Chopin/Godowsky - Op. 10, No. 6

[pianiststrongbad]

My left hand adventures continue. I've wanted to learn/attempt one of these Etudes for the past decade. I decided to finally learn one this year.

Listening to the recording I hear so many things to fix. It will probably take me the rest of the year to get those 32nds even and with balanced voicing. Regardless, I figured I would share, for those who enjoy this music.

[pencilart3]

Very, very well done

[pianiststrongbad]

Thanks for the nice feedback!

[mjames]

Wow, this is an incredible accomplishment! Of course it still needs some work but as I can see you are already aware of that.

Please do post more, especially if you're working on any other of these studies. Thanks for posting man.

[pianiststrongbad]

Thanks!

[kalospiano]

why do I keep watching videos that make me feel bad about myself? :-)) good stuff man!

[emill]

why do I keep watching videos that make me feel bad about myself? :-)) good stuff man! 

Me too!!  This pleases my ear a lot!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Very good. I hear a little occasional murkiness within the passagework but these things are very hard to get absolutely precise, and your control is generally excellent.

[pianiststrongbad]

Thanks for the nice feedback!

[recnepspencer]

Very well done! Not only is is a great accomplishment, but it's also quite beautiful. Please do post once you finish perfecting it!! Next you should learn the revolutionary etude for left hand 😉

[pianiststrongbad]

Very well done! Not only is is a great accomplishment, but it's also quite beautiful. Please do post once you finish perfecting it!! Next you should learn the revolutionary etude for left hand 😉

Thanks! Godowsky's arrangement of Op 10 No 12 has never been one of my favorites. If I learn more of them I'll likely do one of the following:
Op 25 No 1 (3rd version)
Op 10 No 5 (6th version)
Op 10 No 3

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I've looked at the lh only 10/3. Very challenging. I quite like the lh Butterfly as well.

I don't know why I didn't make this observation before - is your piano stool moved up somewhat to the right? I ask because when I've worked on lh only pieces I have been advised that it can be helpful to actually rotate the piano stool (and body position) a little, so that the left hand side is slightly further in than usual, but the right hand side slightly further out.

[pianiststrongbad]

I don't know why I didn't make this observation before - is your piano stool moved up somewhat to the right? I ask because when I've worked on lh only pieces I have been advised that it can be helpful to actually rotate the piano stool (and body position) a little, so that the left hand side is slightly further in than usual, but the right hand side slightly further out.

For this piece I think I only shifted the bench to the right a few inches, I didn't feel the need to shift it further since a lot of the notes are in the lower half of the piano. When I played Blumenfeld's LH Etude I shifted the bench a full octave to the right since the work covered the entire keyboard. I haven't tried actually rotating the bench before, perhaps I'll try that next time I play it. Thanks for the suggestion! In a LH book I own, Lewenthal mentions in the preface to experiment with different positions for the bench when playing LH pieces.