Advice for my performance of Chopin's Etude op. 10 no 1

[virtuoso_pianist]

Hey!! I recently performed Chopin's op. 10 no 1 and I'm not happy with how I performed it. To me, it lacks clarity of notes and I keep making mistakes (even though I play it through perfectly during practise). I want to be able to play it like Seong chin ho (the guy who won the chopin competition in 2015). Please help me get good Thanks!!

[jamienc]

Sounds great! A few things I noticed first off is that the dynamic range seems to be relatively static throughout in both the long-term and within the localized two-bar segments. The bass is always a bit heavy, which may inadvertently cause the finger action to also be heavy throughout each arpeggio. A lighter touch with more shape to the arpeggios might help facilitate some of the more awkward positions. If you listen carefully to Cho’s performance, he doesn’t treat all of the 16ths equally, which is suggesting that his finger independence within each arpeggio is crafted to expose the hierarchy individually in each beat.

Even though the camera is far away, it still appears as if there is a lot of wrist motion to accommodate the shifts between each arpeggio both ascending and descending. I have found that the more the wrist moves, the more likely it is that there will be much more work needed to get the fingers properly in position AND may promote fatigue by the time you get half-way through. Move the wrist less, and use the finger more…

If you watch Kyohei Sorita’s performance of this, you might also catch some alternate fingerings for some of the really awkward chords. For example, I have NEVER been able to accurately play the chord in measure 31 without missing notes. I figured that a more closed position hand shape worked much better even if it wasn’t a conventional fingering. I was pleased to discover that Sorita does the same thing in places, such as measure 30-34, and a couple places near the end. The fingering I use in mm. 31 is 2-3-1-3-2-3-1 etc. to the top. It keeps the hand more closed and my accuracy rarely falters. This fingering approach works in a few other areas nicely, so you might explore and see if it helps.

I know a few good folks here will disagree with my suggestions, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. If you watch many of the contestants perform this, you’ll notice that the wrist is almost always motionless. The concentration of technique applied to the action of the fingers is what makes these performances a step above the rest.

Hope this helps a bit!

[lelle]

Do you feel any buildup of fatigue or tension in the forearm as you progress through the Etude?
How recently did you learn the Etude?
In terms of your technical skill, is it at the edge of what you can do or more towards the middle?
Were you nervous or had cold hands before the performance?

[liszt-and-the-galops]

jamienc and lelle summed everything up pretty well.
To add on to what lelle was saying, you might be psyching yourself out if your performance is less good than your practice. Stay calm and avoid being nervous. Maybe have some chamomile tea if you're really anxious.

Hope this helps!
Liszt

[pianistavt]

If you watch Kyohei Sorita’s performance of this, you might also catch some alternate fingerings for some of the really awkward chords. For example, I have NEVER been able to accurately play the chord in measure 31 without missing notes. I figured that a more closed position hand shape worked much better even if it wasn’t a conventional fingering. I was pleased to discover that Sorita does the same thing in places, such as measure 30-34, and a couple places near the end. The fingering I use in mm. 31 is 2-3-1-3-2-3-1 etc. to the top. It keeps the hand more closed and my accuracy rarely falters. This fingering approach works in a few other areas nicely, so you might explore and see if it helps.

I'm glad to see someone bring up this idea.  I worked on this etude a couple years ago, and shelved it due to the seeming impossibility of getting it to tempo.  I think the solution may be in alternate fingerings like you mention - more closed positions.
Another solution may be to play "staccato" (with pedal down, of course), i.e. get off the note quickly, lift the hand more.

[lostinidlewonder]

Well it is one of the more challenging etudes so don't feel too bad, rarely anyone can play it without some mistakes (really the only person that cares about that is the pianist or some overly critical audience member who listens to recordings all day). Performance is always a risk and never feels as safe as the practice room unless you have nerves of steel. If the piano you are playing on is not fully understood something like this etude can feel much more difficult. There's nothing wrong also taking the tempo down a tiny bit to give you breathing space to deal with all these issues while performing. Personally I find people treat this piece as a race and take the tempo markings far too literal, here you can lose the musicality and it just becomes an impressive exercise.

[ranjit]

What I would recommend based on what I see is to try to forget about the technique and think of longer lines. Try to imagine it in your mind, and then maybe play only the left hand to see how you want to take it. You can record yourself doing this until you find something you like. Then I would add in the RH and try working on more dynamics within the RH -- at a basic level,  crescendo upwards, diminuendo downwards. Hope this is useful.