion... Garrick Ohlsson included it in its complete recording serie.

[awesom_o]

I do think you should be applauded for good classical understanding of phrasing and rubato. Pedal didn't bother me as much on 2nd listening. Good work!

What piano were you playing and how was the performance recorded?

[lluiscl]

What piano were you playing and how was the performance recorded?

Thanks for your compliments. I am using a grand Bechstein model IV from 1898 that I recently full restored. Recording it help me very much to voicing it (match the new hammers has been a sort of nightmare). There are yet some buzzings problems around the 6th octave...
I used a pair of omnis Line Audio OM1 mics into a Soundcraft mixer, to a SRC2496 A/D converter... I fully recommend these mics in classical recordings because they are completely flat with natural sound (and really cheap).
The performance, and the piano, can be yet improved (I am, more or less, reading the sheet).

[mjames]

a bit off topic

"Incorrectly attributed to Chopin as Valse mélancolique in F-sharp minor, A1/7. Re-published around 1930 and later in 1986 (by Stanislaw Dybowski on the bi-weekly "Ruch Muzyczny"). In 2012 I discovered, thru the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, that the piece had been indeed composed by Charles Mayer in 1861 (or before) in a more elaborated form. I couldn't find any reason why the Valse remained unnoticed and subsequently published in a shortened version under the name of Chopin."

-from IMSLP

oh and

https://www.thepianofiles.com/2012/12/31/the-valse-melancolique/

It's a fantastic piece of work, and you played marvelously, but it's not Chopin.

[lluiscl]

Great info mjames!!
Now is time to play the full extended version of C. Mayer...
https://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/8/87/IMSLP286679-PMLP465508-Mayer_-_332_-_Le_regret_-_Valse-Etude_m__lancolique_f-.pdf(I edited the "subject"...).