Hello Chopin fans! I hope you're enjoying story time with Alan Walker. Just a reminder that you can listen to full episodes every Wednesday when the audio is released to podcast platforms, several days before the video segments arrive. Here's Episode 1: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chopin-podcast/id1765998900 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2hNW9BuUCK0z2adPHhqArh Audible: www.audible.com/podcast/The-Chopin-Podcast/B0DFVRVCX4 Meanwhile, did you know the Preludes will be BACK this coming year at the Chopin Competition? It's been a while since they were actually required, and it's always fun when they are (this time competitors will be given a choice between groups of 6 consecutive Preludes). You can watch a prelude of the Preludes at the US National Competition in Miami this January, where I'll be attending and hosting the livestreams from backstage. Make sure to subscribe to the Chopin Foundation channel so you can catch all the talented young pianists and be on the look out for the next medalist in Warsaw: www.youtube.com/@chopinfoundationoftheunite8079 You also won't want to miss my debut as a piano competition correspondent...
This man is prime example of an inspired person who at 95 is still as sharp as a razor. It shows that the brain doesn't deteriorate when it still has a purpose . very inspiring
I’m totally riveted every time I hear Alan Walker speak. I am very fortunate to have met and corresponded with him on several occasions over the years. In addition to being the standard for a thorough and insightful scholar, he is the perfect gentleman. A truly great man!
I can't wait to read this book. I read Professor Walker's Liszt biography and the three volumes are so brilliant, and so colourful, that I often think that if I could go back in time and meet one historical figure, it would be Liszt. One of my favourite anecdotes from the Liszt biography is Liszt showing up as a guest for dinner and his host asking him for his opinion on a piano piece the host has composed. Liszt, takes it in his hand, looks at it, makes a polite comment, hands it back, sits for dinner, and a few hours later sits at the piano and plays the piece from memory having only looked at it briefly when he had just arrived! Another interesting detail was how Liszt dealt with playing wrong notes by altering the harmony to make it sound like the mistakes were not mistakes at all. Interestingly I heard Pavel Kolesnikov, who recently sat on the jury of the Leeds piano competition, and was a competitor in the Tchaikovsky competition ultimately won by Trifonov, play in Ireland shorty after that Tchaikovsky competition. In his programme he included the final three of the Transcendental Etudes, and during Harmonie du soir he had a memory lapse. He had attempted a two hand broken chord run up the piano but ended in the wrong place. Without missing a beat, he descended back down the piano in a similar way to where he started, harmonising with his error but still within the general harmonic and textural style of the passage, before going back up again and nailing it the second time. If you hadn't heard the piece before you'd never have known something was up. Kolesnikov must've read the Liszt biography too!
@@masadiceronio4577 Don't know what to tell you...he's very clearly reading something to the side in the first couple of minutes (haven't watched any further yet). Which is not supposed to be bad or anything!
After having devoured the Walker Chopin biography, I gave my copy to my friends David Finckel and Wu Han, neither of whom had ever heard of Professor Walker. A couple of weeks later I heard from them both expressing astonishment about the book, just as I had after having read it. I am now well into the third volume of Walkers biography of Liszt which is life changing for me. Wu Han and David were so taken with the Chopin book that they purchased several copies to give to friends as holiday gifts! Can't recommend Walker any higher!
I just enjoyed a wonderful performance by your two friends at South Mountain in the Berkshires last month. I can’t believe Wu Han had never heard of Alan Walker!
I am a huge fan of Alan Walker, his 3 part biography of liszt is incredible. To those in the comments i see harping on whether or not things are 100% undeniable facts with 12 sources, id suggest reading a wikipedia article or something if you want a bland list of facts. Walker writes in a compelling narrative style and makes no bones about things being stories, or related by 2nd or 3rd hand sources. He is also incredibly thorough and never shy to point out the shakiness of one story or another. Its the way great biographies and histories have been written since Plutarch and i hope we get back to this being the norm, rather than cold, grey lists of facts.
I also read and really enjoyed Walker's biography, and agree that I always got the sense that he was very careful about the veracity of things. He was always ruthless about separating facts from fiction, while also open to making educated guesses as long as they're called out and properly justified with other facts.
Listening to Alan Walker talk of Chopin, is the most riveting stories I've heard in years and enjoyed it to the fullest having just read his Chopin bo--and YES it is quite a page turner.
He’s very like my late husband who passed away recently at 94. It’s important to revere these people and the knowledge and wisdom they hold. Enjoy their presence which brings the thinking of the past into the present.
What a pleasure to hear Alan Walker talking about Chopin. I have read his books on Liszt and Chopin. I have known a lot about Liszt for many decades but had not read a Chopin biography with so much fascinating historical background. Alan is 10 years older than me and I hope that playing piano will get me another ten healthy years with him as inspiration. By coincidence the F minor Prelude is my favourite too, along with the D major.
i t is amazing to me how subjective music perception and taste is. To me Chopin is always the pleasure of enjoying the abstraction of sentimentality, as in an infinite combination of all possibilities of feeling, but not any particular feeling, more or less sad. "Chopin is not a representational composer", he's not Liszt or Wagner, and I don't have to care about malady with him more than I have to care about Lutheran church going with Bach.
"Music does express and reflect the life of the mind." Is that right? Does music come from the mind? Well, yes it does in the same way that the packaging of a product does that for the product. I would "express" it differently. The product itself is the visceral emotion that wells up in the "heart" and flows forth into the packaging that the mind puts into form. Without both, you have either Clementi or Scriabin (in his later works). Chopin, like Mozart, Brahms, Bach and Beethoven, was a master craftsman who was able to fashion the raw emotion he was feeling into architectural masterworks that will live forever as long as civilization survives on earth.
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You are awesome! What a resource, changing my playing already. Go ToneBase!
So good, so entertaining, and so well-imformed! Thank both of you, Ben Laude and Alan Walker, for this exceptionally enlightening episode of your wonderful podcast!
Thank you, Dr. Walker! I am currently reviewing the Preludes, so this video is most appreciated. Bruce (whom you also met when we had "high tea" at Valerie Tryon's home) is also restudying the Preludes!
Speaking of Bach's possible influence on Chopin: I can't remember who it was, but I saw a video of a female piano student who was playing the Chopin Sonata in Bb minor in a master class. The professor asked her to play the beginning of the 4th movement slowly. She did, and he remarked, "Now doesn't that sound like something Bach would have written?" You could see a light bulb flick on in her head, and it flicked on in mine as well.
Hey, I just today (Sunday 10/6/24) bought a used copy of this very Alan Walker book at Powell's Books of Chicago. Used $7.50. Very cool to see this podcast pop up.
Powell's is always a good choice - good old fashioned bookstore with wonderful character and characters. I found a biography of Rudolph Serkin there that a photo of him playing the saxophone! Serkin liked programming the preludes as a complete cycle by the way.
Whenever I play or listen to certain Chopin works I get the impression that he was prone to anxiety attacks, and that reflects in his music- just a personal and maybe amateurish impression of mine. By the way, Alan Walker's books are available in Kindle format on Amazon. They are relatively expensive, but worth every cent spent on.
The foundation picture, far left, was my good friend from High School, Dean Kramer. He would occasionally help me out with accompianment for the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. I was also a musicology student of Charles Rosen when he was at Stony Brook University, 1975. That makes me 4 degrees from Chopin and I therefore know everything. I am not convinced about a connection between Bach C# and Raindrops, but I think composers probably don't always recognize what is milling around the brain when they compose - there only 144 combinations of three notes so there is bound to be some repetition. I knew a guy once who wanted to start a field of study called Psychomusicology; probably unnecesary and I don't know how far he got past his phd. I agree with Ben that there is not necessarily a black and white division between programatic and 'pure' music and certainly we can usually talk at least about moods with lesser or greater specificity. I don't think of the Brahms Violin Concerto as programatic but in the 2nd movement, Juliet is definately on the balcony going through a range of emotions as she waits for the slimeball Romeo to show up. Without other confirmation, I don't think I can claim this to be the truth. -Seth
When I was studying French literature at university, Chopin was known as George Sand's boyfriend. Now that I am an amateur classical pianist in training, Sand was Chopin's girlfriend. 🫠
First of all, thank you for consistently providing such high-quality content and insightful perspectives on the historical aspects of master composers. Regarding Chopin's F minor prelude, I believe it presents an intriguing opportunity to explore the influence his contemporaries may have had on him. For instance, Robert Schumann composed Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 in 1837, about a year before Chopin's Preludes. I find a compelling similarity between the opening themes of Chopin’s F minor prelude and Schumann's second piece, Aufschwung. Both are in F minor, and they share significant melodic similarities, prompting the question: How indifferent was Chopin to his contemporaries, particularly Schumann? I have read Walker's biography, which claims Chopin was not particularly fond of the music of his contemporaries. However, from my research, I have not found substantial evidence to fully support these claims. For instance, it is alleged that Chopin commented favorably only on the cover page of Schumann's Kreisleriana before seemingly disregarding the work itself. Yet, I have never come across a letter or trustworthy source to validate this narrative. It seems that much of what we know about these composers is shaped by biased views and gossip that have grown over time. If these accounts were reevaluated today by the composers themselves, much of what has been written might be disputed. With this in mind, I believe it would be stimulating to create a video examining Chopin’s relationships with his contemporaries, using validated sources-if any exist-to challenge or support these long-standing assumptions.
Fascinating talk (provided it's true). I play the easiest - number 7 in A major - and I roll that big chord. That way it sounds even better. My favourite is not that one - I think it's number 13 (it's a very soft one). Lovely pieces, those preludes,. His scherzi are my favourite. Followed by his mazurkas. What are yours Ben? s. Tiffany Poon does the best set I have ever heard. Heard her live. Her virtuosity was breath-taking.
I know of only one comment made by Chopin, in which he described how one of his pieces should be played - referring to the middle movement of the second piano concerto, he said: "It is like gazing at a spot in the moonlight, immersed in a thousand memories..." This is, I believe, the ONLY comment he ever made, in his entire life about this subject. It comes from a letter. When it comes to why he loathed people giving his pieces representational names, he is known to have remarked this: "There is nothing more odious than music which does NOT contain a hidden meaning." He would have hated the subtitles that were given to his pieces.
Obviously there would have been an awkward moment when Frederick told his parents he was in love with someone called George. Don't blame him for keeping that under his hat.
Alkan told the Hungarian pianist Alexander de Bertha that Chopin considered himself to be a staunch classicist, and any interpretation of his music should begin bearing that in mind. Looks as if that was confirmed here.
I learned a lot of great detail - a great video, Ben. Also, I had no idea Chopin marked the WTC scores for performance... I agree Chopin was a purist ("absolute music"). But the distinction between "mind" and "world" I found too sharply drawn by AW. But if the Revolutionary Étude just isn't about the fall of Warsaw, for however many reasons, so be it... ! AW is clearly a very rigorous scholar. The Liszt volumes are exceptional.
Your videos are great Ben ! I'm composing my first book of 24 preludes and Chopin is a huge inspiration. I see preludes as etudes on musical forms, I wonder if you could comment on that
Chopin hardly wrote anything in D minor. A Prelude, an early Polonaise, two songs (with Polish texts) -- that's it. I've always wondered why -- but no wonder, if D minor represents death.
It’s pretty ironic how he absolutely refutes any romanticizing/narrativizing of Chopin’s music then goes on to do exactly that at 20:22 referring to the D minor prelude.
@@caseym8385 yeah I’ve been thinking about this a lot too lately. Walker will clarify this in the next episode, but here’s how I’ve come to understand his position: what he’s opposed to is the assertion that Chopin’s music is *about* scenes from nature, etc, in the external world - that he wrote repeated A-flats to represent raindrops. That’s different than suggesting that his music was inspired by life experiences and emotional struggles, and carries them expressively within otherwise purely musical frameworks. It’s a fine line but there is a difference.
George Sand was a woman? I just started learning about Chopin a couple of weeks ago, and everything I watched just said "lover, George Sand, a poet." I...made some assumptions. 😅 Thought maybe somebody could get a laugh at my expense. Although I'm laughing with you.
by the way - I'm not sure I agree you at 13:42 or so - or with Herr Professor that Chopin's music was 'always without reference - after all did he not say that the opening of his scherzo number 2 was supposed to represent someone asking if there was any alternative to death - the following ff chords are death's answer 'NO'. I thought Chopin was supposed to have said that (or something like it). If that's not representational, I don't know what is. Do check out my own scherzo composition. It's actually the same as my first prelude but with some scales added, if I recall. I now see that the middle of it is quite similar to the second movement of his '2nd concerto' (written before his number 1). I must have been subconsciously affected by Tiffany Poon's incredibly beautiful live rendition of that concerto (on YT). But I didn't intentionally copy it.
Wonderful insights and stories about Chopin and his visit to Majorca. I have produced several shows about Chopin, including one about the various potential causes of his death. Tuberculosis is only one of many possibilities. You might be interested to see the performance.
Is The Chopin Podcast going to be in a Preludes form, all in 12 episodes, each in two segments? One analyzed by practitioners and the other by musicologists
It varies, but the general structure is: 1) Garrick breaks down the music at the piano 2) 1-2 guests, touching on other aspects of history and pianism related to the given genre 3) Jed Distler recommended recordings Often one of the guests will be a former medalist of the Chopin competition, and we’ll watch and react to their competition performance together and they’ll also reflect on the competition and the music itself. But in general the episodes will be balanced between the music itself, the interpretation and performance of the music, the history of the music, and the legacy of recordings of the music.
16:52 I have utmost respect for Alan Walker but I don't consider this Wessel example proof that Chopin was against attaching imagery to his music. It's only proof that Chopin was against Wessel's naming of his pieces, which were obviously ridiculous (the "Sighs" and the "Meditation" are, in the words of today's generation, cringe af). There are multiple historic accounts of Chopin also attaching imagery to his own music or being inspired by his surroundings, which even Walker records in his own book. Chopin's 1st concerto 2nd movement was called a "romance" and Chopin describes it as "glancing at a place that evokes many fond memories". His student reports that his Op. 25 No. 1 etude is like a shepherd boy playing flute in a cave while avoiding a storm. And there's the clock imitation in the Op. 28 No. 17 bass notes. His minute waltz was reportedly inspired by seeing a dog chasing its own tail. Many students of Chopin also reported that Chopin often used imagery to describe how they should play passages (e.g. see Eigeldinger's introduction of "Chopin: pianist and teacher"). Some of these stories are maybe more hearsay than others, but one other sure fact is that Chopin was a master at mimicry, both in-person and with the piano, so I think it's no accident that his works evoke sounds/experiences in the real world. Perhaps the distinction to be made here is that maybe Chopin was against being "prescriptive" with imagery, but not imagery itself - that is, he encourages imagery but wants to let it be open to interpretation for the performer.
Yes, it is pretty clear from several of Chopin's letters and several different testimonies of his students that he abhorred musical pieces to be NAMED (because that reduces a piece to whatever it is named after and limits the imagination of the auditor/performer). However, he indeed never said in any surviving letter - at least letters I had access to - that he didn't want music being attached to images and metaphors. In the letters of his student Friederike Müller (fantastic book, around 230 letters filled with journals of her 6 years of lessons with Chopin and lots of details about his private life with Sand) Fräulein Müller quotes Chopin several times describing a musical piece with scenery during a lesson. What he clearly disliked was limiting a piece to that ONE definition. But he was a capricious person. He certainly did contradict himself at times and changed his opinions as well. Sand - although I do not trust her to be the most reliable source of information on Chopin, most of all decades after his death - did recall in her AB his anger over her comparison of his Prelude 28/15 with rain, however.
I believe what he saying is true. When I compare Chopin’s music with other composers, such as Schumann, the idea that he did not fit in with the other romantics appears absolutely true to me. I consider him more of a classical composer, like Mozart.
Great job, Ben. Postscript WOJCIECH or the secret of the Polish "ch" explained. The "c" before "h" is a marker for the voicelessness of the vowel "h"/1/, which should be pronounced as "h" in "hood". No exception to the rule. /1/ Yes, you're right, we have a voiced "h" in Polish which, as far as I know, does not exist in English.
@@benlawdy To be honest, you surprised me Ben with the correct pronunciation of a difficult surname Świtała. By the way, yesterday I watched ‘Preludes. Episode 1’. Thank you very much for this informative film. And also this conversation with my favourite, the great American pianist Garrick Ohlsson - a pleasure in itself.
Not an expert, but I think we typically voice the H in English, as in harmony or high or (indeed) hood. Exceptions involving an unvoiced H might be where another consonant sound immediately follows, as in hue or Hugh which make the /hy/ sound. I do get what you're saying about the Polish "ch" sound, though, and appreciate the lesson. :)
Didn’t understand the middle of this video. Chopin always struck me as a composer with some very modern sensibilities. The left hand of prelude 3 is something so modern, it doesn’t seem to belong to that era. Number 2 is bizarre and crunchy, purposely ugly and rude. The searing middle line in prelude 1 that cuts through mid way. #10 with the jagged lines that shoot down and scatter like lightning. Where else do you find rhythm like that prior? Maybe his forms were older, but when I listen style is more of a defining factor.
@@cadriver2570 sometimes the most radical and forward-looking composers are also considered classically-minded or conservative in their time. Bach is probably the best example. And Chopin was avowedly a classicist in his forms and aesthetics, and did not identify with the modern currents of his time developed most notably Berlioz and Liszt. And yet, just as you say, his style and rhythm and harmony were totally audacious for the 19th century.
I disagree, Chopin suffered from cystic fibrosis, which was not known at the time. He has classic symptoms of the disease. N.B. His sister Emilia also died of the disease at the age of 14. There was NO tuberculosis in the family. Just assumptions of that time.
Pretty disappointed that Walker refused to accept Laude's suggestion that outside circumstances and elements will influence, mostly unconsciously, what happens in one's mind. Laude gets it right there. The assertion that the life of the mind is a totally different thing that the life of the outside world is scientifically incorrect and smacks of post-modern nonsense. From an evolutionary point of view, it would make no sense for the mind to ignore the outside world. So yes, music is a reflection of the mind, but the mind is itself a reflection (to at least some extent) of the world, whether consciously or not.
To be fair, I don’t think this is what Walker is saying. It sounded to me more that Walker is pushing back against the simplistic idea that artists’ works are merely a reflection of their external circumstances: if they fall in love, they write something happy; if someone dies, they write something sad. I understood Walker to be saying that one cannot ignore the internal. And that certain artists are more influenced by external, and others are more influenced by internal. He feels that Chopin is more of the latter kind of artist, and Chopin certainly thought of himself that way. Whether Walker (or Chopin) is right in that assessment is a point for debate, but I think it’s a reasonable debate to have!
Walker talks about the end of the d-minor prelude being like “death knocking on the door,” as Chopin was very ill at the time. I don’t hear him denying that there could be a connection between Chopin’s life circumstances and the music, only that the composer actively resisted the idea.
You seem to have misunderstood or not listened attentively enough: Walker says quite clearly " music does reflect the life of the mind" 15:30. But Chopin did not try to represent concrete elements of nature - like raindrops.
"music is an expression of the mind" is a statement which doesn't say much. The mind can also conceive of concrete images, events and stories. So the question how "realistic" (programmatic) these images of the mind can be in music, remains yet unanswered. Especially the really interesting questions by @benlawdy are not very well answered. Sadly, Walker's answers provide less insight than Ben's questions.
Exactly. But he wasn't too happy about them when he wrote: 'je corrige pour moi l'édition Parisienne de Bach, non seulement les fautes du graveur mais des fautes acdéditées par ceux que passent pour comprendre Bach.'
So he did! Although in the sample page I found of the C# major prelude Chopin appears to have intensified a Czerny forte to a fortissimo and replaced Czerny's horizontal accents with vertical ones.
Wow that might be right. I knew he didn't write much it in it, but I can't think of another one either. Not even a Mazurka. Maybe he was afraid of the key... we know he taught Beethoven's Tempest and wanted Mozart's Requieum played at his funeral, so the tonality meant a lot to him. Maybe too much. Reminds me of B minor and Beethoven. The only published work by Beethoven in B minor is the op. 126 No. 4 Bagatelle. I'm convinced that he finally faced his fear of that key and some deep misgivings he had about the tonality, and actually that piece so my ears is about the tonality itself, and its tension with the much more amenable C major right next door.
@@andrewanderson6121 I’m afraid that book is based on misinformation received from Wanda Landowska. It tell the story of the wrong piano, the one Walker refers to as having been removed from Cell #2 after a recent lawsuit was settled and it was proven the instrument was not manufactured until after Chopin’s death. It fooled many great musicians over the past century, and also misled Mr. Kildea. Walker documents all of this in his forthcoming revised edition of his Chopin biography.
Even in France -a late bloomer in this matter - the "chatty" approach to (musical) history has been abandonned. Mandolins, I thought they were more Italian (and German) than Catalonian... Most composers are trained not to need a keyboard. the music is all in their head until they set it down on paper. Beethoven is a notable example. Stravinski is a notable exception, but Chopin hardly needed a clavier for his much simpler style. Nowadays it has become more and more the fashion for "composers" to make (I hesitate to say improvise) sounds which they then transcribe... The I want it, I want it all, I want it now generation.
@@johncraven9719 reportedly Chopin is one who needed a keyboard to compose. All his ideas flowed from that contact with the instrument, which isn’t to say he didn’t have a phenomenal ear.
@@benlawdy hi Ben. As m'y remark suggests, "reportedly" will not suffice for an Idea I'd never Come across in all my life. Thanks for your raid réponse J
@@johncraven9719 Walker wrote one of the most authoritative biographies of Chopin. We’re just having a conversation here, but he has documented and sourced everything.
at 22:43 you ask whether some of his ideas didn't come from Bach - well I actually had a similar thought regarding Beethoven's use of Bach's c minor prelude for his Pathetique sonata - I made an 'etude' out of the two - ruclips.net/video/9W6Z_4Kd2SU/видео.html Poon did the first 2 preludes and fugues in her astounding London performance (as well as Schumann, Ravel, Schubert-Liszt, Rachmaninoff-Kreisler etc etc)
@@Seenall you’re not completely tripping. The original Zoom audio was mediocre so I did my best to improve it, but it sounded like he had a mouth full of rice pudding. So I cleaned it up and enhanced it using an AI podcasting software. That might add a slight artificial veneer to it, but it’s still very much him, and much clearer than otherwise.
It also sounds faster here than Dr. Walker's normal pace of speaking. It's as if spaces between words have been compressed, and his voice slightly sped up. But it's still wonderful to listen to him!
@@donaldwright6617 actually it’s not sped up. A few times I cut “ums” and hesitations, but the overall pace is not changed. I remember being surprised that he sort of launched into the story with abandon. Maybe it’s because we were in a bit of a time crunch.
Great storyteller and scholar. BTW, it's 'san'. The "an" diphtong is a mystery for English speakers. You don't pronounce the 'n'. And you don't pronounce the "d" of Sand either. One needs to listen to examples on Wikipedia or elsewhere to know how it's pronounced the right way. I tried to find an example in the English language but there is none. All French words with the "an" sounds that have been integrated in the English vocabulary make the same mistake of pronouncing the n and missing the diphtong sound completely.
No credit is given to the performer of the D-flat prelude. Maybe that’s a good thing. I found it cold pedabtic and perfunctory. In the middle section there is no shaping whatsoever of the left hand phrases- no crescendo and diminuendo, and the right hand is machine-like. Listening, I found it monotonous and disappointing.
![Coheed and Cambria - Searching for Tomorrow [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hDsYGLbmadg/mqdefault.jpg)
Hello Chopin fans! I hope you're enjoying story time with Alan Walker. Just a reminder that you can listen to full episodes every Wednesday when the audio is released to podcast platforms, several days before the video segments arrive. Here's Episode 1:
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chopin-podcast/id1765998900
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2hNW9BuUCK0z2adPHhqArh
Audible: www.audible.com/podcast/The-Chopin-Podcast/B0DFVRVCX4
Meanwhile, did you know the Preludes will be BACK this coming year at the Chopin Competition? It's been a while since they were actually required, and it's always fun when they are (this time competitors will be given a choice between groups of 6 consecutive Preludes). You can watch a prelude of the Preludes at the US National Competition in Miami this January, where I'll be attending and hosting the livestreams from backstage. Make sure to subscribe to the Chopin Foundation channel so you can catch all the talented young pianists and be on the look out for the next medalist in Warsaw: www.youtube.com/@chopinfoundationoftheunite8079
You also won't want to miss my debut as a piano competition correspondent...
Are the videos here containing all the released material, or the podcasts are longer?
This man is prime example of an inspired person who at 95 is still as sharp as a razor. It shows that the brain doesn't deteriorate when it still has a purpose . very inspiring
I’m totally riveted every time I hear Alan Walker speak. I am very fortunate to have met and corresponded with him on several occasions over the years. In addition to being the standard for a thorough and insightful scholar, he is the perfect gentleman. A truly great man!
I have exactly the same experience. I am in total awe!!
Alan Walker is 94 this year, he looks and sounds great!
What a lovely man
formidable
I can't wait to read this book. I read Professor Walker's Liszt biography and the three volumes are so brilliant, and so colourful, that I often think that if I could go back in time and meet one historical figure, it would be Liszt.
One of my favourite anecdotes from the Liszt biography is Liszt showing up as a guest for dinner and his host asking him for his opinion on a piano piece the host has composed. Liszt, takes it in his hand, looks at it, makes a polite comment, hands it back, sits for dinner, and a few hours later sits at the piano and plays the piece from memory having only looked at it briefly when he had just arrived!
Another interesting detail was how Liszt dealt with playing wrong notes by altering the harmony to make it sound like the mistakes were not mistakes at all. Interestingly I heard Pavel Kolesnikov, who recently sat on the jury of the Leeds piano competition, and was a competitor in the Tchaikovsky competition ultimately won by Trifonov, play in Ireland shorty after that Tchaikovsky competition. In his programme he included the final three of the Transcendental Etudes, and during Harmonie du soir he had a memory lapse. He had attempted a two hand broken chord run up the piano but ended in the wrong place. Without missing a beat, he descended back down the piano in a similar way to where he started, harmonising with his error but still within the general harmonic and textural style of the passage, before going back up again and nailing it the second time. If you hadn't heard the piece before you'd never have known something was up. Kolesnikov must've read the Liszt biography too!
Fascinating! Alan Walker’s biography of Chopin is a must read. 😎🎹
Wow, what a distinguished guest you've brought, Ben! It's amazing how lucid Dr. Walker is in his ninety-fourth year.
He speaks so perfectly and organized that it’s as if he’s reading from a book. Amazing.
@@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay Doesn't diminish the fact he's extremely lucid at 94, but he pretty obviously *is* reading from a script
Does not seem like he's reading. Obviously he has studied these facts so deeply....it's part of him by now.
@@masadiceronio4577 Don't know what to tell you...he's very clearly reading something to the side in the first couple of minutes (haven't watched any further yet).
Which is not supposed to be bad or anything!
As he's clearly answering Ben's questions in a live interview it seems absurd to imply he's reading previously written answers!!
After having devoured the Walker Chopin biography, I gave my copy to my friends David Finckel and Wu Han, neither of whom had ever heard of Professor Walker. A couple of weeks later I heard from them both expressing astonishment about the book, just as I had after having read it. I am now well into the third volume of Walkers biography of Liszt which is life changing for me. Wu Han and David were so taken with the Chopin book that they purchased several copies to give to friends as holiday gifts! Can't recommend Walker any higher!
I just enjoyed a wonderful performance by your two friends at South Mountain in the Berkshires last month. I can’t believe Wu Han had never heard of Alan Walker!
I am a huge fan of Alan Walker, his 3 part biography of liszt is incredible.
To those in the comments i see harping on whether or not things are 100% undeniable facts with 12 sources, id suggest reading a wikipedia article or something if you want a bland list of facts. Walker writes in a compelling narrative style and makes no bones about things being stories, or related by 2nd or 3rd hand sources. He is also incredibly thorough and never shy to point out the shakiness of one story or another. Its the way great biographies and histories have been written since Plutarch and i hope we get back to this being the norm, rather than cold, grey lists of facts.
I also read and really enjoyed Walker's biography, and agree that I always got the sense that he was very careful about the veracity of things. He was always ruthless about separating facts from fiction, while also open to making educated guesses as long as they're called out and properly justified with other facts.
Listening to Alan Walker talk of Chopin, is the most riveting stories I've heard in years and enjoyed it to the fullest having just read his Chopin bo--and YES it is quite a page turner.
For me the 'raindrop' does not bring to mind raindrops, but something more intangible as the passing of time.
Alan Walker is already 94 and still travels for his research. His memory is still so sharp. I thought he is around 75-79.
whoa, 94?!
He’s very like my late husband who passed away recently at 94. It’s important to revere these people and the knowledge and wisdom they hold. Enjoy their presence which brings the thinking of the past into the present.
I read Alan Walkers chopin biography, great read, and Wonderfull to finally see and hear the man himself
What a pleasure to hear Alan Walker talking about Chopin. I have read his books on Liszt and Chopin. I have known a lot about Liszt for many decades but had not read a Chopin biography with so much fascinating historical background. Alan is 10 years older than me and I hope that playing piano will get me another ten healthy years with him as inspiration. By coincidence the F minor Prelude is my favourite too, along with the D major.
How I miss Mr. Walker. This was such a treat to the eyes and ears. 🌻
Alan Walker is the best!! Thanks Ben.
Fantastic video. Lots of stuff I didn't about Chopin. Very insightful.
What a wonderful book and author, thanks!
Time ticking, with death lurking is what I feel in hearing the middle section of the prelude in d flat
i t is amazing to me how subjective music perception and taste is. To me Chopin is always the pleasure of enjoying the abstraction of sentimentality, as in an infinite combination of all possibilities of feeling, but not any particular feeling, more or less sad. "Chopin is not a representational composer", he's not Liszt or Wagner, and I don't have to care about malady with him more than I have to care about Lutheran church going with Bach.
Wonderful. Thank you so much! This is best video I have seen in a long time. Keep on with the good work.
"Music does express and reflect the life of the mind." Is that right? Does music come from the mind? Well, yes it does in the same way that the packaging of a product does that for the product. I would "express" it differently. The product itself is the visceral emotion that wells up in the "heart" and flows forth into the packaging that the mind puts into form. Without both, you have either Clementi or Scriabin (in his later works). Chopin, like Mozart, Brahms, Bach and Beethoven, was a master craftsman who was able to fashion the raw emotion he was feeling into architectural masterworks that will live forever as long as civilization survives on earth.
You are awesome! What a resource, changing my playing already. Go ToneBase!
I’m no longer “tonebase”, but thank you!
@@benlawdy Hence the huge increase in output on you channel. Duh. "Stay as you are, and you'll go far!"😀
Good vid! Enjoyed the scholarship of Walker in his Chopin biography
A piece truly inspired by raindrops (according to the composer) is the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy from the Nutcracker ballet.
Enormously erudite. What a wonderful, multi-faceted interview. A true gem depending on two highly intelligent interlocutors!
So good, so entertaining, and so well-imformed! Thank both of you, Ben Laude and Alan Walker, for this exceptionally enlightening episode of your wonderful podcast!
This podcast is just fabulous.
Thank you, Dr. Walker! I am currently reviewing the Preludes, so this video is most appreciated. Bruce (whom you also met when we had "high tea" at Valerie Tryon's home) is also restudying the Preludes!
What a delight.
Speaking of Bach's possible influence on Chopin: I can't remember who it was, but I saw a video of a female piano student who was playing the Chopin Sonata in Bb minor in a master class. The professor asked her to play the beginning of the 4th movement slowly. She did, and he remarked, "Now doesn't that sound like something Bach would have written?" You could see a light bulb flick on in her head, and it flicked on in mine as well.
Hey, I just today (Sunday 10/6/24) bought a used copy of this very Alan Walker book at Powell's Books of Chicago. Used $7.50. Very cool to see this podcast pop up.
Powell's is always a good choice - good old fashioned bookstore with wonderful character and characters. I found a biography of Rudolph Serkin there that a photo of him playing the saxophone! Serkin liked programming the preludes as a complete cycle by the way.
I so totally agree with Alan Walker!!!!
And he is so interesting.
Thank you a lot for this video.
Whenever I play or listen to certain Chopin works I get the impression that he was prone to anxiety attacks, and that reflects in his music- just a personal and maybe amateurish impression of mine. By the way, Alan Walker's books are available in Kindle format on Amazon. They are relatively expensive, but worth every cent spent on.
The foundation picture, far left, was my good friend from High School, Dean Kramer. He would occasionally help me out with accompianment for the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. I was also a musicology student of Charles Rosen when he was at Stony Brook University, 1975. That makes me 4 degrees from Chopin and I therefore know everything. I am not convinced about a connection between Bach C# and Raindrops, but I think composers probably don't always recognize what is milling around the brain when they compose - there only 144 combinations of three notes so there is bound to be some repetition. I knew a guy once who wanted to start a field of study called Psychomusicology; probably unnecesary and I don't know how far he got past his phd. I agree with Ben that there is not necessarily a black and white division between programatic and 'pure' music and certainly we can usually talk at least about moods with lesser or greater specificity. I don't think of the Brahms Violin Concerto as programatic but in the 2nd movement, Juliet is definately on the balcony going through a range of emotions as she waits for the slimeball Romeo to show up. Without other confirmation, I don't think I can claim this to be the truth. -Seth
Or maybe a few thousand….
Thank you for this very informative conversation!
Ben's material has been amazing since he went with his own channel. And I'm not saying it's because of the move.
Thank you for this video. Looking forward for the next video
When I was studying French literature at university, Chopin was known as George Sand's boyfriend. Now that I am an amateur classical pianist in training, Sand was Chopin's girlfriend. 🫠
@@sun-youngsunnykim8794 lol Og odd celebrity couple. Reminds me of Amelia Earhart and Gore Vidal.
@@jisyang8781 Well, I've never read Sand but have played Chopin. 😛
Sand is one of the most overblown figures in France, a big influencer and propagandist, a less-than-mediocre writer and a misguided aesthetitian.
@Cipricus Sounds about right. She wasn't important enough to be taught in my program.
@@Cipricus Lucrezia Floriani and Consuelo are enjoyable Gothic reads, though! And contain some traces of Chopin ...
thanks
I always found the nickname "Raindrop" vaguely annoying, but had never thought how inapt it is. Unless they're the last few drips from a rain gutter.
Brilliant presentation on all levels....thank you Ben!
First of all, thank you for consistently providing such high-quality content and insightful perspectives on the historical aspects of master composers. Regarding Chopin's F minor prelude, I believe it presents an intriguing opportunity to explore the influence his contemporaries may have had on him. For instance, Robert Schumann composed Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 in 1837, about a year before Chopin's Preludes. I find a compelling similarity between the opening themes of Chopin’s F minor prelude and Schumann's second piece, Aufschwung. Both are in F minor, and they share significant melodic similarities, prompting the question: How indifferent was Chopin to his contemporaries, particularly Schumann?
I have read Walker's biography, which claims Chopin was not particularly fond of the music of his contemporaries. However, from my research, I have not found substantial evidence to fully support these claims. For instance, it is alleged that Chopin commented favorably only on the cover page of Schumann's Kreisleriana before seemingly disregarding the work itself. Yet, I have never come across a letter or trustworthy source to validate this narrative.
It seems that much of what we know about these composers is shaped by biased views and gossip that have grown over time. If these accounts were reevaluated today by the composers themselves, much of what has been written might be disputed. With this in mind, I believe it would be stimulating to create a video examining Chopin’s relationships with his contemporaries, using validated sources-if any exist-to challenge or support these long-standing assumptions.
Fascinating talk (provided it's true). I play the easiest - number 7 in A major - and I roll that big chord. That way it sounds even better. My favourite is not that one - I think it's number 13 (it's a very soft one). Lovely pieces, those preludes,. His scherzi are my favourite. Followed by his mazurkas. What are yours Ben? s. Tiffany Poon does the best set I have ever heard. Heard her live. Her virtuosity was breath-taking.
I know of only one comment made by Chopin, in which he described how one of his pieces should be played - referring to the middle movement of the second piano concerto, he said: "It is like gazing at a spot in the moonlight, immersed in a thousand memories..." This is, I believe, the ONLY comment he ever made, in his entire life about this subject. It comes from a letter.
When it comes to why he loathed people giving his pieces representational names, he is known to have remarked this: "There is nothing more odious than music which does NOT contain a hidden meaning." He would have hated the subtitles that were given to his pieces.
Obviously there would have been an awkward moment when Frederick told his parents he was in love with someone called George. Don't blame him for keeping that under his hat.
A wonderful half hour, well spent.
Fantastic
Interesting! Thank you
Elaborating on your point Ben, Bach’s F minor Fugue also opens with the same thing as Chopin’s main theme in Ballade 4
I'm so pleased to see and hear Alan Walker having read his excellent x3 volume biography of Liszt.
I dearly love the Ab
Very very interesting - thank you.
What an interesting story😮😮 (Ben, I keep hitting the like button, but it does not work. Hope it's just my hand-held device.)
Dr Walker has aged incredibly
Alkan told the Hungarian pianist Alexander de Bertha that Chopin considered himself to be a staunch classicist, and any interpretation of his music should begin bearing that in mind. Looks as if that was confirmed here.
I learned a lot of great detail - a great video, Ben. Also, I had no idea Chopin marked the WTC scores for performance... I agree Chopin was a purist ("absolute music"). But the distinction between "mind" and "world" I found too sharply drawn by AW. But if the Revolutionary Étude just isn't about the fall of Warsaw, for however many reasons, so be it... ! AW is clearly a very rigorous scholar. The Liszt volumes are exceptional.
real alan walker
Your videos are great Ben ! I'm composing my first book of 24 preludes and Chopin is a huge inspiration. I see preludes as etudes on musical forms, I wonder if you could comment on that
Where can one buy the Chopin edition of Bach's WTC? Thanks for this video!
I have the same question! I searched online and didn’t find anything about Chopin editing the WTC, let alone a score that could be purchased.
@@SuperDaveSF J.S. Bach - Frédéric Chopin
Vingt-Quatre Préludes et Fugues
(Le Clavier bien tenpéré. Livre I)
Annoté par Frédéric Chopin
Commentaire de Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger
Paris, 2020 (2nd ed.). Format: oblong, 4° (29 x 21 cm), lxxii, 110 pp. Full-color reproduction of the Richault 1st edition (pl. nos. 1169.R & 1168.R) with Chopin's performing annotations. Hardbound. $79
Chopin hardly wrote anything in D minor. A Prelude, an early Polonaise, two songs (with Polish texts) -- that's it. I've always wondered why -- but no wonder, if D minor represents death.
It’s pretty ironic how he absolutely refutes any romanticizing/narrativizing of Chopin’s music then goes on to do exactly that at 20:22 referring to the D minor prelude.
@@caseym8385 yeah I’ve been thinking about this a lot too lately. Walker will clarify this in the next episode, but here’s how I’ve come to understand his position: what he’s opposed to is the assertion that Chopin’s music is *about* scenes from nature, etc, in the external world - that he wrote repeated A-flats to represent raindrops. That’s different than suggesting that his music was inspired by life experiences and emotional struggles, and carries them expressively within otherwise purely musical frameworks. It’s a fine line but there is a difference.
Would love to buy the manuscript version of the preludes. Is it in stock anywhere? Also the Chopin edition of the WTC.
J.S. Bach - Frédéric Chopin
Vingt-Quatre Préludes et Fugues
(Le Clavier bien tenpéré. Livre I)
Annoté par Frédéric Chopin
Commentaire de Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger
Paris, 2020 (2nd ed.). Format: oblong, 4° (29 x 21 cm), lxxii, 110 pp. Full-color reproduction of the Richault 1st edition (pl. nos. 1169.R & 1168.R) with Chopin's performing annotations. Hardbound. $79
George Sand was a woman? I just started learning about Chopin a couple of weeks ago, and everything I watched just said "lover, George Sand, a poet." I...made some assumptions. 😅
Thought maybe somebody could get a laugh at my expense. Although I'm laughing with you.
She was indeed a woman, but a very unusual one.
@@da__lang yeah, pulled by the sudden need to know more about her, I see that now!
George Sand was a nom de plume.
by the way - I'm not sure I agree you at 13:42 or so - or with Herr Professor that Chopin's music was 'always without reference - after all did he not say that the opening of his scherzo number 2 was supposed to represent someone asking if there was any alternative to death - the following ff chords are death's answer 'NO'. I thought Chopin was supposed to have said that (or something like it). If that's not representational, I don't know what is. Do check out my own scherzo composition. It's actually the same as my first prelude but with some scales added, if I recall. I now see that the middle of it is quite similar to the second movement of his '2nd concerto' (written before his number 1). I must have been subconsciously affected by Tiffany Poon's incredibly beautiful live rendition of that concerto (on YT). But I didn't intentionally copy it.
Wonderful insights and stories about Chopin and his visit to Majorca. I have produced several shows about Chopin, including one about the various potential causes of his death. Tuberculosis is only one of many possibilities. You might be interested to see the performance.
Is The Chopin Podcast going to be in a Preludes form, all in 12 episodes, each in two segments? One analyzed by practitioners and the other by musicologists
It varies, but the general structure is:
1) Garrick breaks down the music at the piano
2) 1-2 guests, touching on other aspects of history and pianism related to the given genre
3) Jed Distler recommended recordings
Often one of the guests will be a former medalist of the Chopin competition, and we’ll watch and react to their competition performance together and they’ll also reflect on the competition and the music itself.
But in general the episodes will be balanced between the music itself, the interpretation and performance of the music, the history of the music, and the legacy of recordings of the music.
👏👏👏👏
💐
16:52 I have utmost respect for Alan Walker but I don't consider this Wessel example proof that Chopin was against attaching imagery to his music. It's only proof that Chopin was against Wessel's naming of his pieces, which were obviously ridiculous (the "Sighs" and the "Meditation" are, in the words of today's generation, cringe af). There are multiple historic accounts of Chopin also attaching imagery to his own music or being inspired by his surroundings, which even Walker records in his own book. Chopin's 1st concerto 2nd movement was called a "romance" and Chopin describes it as "glancing at a place that evokes many fond memories". His student reports that his Op. 25 No. 1 etude is like a shepherd boy playing flute in a cave while avoiding a storm. And there's the clock imitation in the Op. 28 No. 17 bass notes. His minute waltz was reportedly inspired by seeing a dog chasing its own tail. Many students of Chopin also reported that Chopin often used imagery to describe how they should play passages (e.g. see Eigeldinger's introduction of "Chopin: pianist and teacher"). Some of these stories are maybe more hearsay than others, but one other sure fact is that Chopin was a master at mimicry, both in-person and with the piano, so I think it's no accident that his works evoke sounds/experiences in the real world. Perhaps the distinction to be made here is that maybe Chopin was against being "prescriptive" with imagery, but not imagery itself - that is, he encourages imagery but wants to let it be open to interpretation for the performer.
My view is exactly the same
Yes, it is pretty clear from several of Chopin's letters and several different testimonies of his students that he abhorred musical pieces to be NAMED (because that reduces a piece to whatever it is named after and limits the imagination of the auditor/performer). However, he indeed never said in any surviving letter - at least letters I had access to - that he didn't want music being attached to images and metaphors. In the letters of his student Friederike Müller (fantastic book, around 230 letters filled with journals of her 6 years of lessons with Chopin and lots of details about his private life with Sand) Fräulein Müller quotes Chopin several times describing a musical piece with scenery during a lesson. What he clearly disliked was limiting a piece to that ONE definition. But he was a capricious person. He certainly did contradict himself at times and changed his opinions as well. Sand - although I do not trust her to be the most reliable source of information on Chopin, most of all decades after his death - did recall in her AB his anger over her comparison of his Prelude 28/15 with rain, however.
I believe what he saying is true. When I compare Chopin’s music with other composers, such as Schumann, the idea that he did not fit in with the other romantics appears absolutely true to me. I consider him more of a classical composer, like Mozart.
Great job, Ben.
Postscript
WOJCIECH or the secret of the Polish "ch" explained.
The "c" before "h" is a marker for the voicelessness of the vowel "h"/1/, which should be pronounced as "h" in "hood". No exception to the rule.
/1/ Yes, you're right, we have a voiced "h" in Polish which, as far as I know, does not exist in English.
I asked my Polish friend to help me pronounce it. It’s not perfect, but much better than if I were left to my own devices!
@@benlawdy To be honest, you surprised me Ben with the correct pronunciation of a difficult surname Świtała.
By the way, yesterday I watched ‘Preludes. Episode 1’. Thank you very much for this informative film. And also this conversation with my favourite, the great American pianist Garrick Ohlsson - a pleasure in itself.
Not an expert, but I think we typically voice the H in English, as in harmony or high or (indeed) hood. Exceptions involving an unvoiced H might be where another consonant sound immediately follows, as in hue or Hugh which make the /hy/ sound. I do get what you're saying about the Polish "ch" sound, though, and appreciate the lesson. :)
Great podcast. Thank you.
All these "weird things" were put in the songs to provide food for the idle on the internet and benefit them with likes on their podcasts
Didn’t understand the middle of this video. Chopin always struck me as a composer with some very modern sensibilities. The left hand of prelude 3 is something so modern, it doesn’t seem to belong to that era. Number 2 is bizarre and crunchy, purposely ugly and rude. The searing middle line in prelude 1 that cuts through mid way. #10 with the jagged lines that shoot down and scatter like lightning. Where else do you find rhythm like that prior?
Maybe his forms were older, but when I listen style is more of a defining factor.
@@cadriver2570 sometimes the most radical and forward-looking composers are also considered classically-minded or conservative in their time. Bach is probably the best example. And Chopin was avowedly a classicist in his forms and aesthetics, and did not identify with the modern currents of his time developed most notably Berlioz and Liszt. And yet, just as you say, his style and rhythm and harmony were totally audacious for the 19th century.
What is the name of the composition beginning at 30:00 ?
Chopin Prelude #19 in Eb Major
Ben WHERE IS THAT T-SHIRT FROM???
archivalapparel.co/
But it was a limited edition! If you email and beg (and send my link ;) maybe they’ll make you one.
Utterly GOBSMACKING!
🙏🙏
I disagree, Chopin suffered from cystic fibrosis, which was not known at the time. He has classic symptoms of the disease. N.B. His sister Emilia also died of the disease at the age of 14. There was NO tuberculosis in the family. Just assumptions of that time.
Pretty disappointed that Walker refused to accept Laude's suggestion that outside circumstances and elements will influence, mostly unconsciously, what happens in one's mind. Laude gets it right there. The assertion that the life of the mind is a totally different thing that the life of the outside world is scientifically incorrect and smacks of post-modern nonsense. From an evolutionary point of view, it would make no sense for the mind to ignore the outside world. So yes, music is a reflection of the mind, but the mind is itself a reflection (to at least some extent) of the world, whether consciously or not.
To be fair, I don’t think this is what Walker is saying. It sounded to me more that Walker is pushing back against the simplistic idea that artists’ works are merely a reflection of their external circumstances: if they fall in love, they write something happy; if someone dies, they write something sad.
I understood Walker to be saying that one cannot ignore the internal. And that certain artists are more influenced by external, and others are more influenced by internal. He feels that Chopin is more of the latter kind of artist, and Chopin certainly thought of himself that way.
Whether Walker (or Chopin) is right in that assessment is a point for debate, but I think it’s a reasonable debate to have!
What does post modernism have to do with it?
@vladak559 that's how you flex your peterson diploma bro
Walker talks about the end of the d-minor prelude being like “death knocking on the door,” as Chopin was very ill at the time. I don’t hear him denying that there could be a connection between Chopin’s life circumstances and the music, only that the composer actively resisted the idea.
You seem to have misunderstood or not listened attentively enough: Walker says quite clearly " music does reflect the life of the mind" 15:30. But Chopin did not try to represent concrete elements of nature - like raindrops.
Whats the last peace at 31 minutes called?
@@shulk7368 it’s Chopin’s E-flat Prelude, Op. 28 No. 19
@@benlawdy Thanks!
"music is an expression of the mind" is a statement which doesn't say much. The mind can also conceive of concrete images, events and stories. So the question how "realistic" (programmatic) these images of the mind can be in music, remains yet unanswered. Especially the really interesting questions by @benlawdy are not very well answered. Sadly, Walker's answers provide less insight than Ben's questions.
I was thinking of the wrong Alan Walker
21:10 Chopin copied them from Czerny's edition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly. But he wasn't too happy about them when he wrote: 'je corrige pour moi l'édition Parisienne de Bach, non seulement les fautes du graveur mais des fautes acdéditées par ceux que passent pour comprendre Bach.'
So he did! Although in the sample page I found of the C# major prelude Chopin appears to have intensified a Czerny forte to a fortissimo and replaced Czerny's horizontal accents with vertical ones.
20:13 Is that prelude his only piece in d minor? I can't think of any other
Wow that might be right. I knew he didn't write much it in it, but I can't think of another one either. Not even a Mazurka. Maybe he was afraid of the key... we know he taught Beethoven's Tempest and wanted Mozart's Requieum played at his funeral, so the tonality meant a lot to him. Maybe too much.
Reminds me of B minor and Beethoven. The only published work by Beethoven in B minor is the op. 126 No. 4 Bagatelle. I'm convinced that he finally faced his fear of that key and some deep misgivings he had about the tonality, and actually that piece so my ears is about the tonality itself, and its tension with the much more amenable C major right next door.
Let me recommend a wonderful book Chopin's Piano: in Search of the Instrument that Transformed Music by Paul Francis Kildea.
@@andrewanderson6121 I’m afraid that book is based on misinformation received from Wanda Landowska. It tell the story of the wrong piano, the one Walker refers to as having been removed from Cell #2 after a recent lawsuit was settled and it was proven the instrument was not manufactured until after Chopin’s death. It fooled many great musicians over the past century, and also misled Mr. Kildea. Walker documents all of this in his forthcoming revised edition of his Chopin biography.
Early in his life, Chopin composed the Polonaise in D minor, op. 71. No. 1
20:04 so Nigel was right..
Even in France -a late bloomer in this matter - the "chatty" approach to (musical) history has been abandonned.
Mandolins, I thought they were more Italian (and German) than Catalonian...
Most composers are trained not to need a keyboard. the music is all in their head until they set it down on paper. Beethoven is a notable example.
Stravinski is a notable exception, but Chopin hardly needed a clavier for his much simpler style.
Nowadays it has become more and more the fashion for "composers" to make (I hesitate to say improvise) sounds which they then transcribe... The I want it, I want it all, I want it now generation.
@@johncraven9719 reportedly Chopin is one who needed a keyboard to compose. All his ideas flowed from that contact with the instrument, which isn’t to say he didn’t have a phenomenal ear.
@@benlawdy hi Ben.
As m'y remark suggests, "reportedly" will not suffice for an Idea I'd never Come across in all my life.
Thanks for your raid réponse
J
@@johncraven9719 how do you make your historical assertions without referring to historical reports, i.e. evidence?
That's thé pb. neither alan nor you give us references Walter Krafft wrote extensively on Stravinski's life and works
@@johncraven9719 Walker wrote one of the most authoritative biographies of Chopin. We’re just having a conversation here, but he has documented and sourced everything.
at 22:43 you ask whether some of his ideas didn't come from Bach - well I actually had a similar thought regarding Beethoven's use of Bach's c minor prelude for his Pathetique sonata - I made an 'etude' out of the two - ruclips.net/video/9W6Z_4Kd2SU/видео.html
Poon did the first 2 preludes and fugues in her astounding London performance (as well as Schumann, Ravel, Schubert-Liszt, Rachmaninoff-Kreisler etc etc)
FIRST🐐🐐🐐
Second let's go!
Third yaaaaay
Fourth 😊
Chopin copy Bach ???
A great artist never borrows the materials of another great artist...
He STEALS them !!!
Am I tripping or does Walker's voice sound like AI here?
@@Seenall you’re not completely tripping. The original Zoom audio was mediocre so I did my best to improve it, but it sounded like he had a mouth full of rice pudding. So I cleaned it up and enhanced it using an AI podcasting software. That might add a slight artificial veneer to it, but it’s still very much him, and much clearer than otherwise.
@@benlawdy It makes a lot more sense now. Thank you for explaining.
It also sounds faster here than Dr. Walker's normal pace of speaking. It's as if spaces between words have been compressed, and his voice slightly sped up. But it's still wonderful to listen to him!
@@donaldwright6617 actually it’s not sped up. A few times I cut “ums” and hesitations, but the overall pace is not changed. I remember being surprised that he sort of launched into the story with abandon. Maybe it’s because we were in a bit of a time crunch.
Great storyteller and scholar. BTW, it's 'san'. The "an" diphtong is a mystery for English speakers. You don't pronounce the 'n'. And you don't pronounce the "d" of Sand either. One needs to listen to examples on Wikipedia or elsewhere to know how it's pronounced the right way. I tried to find an example in the English language but there is none. All French words with the "an" sounds that have been integrated in the English vocabulary make the same mistake of pronouncing the n and missing the diphtong sound completely.
In Deutschland darf man auch Beiträge in deutscher Sprache erwarten.
In dem Fall, sollte vielleicht ein deutscher Professor ein änhliches Video zur Verfügung stellen ...
No credit is given to the performer of the D-flat prelude. Maybe that’s a good thing. I found it cold pedabtic and perfunctory. In the middle section there is no shaping whatsoever of the left hand phrases- no crescendo and diminuendo, and the right hand is machine-like. Listening, I found it monotonous and disappointing.