Chopin 10.4 and 25.1

[tom1205]

Comments & suggestions thanks!!

[awesom_o]

I find your sound to be a bit flat, and lacking in sumptuousness.

Your tempos are a little faster than they need to be. Chopin Etudes are not a race! You actually have many nice musical ideas, but they feel somehow too compressed, and lacking in space. It has the effect of somebody speaking in public for the first time-it sounds slightly nervous, slightly too fast, with not enough punctuation between sentences, so that we can digest the meaning of the speech.

I would like the sound to be deeper, and the quality of legato to be more genuine.

You need to practice Chopin Etudes without any pedal in order to develop this.

The pedal should really just be icing on the cake. You have too much pedal in the cake mix itself, and it's disturbing the overall textural and structural integrity of the music.

Good job though! These pieces are extremely difficult, and I'm criticizing in comparison to professional standards.

[tom1205]

Thx! You are talking about 25.1 right? I didn't pedal at all in 10.4. I personally feel 25.1 is harder to master than 10.4 because there's just too many notes in 25.1 to manage and play articulate!!!! 

[j_menz]

Technically, you're fine. A couple of clunkers in 25/1, but you no doubt know that.

I agree with awesome_o, though about it sounding a bit flat. More exercise than etude.  Not an uncommon problem when you've worked so hard at getting the technical details right.

My suggestion is to spend a little time going completely over the top in terms of musical and dynamic options. Schmaltz it up, jazz it up, too sweet, to loud.  Find the edges of the possible, and then you can safely navigate within them. At the moment, it's just too safe. It's not bad at all, but it's pretty much the same as every other  rendition out there. Find the space to really own it.

[tom1205]

Thx!!