I've reworked this piece, incorporating suggestions made by PW members after I posted about this song the first time.

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on how it sounds now.

SaveFile link.



The first thread is right here.

Wow, this is a massive improvement, well done. Im playing this piece for my A level exam in a month or two, its a lot harder than it looks. Minor criticisms; the turn needs to sound more fluid, and there should be a longer silence before the last three chords. Apart from that this is a beautiful interpretation of the piece. I love the way you play it so slowly. The recordings of it I've heard are way to fast.

I appreciate that you like the slower tempo I use in this piece. I too have heard several fast recordings of this piece - so many in fact that I've begun to think that I'm playing it incorrectly and now play it faster! The piece seems much more emotional when played slowly, but I think bars 9 and 12 sound bit better in fast pieces. I may post a speedier interpretation this weekend.

When you speak of the 'turn,' I assume that references the transition between bars 12 and 13?

Thank you for the comments!

I meant by turn the little ornament just before it goes forte. Bar 16 I think. Look forward to your next recording.

I listened to the new one without having heard the old one, and there are several things that need attention here before this piece will can be considered finished.

First, in the opening bars of the piece and all those like them, you need to be slightly gentler with the right hand notes. Not all, but a couple of em sounded harsh and accented--notice the whole piece is slurred and is to be played legato.

bar(7) again, your playing the right hand dotted eighth and the sixteenth almost detache, which is incorrect. You're also interupting the left hand which should be uninterupted.

9th bar, those notes in the right hand are slurred together meaning they should be played legato. you need to connect the notes here.

12th bar- where the left hand falls out- you sped up the tempo, those are eighth notes, they should go by at the same tempo the left hand has been going since the start. there's also a triplet at the end of the bar which you also missed. these three notes should go by in the same amount of time that one quarter note would. again watch your legato.

16th bar where the climax begins. this bar needs to be totally reworked rhythm wise. go back and practice it slowly. that G after the turn was struck with WAY too much force. Also the last dotted eighth in this bar for the right hand is an f#, which is not the note you played .

The next bar is fine except for the fact that you're striking the high c and then the high g in the right hand very harshly.

The next bar you have perfectly with the rhythm of the triplet and all, but you almost completely stopped! you're o.k. to slow it down here a bit on account of the dim. marking but it's not a ritardando. once again, watch you're legato through this whole section. Also with this section, make sure your tempo is steady all the way through, even though the left hand gets a bit tricky with a couple leaps in there.

It's my opinion that you slowed down a bit to much at the end there right before the final cadence.

Finally, once you can play the piece perfectly, consider speeding it up a bit--it's fine to take it slower than usual but this really did seem to drag.

This has come to be known by those who know as one of those harder-than-it-looks-pieces. You have a great start on it. If you fix a couple of things, you'll play it well, and people who know chopin as well as those who don't will appreciate it.

John

I really appreciate the information you gave me, it's precisely the kind of feedback I need. I've actually reworked this piece a bit since posting, have been pretty succesfull speeding it up, and will certainly take into account what you pointed out.

Thank you again!