Chopin Etude Op10 No 3 - Recording played Vivace?

[j_menz]

As some of you are no doubt aware, Chopin's original tempo marking for this Etude was Vivace (later revised by him down to the current Lento ma non troppo because he fell in love with his own tune).

Does anyone know of a recording of it played at the Vivace tempo? My googling is failing me, but I'd be rather surprised if there wasn't someone who'd done it.

[emill]

Hi j_menz,

Really the Chopin Etude Op10 No. 3 in Vivace tempo?  Tried looking for it too,
but no luck. Would have loved to listen to how it would sound and feel.  
So I ramped up what Enzo played 3 years ago and would like to ask you if
the tempo is similar ??  THANKS.

emill

err... sounds a bit strange! hehe!

[pianist1976]

Hi j_menz,

Really the Chopin Etude Op10 No. 3 in Vivace tempo?  Tried looking for it too,
but no luck. Would have loved to listen to how it would sound and feel.  
So I ramped up what Enzo played 3 years ago and would like to ask you if
the tempo is similar ??  THANKS.

emill

err... sounds a bit strange! hehe!

Whoa. This is really fast, at least quite faster than most of the interpretations out there, or the "standard" we've accustomed to hear this etude. Interesting rendition. Enzo is really talented  

[j_menz]

Hi j_menz,

Really the Chopin Etude Op10 No. 3 in Vivace tempo?  Tried looking for it too,
but no luck. Would have loved to listen to how it would sound and feel.  
So I ramped up what Enzo played 3 years ago and would like to ask you if
the tempo is similar ??  THANKS.

emill

err... sounds a bit strange! hehe!

Thanks. Not quite what I'm after, though. At Vivace it should be quite a bit faster even than that, and it would need quite a bit of rethought (not just a speed up of the slower one).

I'm half tempted to try it myself as there are a number of aspects of the work that seem to work better as an exercise and at that place in the etudes than the slower one that has come down to us. I'm inclined to think Chopin wrote a better etude (but a less beautiful piece of music) and kinda squibbed it. Of course, given the popularity of the final result, one can hardly say he was wrong, but still.

Given there are about a billion standard versions on YT, and given the original tempo marking is hardly a secret, it seems rather surprising there's not a few of them out there. It's not like some people don't like to show off how fast they can play - and here it would at least have some legitimate interest.

Of course, it would, at that speed, be quite a lot more challenging.  All those "rank the Chopin Etude" threads would need a revisit. My apologies in advance.

[outin]

I'm half tempted to try it myself

Please do and make a recording for us. I don't care for the piece much as it is now, so maybe I'd like it better as the original?

[perprocrastinate]

Please do and make a recording for us. I don't care for the piece much as it is now, so maybe I'd like it better as the original?

I'd be delighted to hear j_menz play. He's secretly a professional pianist.




If he doesn't remember this joke, I'm going to look like an idiot..

[j_menz]

If he doesn't remember this joke, I'm going to look like an idiot

"Joke" seems to be stretching the matter.

If (and that's a big if) I do decide to give it a whirl, I'll post a recording. But I can't believe that would be the first in nearly 200 years of people doing all sorts of other things with (and to) them.

[chopinlover01]

In Paul Barton's tutorial, he plays an excerpt of the etude at vivace tempo.

[j_menz]

In Paul Barton's tutorial, he plays an excerpt of the etude at vivace tempo.

Actually, the excerpt he plays is at the "lento ma non troppo (quaver = mm 100)" speed - what is now the common marking, and, as he says, the one most usually ignored. He shows the metronome to demonstrate. Most performances are in fact considerably slower than this.

Thanks for finding this. Still not what I'm after, though.

[pianoguy711]

Horowitz gives quite a sprightly performance

[j_menz]

Horowitz gives quite a sprightly performance

Still very much Lento, though.

[quantum]

I'm thinking it needs more than a simple tempo change, there would likely need to be some reworking of the music.  As it is commonly known, the manner in which the piece is scored works with the slower tempo but parts of it would seem a bit too chatty for a Vivace.  Perhaps Chopin would have tweaked the melody to remain equally as elegant with a faster tempo. 

[j_menz]

I agree it would need a rethink about how it was played, and the result would be not just a sped up version, but Chopin made the tempo changes without revision of the music. The actual version we have is what was originally intended to be played vivace. IMO, that explains some of the clunkiness of the move from the B section back to the recap of the A.

I think one of the initial difficulties of playing it that fast (and it seems a great deal more technically demanding as well) is being able to put the familiar version out of one's head and starting with a blank canvass.

It also means that the B section would only be a little more animated, not considerably faster, which accords with Chopin's markings (but not performance convention at the slower pace, where it would sound rather odd played nearly as slowly as the two A sections).