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Topic: Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1 (Read 1923 times)

hfffoman

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Posts: 1

Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1

on: September 12, 2023, 08:02:38 AM

This is is the Grand Valse in A flat. The beautiful dotted chords in bars 60-63 have the top notes tied. I think the correct reading is that the top note is played once and held while the rest of the chord is played twice. But watching recordings it looks like the entire chord is played twice each time. Even more puzzling, there is a similar figure in bar 8 of the key change where the lower note of a third is tied. The fingering is given as 31 then 32. This doesn't make sense unless you are playing the chord twice. This is the Schirmers Classic edition edited by Joseffy so I take the markings seriously.
Someone, please, must know the answer definitively.

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jamienc

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Re: Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1

Reply #1 on: September 13, 2023, 10:53:44 PM

I would not interpret those as ties. I believe that they are meant to be interpreted as slurs, which would indicate a slight stress on the first chord and then a release on the following chord. Anyone else?

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dw4rn

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Posts: 162

Re: Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1

Reply #2 on: September 20, 2023, 09:39:55 AM

Just like jamienc wrote, those are articulation slurs. In that whole section of the piece, there are many, many instances of the same rhythm and articulation: two slurred eighth-notes, a sixteenth rest, sixteenth-note slurred to an eight-note (taa-daa, ta-daa)
Where the "taa-daa's" or "ta-daa's" consist of two notes of the same pitch, Chopin continues to write the slurs but marks the second note with a dot to clarify that the notes should not be tied.

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lostinidlewonder

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Re: Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1

Reply #3 on: September 20, 2023, 01:58:27 PM

The 2nd chord under those ties has a staccato above them so of course they all must be played again.

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Piano Street Magazine:A Sudden Chat with Paul Lewis about Beethoven & Schubert

Topic: Can't work out whether to play tied notes in Chopin Op 34 no.1 (Read 1923 times)

Piano Street Magazine:
A Sudden Chat with Paul Lewis about Beethoven & Schubert