Three Chopin Mazurkas

[thracozaag]

Op. 63 #2
Op. 41 #2
Op. 33 #1

koji (STSD)

[Antnee]

Very well done...
            I wish people would pay a bit more attention to chopin's mazurkas. SOme of them can be real b*tches to play and they are amazing. Kudos to you Koji for giving them their deserved justice.

-Tony-

[thracozaag]

  I think they're the most inspired pieces Chopin even penned.  I wish I COULD do them justice.

koji (STSD)

[Alde]

I liked your selection of Mazurkas - they are not that well known.  Most pianists tend to perform the same Horowitz Mazurkas over and over again.

[Mozartian]

Awesome, Koji!

[bearzinthehood]

Thanks, I really enjoyed listening to these.  They also helped me break out of my etude funk. 

[00range]

Stunning!

[goose]

Hi Koji,
I respect your playing a lot and the fact that you are posting samples on this site. But I have a question about your chosen interpretation of the Mazurkas.

To my ears, your renditions (while well thought out and technically clear) do not convey the rhythm of dance that mazurkas are based on. I'm not suggesting we actually need to be able to dance to Chopin's music. But I understood that mazurkas stress the third beat. In your versions I hear something closer to a rubato waltz time. Did you deliberately attempt to avoid a dance feel in favour of a more melancholic take on them? Or have I misunderstood the form?

Sorry to sound critical. I admire your skill and willingness to share (and look forward optimistically to a time when I can play so well). But I feel this space should be used to question performance practice, as well as to simply offer praise.

Best,
Goose

[thracozaag]

Hi Koji,
I respect your playing a lot and the fact that you are posting samples on this site. But I have a question about your chosen interpretation of the Mazurkas.

To my ears, your renditions (while well thought out and technically clear) do not convey the rhythm of dance that mazurkas are based on. I'm not suggesting we actually need to be able to dance to Chopin's music. But I understood that mazurkas stress the third beat. In your versions I hear something closer to a rubato waltz time. Did you deliberately attempt to avoid a dance feel in favour of a more melancholic take on them? Or have I misunderstood the form?

Sorry to sound critical. I admire your skill and willingness to share (and look forward optimistically to a time when I can play so well). But I feel this space should be used to question performance practice, as well as to simply offer praise.

Best,
Goose

  Those are very valid points you bring up, and in fact your final analysis is indeed, what I'm trying to convey in general with the minor-keyed mazurkas.  As you know, the mazurka is based upon three dance forms, the mazur, the oberek, and the kujawiak, which vary primarily in tempo, with the oberek being the fastest. 
  In interpreting this mazurkas, a pianist makes choices; one can generously use certain of the traditional rhythmic devices of mazurka playing, in particular the lift before an accented third beat, the rushing of triplets in the first beat, and the stretching of eighth notes in the third beat.  All of these devices, as well as others of pedaling and phrasing, emphasize the dance-character of the music and, in a way, detract from its elegiac songfulness.  Friedman for example, generally emphasizes dance elements, while Rubinstein (particularly in the first recording he did) and Kapell emphasize the elegiac qualities--again in general (listen to Friedman's Op. 24 #4, for example), or Kapell's Op. 30 #3. It is by choice of these devices, and by the relative frequency and subtlety with which he uses them, that a pianist determines to what degree a Mazurka will sing or dance.  The ones I choose to record here, I believe, are best served by playing more on the melancholic side--just my feeling about the pieces. 
  As with Baroque dance forms, tt's also extremely helpful to see these dances done in person (I was fortunate in this respect by having a polish ex-girlfriend).
  Thanks for bringing this point up, you obviously know your mazurkas!  Bravo!

koji (STSD)
   

[goose]

Thanks for the informative and eloquent reply, Koji. Great to see someone who both has an artistic vision and can articulate it (as well as play it!). I think it's through this kind of exchange that the recordings section will work best. We'll all learn more as a result.

Perhaps you could encourage some of your colleagues on Whitekeys to post their recordings over here as well. Unless I missed it, there's no facility to comment on or discuss the works with the pianist on that site.

Meanwhile, keep the recordings coming!
Thanks,
Goose

[thracozaag]

  I'll run that idea by some of the folks there, and thanks again for the intelligent inquiry (something that I sadly rather rarely encounter on public forums).

koji (STSD)

[steinwayargentina]

Op. 63 #2
Op. 41 #2
Op. 33 #1

koji (STSD)

Koji: i just wnat to listen you mazurkas but there isnt a link to download can you post again? thank you. Pablo

[stevea]

Koji...Can you repost these?  I don't see the link to download them.

Thanks!
Steve