Etude Op.10 No.9 -- Chopin

Comments/criticisms are welcome!

~Brett

Chopin - Op.10 no.9, Etude in F minor

 

Congratulations, Brett, on playing this difficult piece. Good dynamics, you might want to take it about 12bpm slower, also voice the LH more clearly and expressively. The performance is need of greater dynamic sensitivity.

Thanks for sharing!

Pete

 

Hi Escort. Is this your part time job as "escort".... :lol: :lol: .JJKing. Are you female?-"me"
Welcome to pianosociety.
I enjoyed your playing.....

 

PJF, this actually was 10-15bpm slower last week, but my instructor here had me speed it up, aha. I think I agree with you though, I find it sounds better a little slower than this.

John, thank you for the welcome. I am male. When you quoted "me" in your post, were you referring to how I edited the tags on the .mp3 (sorry, I'm a bit confused, haha)?

Thanks to both of you for the comments!

 

yes, your file name."me". Never mind. Escort sounds good and charmimg.

 

Haha, ok, thanks.

 

You played it very well. Did you use left hands original fingering and use finger 5 and 4 for the lowest keys? I always tend to cheat there and use 5 and 3. Works a lot easier for me as I cannot reach F-C with finger 5-4. But I guess that is the exercise with this etude.

I think the lower tempo fits it well but I long for a somewaht higher tempo and more agressive use of the dynamics at some points. But overall, you did a very good job.

Welcome to Piano Society. Provide a biography if you wish to go up on the site.

 

Good job, Brett. I get the same impression about the legato in this one as I did in the Rachmaninoff middle section. Is it just the piano, or perhaps the lack of reverb? Is this the piano on which you will be playing your jury?

heh...my jury is Monday. Good luck to both of us!

 

Very well played, a good debut ! I am not sure if the tempo is ok, or should even be slower, but I felt the need for a bit more drive and drama. Indeed, dynamics could be more pronounced - likely that is partly the recording. Some places with polyrhytms sounded no entirely comfortable.
And is there an edit at 0:45 ? I thought I heard a sudden change of volume there. Not that it's disturbing.
Some things to improve, as nearly always, but very good already.

 

Terez, it could be the lack of reverb, and the style at which I recorded it (I didn't have a mic-stand, so I just set the mic on a cloth with the music-stand laid down). It was also recorded in a moderately small office, rather than a larger room or a music hall.
Though the piano I recorded on is certainly not a bad piano (it is a Steinway, just not one I'm particularly fond of), it is not the one I will be using for my juries. For juries I get to play in the university's recital hall on their concert-grand Steinway (I'm not sure of the exact size, but it's huge). I'm excited for that; I've never played another piano that sounds or plays anything like it.
Good luck on your juries!

Techneut, there is actually no edit at 0:45, but I see what you mean (the first two rising sets I crescendo, then the second two I start at a lower volume instead of crescendoing straight through). I should probably just crescendo and accelerate straight through as written, but that along with the slight ritardando seems to help me set up and highlight that bit at 0:48 better where the right hand has straight rising octaves instead of the separated sets.

Robert, I did cheat and use 5-3 on the bottom. It made this piece technically very approachable, whereas with the original fingerings I'm thinking it could be quite a chore. Sometime I may go back and do work on it with the original fingerings, just to try and obtain some of the technique that it was written for, but for my performances I think I'll just take the easy way out.
Also, where would I send a biography to? And I'm guessing it should be written out in 3rd person, like the ones I've viewed on the site?
Finally, I've noticed a few comments asking about reverb; if it's suggested, I could edit whatever pieces you'd like me to and send those in with a bio.

 

I don't think choosing an easier fingering can be considered cheating. My teacher regularly suggest alternative ways to make things easier, even using one hand to take a note off the other if that comes out handy. Common practice, I guess.

 

My teacher in high school looked at this one with me, and she had such small hands, she played it 5-5-1-5-1-5, or perhaps 5-5-2-5-1-5. :lol:

 

You can post the biography in this topic with an optional picture or send it to me, Chris or Monica and one of us will put you up on the site.