Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No. 12 pedalling

[alee94]

I have a question about the pedalling in Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No. 12, I'm halfway done and allready playing the notes flawlessly at the right speed, yet there seems to be no pedalling instruction on my sheet music (which I got from free-scores.com) and the way I'm using the pedal right now it seems to be too much and too messy and when not using it at all and when using it less the piece sounds less legato (which is probably just my fingering, which is hard at the right speed), my question is to others who have studied the piece, how they used the pedal throughout.

[gyzzzmo]

Alot of half-pedal, and in general (taking the first measures of the main melody as an example;) the low 'C' and the high 'Es' have the emphasize.
For the rest: The more clarity you can bring, without losing the legato, the better.

[chopinlover01]

You shouldn't have to use pedal to maintain legato. That's the whole (technical) point of the etude- maintaining clarity without sacrificing legato.
I can suggest some fingering if you'd like.
For the opening "runs" in the left hand: 2 1 2 4 3 1 (repeated all the way down both times).
For the general accompaniment, cross over with 4, or you could essentially switch hand position (often called "flying) to the next set, though that may get tiresome after a while if you don't use good forearm rotation.
Oh, and PLEASE get a good edition of the Chopin etudes. It's worth the purchase.

[rmchenry]

Please suggest a good edition.

[chopinlover01]

Henle, Paderwerksi (hope I spelled that right) (also, be warned, you'll have to buy tape with the Paderwerksi or get it spiral bound), Barenreiter, Schirmer, Mikuli, hell, even Palmer will do fine. Something that's published is the main thing. If an ABRSM exam board wouldn't take it, get a better one.
Of course, this is for long term things like Chopin Etudes, Concerti (of just about anyone), Beethoven Sonatas, etc.; smaller pieces like from movies and things are perfectly valid to print off the internet. You need not waste 40+ USD on an edition that's a clunky arrangement.

[pianist1976]

Please suggest a good edition.

My personally recommended editions of Chopin Etudes are:

- Wienner Urtext. Edited by Paul Badura Skoda. Very reliable text, very well researched, with several variants, original Chopin's official fingerings plus fingerings found on pupils' copies. Badura Skoda's fingerings are also very good and there are also a few fingerings from other great pianists such as Cortot.

- PWM Polish National Edition. Edited by Jan Ekier. With very similar qualities to Wienner, but with even more variants and original fingerings, and with a big clear text and the invaluable fingerings of Ekier himself.

I would not recommend the Paderewski ed anymore, although I've use it during several decades. They made quite a few weird editorial decisions and changes (too many for an urtext...) and IMHO there are (far) better fingerings than Paderewski's out there.

Regarding old editions such as Mikuli, they can be used as an occasional reference;they are not devoid of interest (as all of you know, Mikuli was a direct student of Chopin) but in my opinion they must be taken with a grain of salt. This and other similar editions (Klindworth, Sholtz) should not be used as a main study text as they are not free of editorial random changes.

Regarding Henle, that's one of my favorite editions generally speaking but I'm not quite personally fond of the fingerings they put on the Chopin Etudes edition.

I also would recommend to own Cortot's edition. Again, not as a main source for study but for further reference. The preparatory exercises deserve a look at least and there are some interesting fingerings. Not that you must use all of them but some of them are really revelatory.

[j_menz]

IMO, if your worrying about the finer points of distinction between editions, you're either a genius attempting a new "definitive" performance (and, yes, I mean the quotes) or you're making excuses.

Consult several editions for fingering suggestions, but be bound by none.

My advice is find a well bound one (whether bought or constructed yourself) - you're going to be flipping those pages a lot and they need to hold up. In my experience, Paderewski and Kalmus both are useless in that regard - if you choose either, buy glue, tape and binders.

[pianist1976]

IMO, if your worrying about the finer points of distinction between editions, you're either a genius attempting a new "definitive" performance (and, yes, I mean the quotes) or you're making excuses.

Sorry, I don't know who is this message pointed to. Who is worrying? Who talked about being a "genius" attempting a "definitive" performance? Excuses for what? Thanks.

Consult several editions for fingering suggestions, but be bound by none.

I completely agree.

[chopinlover01]

My advice is find a well bound one (whether bought or constructed yourself) - you're going to be flipping those pages a lot and they need to hold up. In my experience, Paderewski and Kalmus both are useless in that regard - if you choose either, buy glue, tape and binders.

Thank you for saying this; I knew it couldn't be just be me.

[j_menz]

Sorry, I don't know who is this message pointed to. Who is worrying? Who talked about being a "genius" attempting a "definitive" performance? Excuses for what? Thanks.

Not at anyone in particular. There are quite a number of editions of the Chopin etudes out there and for most purposes any of them are fine. Such variations as they have (fingering aside) are not worth worrying about for most purposes and, should one of them trouble you, resolvable online by looking at other editions or the mss.

The only case where they really would be an issue is if you are going to record them. There you would want to ensure that your score choices were thoroughly researched. And given the vast number of recordings of them already in existence, unless you have something new to say about them, I'd suggest that they really aren't a good recording choice.

[fifthelegy]

I always used quite minimal pedalling for this etude - enough to bring the piece together but never so much that I lose clarity of the notes or blur it all together. For most of the LH semiquavers I half pedal and repedal every beat or half bar. I'll also put the pedal down for anything that needs emphasising eg the chords or RH melody notes