Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum my first chopin piece... a question!

Hi peeps!

My tutor has me looking at my first chopin piece... yaaaay!

Im starting with polonaise in g minor... cracking piece.

The g minor run in the first section is indicated at one beat from start to finish. Ive got the timimg on the triplets versus the start and finshing groups down, and can complete the whole section now at 55bpm.... its indicated at 90bpm and all the recordings i have heard havent even had this run any quicker than my current speed... i cant imagine there being much point in going quicker... but if i am true to chopins music (alfred edition) then the rest is a lot slower than recordings..... since every recording has not kept the speed as written... is this one of those interpretation issues? Is it a case of getting what i can out of my speed... as i maybe can get another 5 bpm with it sounding music but cant imagine reaching a speed to make the rest quick enough if i stay with the correct timings....

Many thanks!

Are you talking about the run at 0:16 in this recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pysco6ZLrWE

If so, I would say it needs to be pretty close to speed. This recording isn't the best example of evenness in the run, but the tempo is pretty much there. Check it out.

Yes, thats the one..... still doesnt seem quick enough in that.... every recording is the same.... beat and a half atleast compared to the quavers after..... but any faster would be silly.... i havent seen a recording with the run played as my sheet music indicates...

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, thats the one..... still doesnt seem quick enough in that.... every recording is the same.... beat and a half atleast compared to the quavers after..... but any faster would be silly.... i havent seen a recording with the run played as my sheet music indicates...

Thanks for the reply.

It doesn't sound to me like a beat and a half in the recording Derelux cited. Sounds like one beat to the D6 on beat two. We are talking about measure 5 (repeated in measure 9), right?

That guy on recording is doing the g-minor passage far to fast, so don't worry about the tempo

listen to Czerny-Stefańska, she's one of the Chopin masters
this how how it should be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPJgysdoBEc

That sounds much more like it! Im somewhat relieved as i dont have the tecnique to play at the speed of the recording derelux suggested. I will endeavor to get the best out of this piece and i certainly will enjoy every minute of the journey.... ill be listening to that version rather alot i imagine.

Thanks.

Hmmmm still think its not as quick as two quaver beats... though its a lovely rendition... i will copy her speed as i can play the rest of that part at her speed...and start to figure things out.... long road ahead :-)

UK Paul,
speed isn't the most important factor when playing Chopin

This polonaise is often played by children, who aren't capable of doing it in so fast speed, so just play it in the speed, with which you fell comfortable and like how it sounds
Written tempo is just nothing more than sugestion, not something that you should be glued to.

Maybe you sould listen to Samson Francois
He plays sometimes very fast, sometimes slow, but he plays very clearly
hi's the best piano poet ever been in the piano history (that's my opinion).
B-moll sonata op.31 makes me cry, really.

She certainly doesnt play it at the indicated speed written in the alfred book, well.... the first section anyway.... after that the second section contrasts very nicely at the more rapid pace. Beautfully played and given my alot to think about with how to aproach this.

You won't find better performance.
I am happy that you like it

But I think it's better to stick to one of the best polish pianist ever than to Alfred book

Kapelli and packa, thanks for your comments...

Im listening to all opinions and listening to as many different versions as possible.... so far i have been learning pretty basic stuff and progressing nicely... looking forward to putting this together with some thought and personal preference... time will tell. So many variations....

Ps thanks for the heads up on samson francois ,kapelli... will give him a listen.

If i have any issues i'll post here... and hopefully get a recorded version when i get to a sensible competency.

Regards.

You can record the begging of the polonaise with the passage (just these few tacts)and put here.
So we can comment on your playing, if you want of course

I played this when I was very young also

Yes, good idea... will work on the section another week then pop something up. :-)

???

Sory it was too late yesterady,
I was thinking about the b-moll op.35

b-moll in Europe = Bb minor in US
h-moll in Europe = B minor in US
(not everywhere but it's generaly rule

I know about the second part of your reply, the Op 31 was what I was confused about, since the piece that actually is Opus 31 is also in B flat minor...

I wasn't sure whether it was the opus number or the genre of the composition that you got wrong...

To be hones I realized this opus nr mistake today morning when I visited the forum
And I also thougt - yes, that is 2nd scherzo nr 31;)

I spent some time today reviewing the piece and finally have my head around the run being in a single beat when i listen to the recordings... i had a play around earlier and got my run upto 60bpm but even at that its getting uneven.... onpy been looking at the piece for a relatively short time so will gradually work my speed up whilst looking at the rest.... im thinking a speed around 80 may work for me... in time.