Note position on staff

[pcaraganis]

Hello,

I'm an adult beginner, and something that sometimes causes me confusion is when notes are placed in essentially the same rhythmic position but not on the same stem, or when the stems are in line but the note heads are not.

I'm particularly confused in the attached example, Einsame Blumen, no. 3 from Schumann's Waldszenen. When listening to this piece I have often noted what sounds almost like a hammer-on effect from playing two notes very close together but not simultaneously. One example of this is where I've drawn the red circle below. My understanding of notation is actually that these two notes should be played together, but am I correct?

The hammer-on effect comes through to me more clearly in some performances than others, so I'm not sure whether it's actually intentional or just slightly sloppy playing. Can anyone explain this to me?

Thanks!

[dogperson]

Yes, the circled notes should be played at the same time. The reason the note heads are in different directions is to show the movement of the melodic line.  As a small exercise, Play the top quarter notes alone and you will find it is the melody. The note heads just highlight  this voice.

[pcaraganis]

OK, that is more or less what I thought. So should I assume that the inexact playing of these notes in some performances of this piece is just a stylistic choice, or maybe just an error?

The linked performance below is a good example, but isn't the only one:

I'm thinking, for example, of the first beat of the 10th measure (at about 0:14 and circled in the attached)

[dogperson]

I did not hear the same thing as you, what I heard was the two notes played together with the top accented and then a large ritardando  almost like a sigh

[pcaraganis]

To me, it sounds like the D is struck slightly before the C (and the C is actually the melody note in this particular instance), but I agree it's small enough to be difficult to notice. I just think it's interesting because I've noted this in several different recordings of this piece, but I am can't explain why because I don't see any notation or instruction. I'm sure you're right, in any case - thanks for your answer!

[lelle]

Hello!

You are correct that the notation in the score means that they should be played together. However, as a stylistic choice some pianists choose to play different voices slightly out of sync (or the right hand and the left hand) at certain times. This was more popular among historic pianists than today. Playing hands or voices out of sync serves as an expressive device or to make it easier for the listener to make out the different voices than when they are played exactly together.

Check this recording from 1929 of Cortot playing a chopin Nocturne. If you check the score, you can see that he plays the right and left hand out of sync quite often

[pcaraganis]

Thank you very much! In that case I wonder whether there is a certain convention associated with particular pieces, in terms of whether to use that expressive device or not - maybe that's why I am hearing the same flourish in the same part of the piece, across different performances.