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Topic: Chopin nocturne question (Read 1212 times)

pianopuff

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Posts: 2

Chopin nocturne question

on: November 06, 2020, 02:49:06 PM

Hi,
I have played only a few Chopin nocturnes (Op. 9 no 1 and 2, as well as the posthumous nocturnes and Op 37 no 1).
Many are lovely but a bit too hard for me. I looked on the Henle site for ratings and it was not terribly helpful as it rated most of them a 6. It rated, for example, Op. 9 no 1 and 2 the same as Op. 27 no 2, which in my mind is a LOT harder)….
Can anyone suggest which ones are on the 'easier' side of the scale? Which ones would make sense to approach next? I have seen that Op. 55 no 1 seems pretty doable but what about others?

Thanks

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j_tour

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Posts: 4001

Re: Chopin nocturne question

Reply #1 on: November 06, 2020, 06:39:36 PM

Quote from: pianopuff on November 06, 2020, 02:49:06 PM

Can anyone suggest which ones are on the 'easier' side of the scale? Which ones would make sense to approach next? I have seen that Op. 55 no 1 seems pretty doable but what about others?

Oh, as I was just looking up the Op. number for the F minor, I see it is the Op. 55 no. 1.

Yeah, you can play that: the only real mechanical challenge is working the arpeggios at tempo towards the end, but it's not a very technical piece.

I'm afraid I can't say about the other nocturnes of Chopin, as this was the only one I mastered a long time ago. I still do recommend just grabbing the Dover reprint and reading through them, though: there are a bunch of them and I don't recall any single nocturne featuring more than one tricky mechanical technique.

Agreed about the Henle "grading" levels: I don't find their system (if what they have can be called systematic, regardless of the quality of their print editions) very helpful at all.

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