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Topic: heroic polonaise tempo?  (Read 8561 times)

Offline swagmaster420x

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heroic polonaise tempo?
on: April 28, 2014, 03:02:00 AM
hi what is a good tempo for this piece? everything after first page seems hard to play at a moderately fast tempo because of all the hand stretching chords + finger tying thirds etc
ive noticed that performances of this piece tend to go pretty fast for the opening (1st page), then slow down/employ rubato to make it easier to play the main theme

Offline awesom_o

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Re: heroic polonaise tempo?
Reply #1 on: April 28, 2014, 03:20:31 AM

Offline swagmaster420x

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Re: heroic polonaise tempo?
Reply #2 on: April 28, 2014, 05:35:37 AM
Hmm, what a singular interpretation. Don't most pianists tend to conform to the prevalent understanding of how a piece is played?

Offline j_menz

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Re: heroic polonaise tempo?
Reply #3 on: April 28, 2014, 05:41:10 AM
Don't most pianists tend to conform to the prevalent understanding of how a piece is played?

Only the ones wasting their (and everyone else's) time playing it.

On your original question, Chopin uses 4 different tempi for his Polonaises - Maestoso, Allegro Maestoso, Allegro ma non troppo and Allegro.  Maestoso is more a mood than a tempo, but it's at the very slow end of Allegro in this context, and whilst it changes subtly through the piece, the basic tempo doesn't alter much - no change is indicated by Chopin (except appassionata at some point).
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline swagmaster420x

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Re: heroic polonaise tempo?
Reply #4 on: April 28, 2014, 06:02:34 AM
Only the ones wasting their (and everyone else's) time playing it.

On your original question, Chopin uses 4 different tempi for his Polonaises - Maestoso, Allegro Maestoso, Allegro ma non troppo and Allegro.  Maestoso is more a mood than a tempo, but it's at the very slow end of Allegro in this context, and whilst it changes subtly through the piece, the basic tempo doesn't alter much - no change is indicated by Chopin (except appassionata at some point).
im thinking heroic polonaise is like 80-90 bpm? The tempo actually fluctuates a lot when people play it. It gets especially quick in the opening section, where people reach allegro speeds but I think most of the piece is slower than that.

Offline awesom_o

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Re: heroic polonaise tempo?
Reply #5 on: April 28, 2014, 02:50:18 PM
Just play it as well as Bozhanov, but find your own interpretation! Then you'll be good!
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