If you haven't planned it out already may I suggest the mentioned Op. 10 no.9 for a video? The text is quite simple which gives all the more room for the pianist to create a convincing interpetation! I'd love to hear you yap about it.
I appreciate you mentioning those adjustments - I've been working on this off and on lately and I took a while to come to the conclusion that I couldn't attempt those two passages literally. Very validating to hear someone with significantly more experience and skill say that!
Hi! Brillant stuff as always, just wondering would you be able to Rachmanioff Etude Tableux in particular op.33 No.7 and No.8? Though I know some editions have different numbers for them, no. 8 in D minor, no. 7 E flat major. I love all your analysis and you are a great role model. ❤
Thank you! I would love to do the D minor Etude from op 33 sometime, it's an amazing piece. I thought that one was usually published as op 33 no 4? I believe I do have op 33 no 7 and 8 (g minor) up already-it was from a couple of years ago though and I think I used the alternate numbering. If you search Op 33 no 6 and op 33 no 7 on my channel you should be able to find them, or I also have a Rachmaninoff playlist you can find on my homepage. 🙂
@@TheIndependentPianist Thank you for your quick response. I think I made a typo 🙃, I meant G minor, though I do also love no.4. Sorry for confusing you. I just found the two videos and they are of immense help, so thank you again!
Thank you and congrats on your recording of Suisse. What do you make of the similarities of the Chopin with Beethoven Op. 111, especially the codas? Chopin’s intention?
@@kevinmcelhaney8066 I’m not sure about the similarity between the revolutionary etude and 111. I can certainly see it, but it’s hard to know how intentional it is-only because the similarities are general enough as to be slightly ambiguous. The closest connection is the slowed down rising CDE motif. On the other hand, I think the opening of the B-flat minor Sonata is without a doubt a nod towards Op. 111, so maybe it’s not surprising that there is this similarity here as well. It’s always very tempting to find quotations everywhere. I’ve become kind of cautious about that recently, because every time I’ve mentioned to a living composer what seemed to me to be an obvious reference in their music, it’s turned out to be coincidence!
Regarding the comment about certain critics at 2:05, one of my friends and classmates had actually claimed that Chopin in fact was left-handed! Which would explain his accompaniments, if true. Do you happen to know if this is true? By the way, for what it's worth, Saint-Saëns wrote some ètudes for the left-hand alone (Op. 135) which Ravel supposedly studied before writing his left-hand concerto. With that information you'd think Saint-Saëns's ètudes are more like the Godowsky ètudes after Chopin, but it's rather neo-baroque in texture, not very thickly textured, so I'd highly recommend them for people wanting to work on their left-hand (as you mentioned in 4:24). Cortot used to play the study "Bourree" Op. 135 No. 4. As always, I am expecting very insightful commentary on the Chopin Op. 10 No. 12, and so far am not being disappointed!
Browsing the internet, it would seem there is general consensus that Chopin was indeed left-handed - as apparently were also Mozart, Beethoven and Rachmaninov. Sadly, the world has not always been kind to those of us who are left-handed - the word 'sinister' (suggestive of darkness or evil) comes from the Latin word 'sinistra' meaning 'on the left side', with the association of 'left' being 'evil' rooted in the dominance of right-handed people (90%) within a population, which helped incline the Romans to the view that left-handed people could not be trusted! Fortunately, the piano is a more forgiving tool for left-handers, especially as pianists are, from an early age, taught to play independently with each hand. And though the instrument’s repertoire is largely composed with right-handers in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that some of the world’s most famous pianists, whether through choice or necessity, have been left-handers - such as Barenboim, Gould and Horowitz, to name but three. Of course, 'handedness' is generally defined by which hand a person naturally writes with and many musicians - left-handers and right-handers alike - operate on a spectrum that requires a great deal of dexterity from both hands. So perhaps being ambidextrous would be the preferred proclivity for keyboard players!
I’m working on this right now with my teacher and he was pretty emphatic that the accents in the beginning run are NOT accents, but actually written as many diminuendo. He pulled out a very thick binder full of multiple copies of many different editions of opus 10 and we looked at many urtexts and found that many didn’t not print accents but large diminuendo signs in their place. He argues that the accents disrupt the legatissimo marked at the beginning. Thoughts? Have you seen other urtext editions to compare?
Interesting point. I have the Ekier edition, which has presumably done similar analysis of multiple sources before deciding on what to publish. Ekier does not write accents but longer hairpins which typically denote “emphasis” - often by stretching time. Chopin did this often separately from either the accent or decrescendo.
@@Zagginair that is a very interesting detail. I haven’t seen the autograph, and the 1st editions differ in this aspect. The French edition shows larger accents/diminuendi, the English edition shows unequivocal accents. Even if diminuendi were intended, it isn’t clear to me how this would alter the interpretation, since the necessity of added tone at the beginning of each diminuendo would result in something akin to an accent anyway. Otherwise, it would make more sense to notate this passage with one long diminuendo. I could be wrong, but it doesn’t seem very characteristic for Chopin to use multiple small diminuendi in a row in this manner. Certainly you don’t want to disrupt the legatissimo, but to me that seems like a separate matter from one of dynamic emphasis-at least, I think it is still possible to play legato while also providing accents. Thanks for bringing up this interesting point, I will definitely be tossing it around in my mind more!
I find impossible to hear the last C major as a tonic, considering the last run is full of E naturals and D flats. Perhaps it's meant to sound ambiguous, but I keep waiting for the last F minor chord to set the perfect cadence in my mind xD Great video and playing, as always!
@@mvmarchiori yes, there’s a similar situation in several other minor key pieces that end in the major (Beethoven, Op. 10 no 1, and op 1 no 3 for instance), where the insistence on the subdominant leading up to a major key conclusion almost makes it sound as if the music has modulated and never returned to tonic! I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds that odd (in a good way).
THANK YOU for saying this!! I brought this up to my own teacher as well as several colleagues and they all insisted that I was just “hearing it wrong” and that it absolutely sounds like it ends on tonic at the end. 🥴 But all I want to hear is Fm at the end!! Anyway, I’m coming to terms with the ending by interpreting it as an ending where we feel lost and without a home, since Chopin avoids resolving to the home note. Chopin lost his home in the revolution, and so have we in this music.
@@Zagginair I once brought it up to a college teacher as well. He used to teach harmony and perception, and play classical guitar. He also heard a half cadence at the end, but he was the only one haha I actually went and played the coda to try and understand. To my mind, if he'd stopped at the chord right before the last run I'd hear the Picardy third all right, ending in C major. But as I said before, I think its meant to be ambiguous. Poetically ambiguous, perhaps 😂
WOW! Virtuoso playing once again, Cole: bravo! It is such a thrilling, dramatic 'Etude' for piano and your performance is truly awesome. Thank you for the interesting commentary . . . and for sharing some of your 'magician' playing secrets with us. One thing for certain is that as a musician and pianist, you are pure magic in every sense, and every upload continues to cast a spell over your many fans. Long may that continue! (And now for something to maybe surprise you! Some Chopin compositions work well in transcription on the organ . . . but I'm sure you'd be like me in thinking Etude Op 10 no 12 would not transcribe successfully to the King of Instruments. Well, American virtuoso organist, Cameron Carpenter, set out to challenge such a view. Never mind giving the left hand a workout . . . he tackles all the demands of those left-hand passages with his feet. The first time I saw it, I was both shocked and mesmerized by his pedalling! It might not be as Chopin would ever conceive the piece, but it is certainly 'revolutionary' for the organ! Have a look: ruclips.net/video/PvbEEhee3GU/видео.html and, should you have the inclination, tell me your reaction and what you honestly think!)
Hi Cole! Fabulous performance as always. I particularly love the way you extend the first two semiquavers in the first descending left hand run and similar places. It creates a powerful and expressive effect, and also makes those two notes appropriately sound like an upbeat, and not like a downbeat as they often do. I’m also trying to work on my left hand technique, as I’ve been much less proficient in my left hand than in my right since I’ve started playing the piano and I’d like to remedy that soon. I don’t think I’m quite ready to tackle this etude yet, so I’ve been playing the fourth movement of Beethoven’s first sonata a lot and I’m planning to try some of Saint Saens’ op 135 etudes in the near future. I’m looking forward to the day when I can start learning this piece; it’s been one of my favorite works since I started listening to classical music! Finally, I’d like to again put in a good word for the works of Scott Joplin as pieces for you to consider putting on your channel. I believe his output constitutes one of the great sets of dance pieces written for the piano, on par with Chopin’s mazurkas. I think his works have been unfairly neglected by most classical pianists, probably because they have often been denigrated as trashy by elitist commentators. In my opinion, any one of them would make a delightful encore! I would love to hear your thoughts on his work, and to possibly hear you play some of it at some point!
@@fTripleSharp thank you for these thoughts and I hope you have good luck getting your left hand developed and learning this etude! I actually quite like Joplin myself, and his music is a wonderful bit of Americana. I will certainly include a few of his pieces here and there as I get to them.
This might be a bit of a stretch, but your pointing out the motivic connections relating to C-E-Eb reminds me of Beethovens pathetique (also in c minor) which uses the same motive throughout the first movement and again in the third movement. The fact that the ending of the etude alludes to Beethovens op 111 (again in c minor) makes it seem like even less of a coincidence to me. Bach also used the same motive in his c minor partita bwv 826. And in all of these examples, the three note idea is occasionally preceded by the fifth (g) as it indeed is in the left hand of this etude
You are a rare species. How do you reconcile and understand this in your appreciation of your self? And what do you think Chopin thought about himself?
It has often occurred to me that, as this piece has more power when not rushed, there might have been more notes written into the texture in order for it not to get thin in places where the performer wants to keep the line expansive
It sounds strange that you pronounce it Etoode and not Etude as it's spelled! And you pronounce Chopin correctly and don't pronounce it Chop-in as it appears but use the correct pronounciation for Chopin as Chopan!
Very beautiful playing. Thank you!
If you haven't planned it out already may I suggest the mentioned Op. 10 no.9 for a video? The text is quite simple which gives all the more room for the pianist to create a convincing interpetation! I'd love to hear you yap about it.
I appreciate you mentioning those adjustments - I've been working on this off and on lately and I took a while to come to the conclusion that I couldn't attempt those two passages literally. Very validating to hear someone with significantly more experience and skill say that!
Im proud to have masterd this
Hi! Brillant stuff as always, just wondering would you be able to Rachmanioff Etude Tableux in particular op.33 No.7 and No.8? Though I know some editions have different numbers for them, no. 8 in D minor, no. 7 E flat major. I love all your analysis and you are a great role model. ❤
Thank you! I would love to do the D minor Etude from op 33 sometime, it's an amazing piece. I thought that one was usually published as op 33 no 4? I believe I do have op 33 no 7 and 8 (g minor) up already-it was from a couple of years ago though and I think I used the alternate numbering. If you search Op 33 no 6 and op 33 no 7 on my channel you should be able to find them, or I also have a Rachmaninoff playlist you can find on my homepage. 🙂
@@TheIndependentPianist Thank you for your quick response. I think I made a typo 🙃, I meant G minor, though I do also love no.4. Sorry for confusing you. I just found the two videos and they are of immense help, so thank you again!
Thank you and congrats on your recording of Suisse. What do you make of the similarities of the Chopin with Beethoven Op. 111, especially the codas? Chopin’s intention?
@@kevinmcelhaney8066 I’m not sure about the similarity between the revolutionary etude and 111. I can certainly see it, but it’s hard to know how intentional it is-only because the similarities are general enough as to be slightly ambiguous. The closest connection is the slowed down rising CDE motif. On the other hand, I think the opening of the B-flat minor Sonata is without a doubt a nod towards Op. 111, so maybe it’s not surprising that there is this similarity here as well.
It’s always very tempting to find quotations everywhere. I’ve become kind of cautious about that recently, because every time I’ve mentioned to a living composer what seemed to me to be an obvious reference in their music, it’s turned out to be coincidence!
Regarding the comment about certain critics at 2:05, one of my friends and classmates had actually claimed that Chopin in fact was left-handed! Which would explain his accompaniments, if true. Do you happen to know if this is true?
By the way, for what it's worth, Saint-Saëns wrote some ètudes for the left-hand alone (Op. 135) which Ravel supposedly studied before writing his left-hand concerto. With that information you'd think Saint-Saëns's ètudes are more like the Godowsky ètudes after Chopin, but it's rather neo-baroque in texture, not very thickly textured, so I'd highly recommend them for people wanting to work on their left-hand (as you mentioned in 4:24). Cortot used to play the study "Bourree" Op. 135 No. 4.
As always, I am expecting very insightful commentary on the Chopin Op. 10 No. 12, and so far am not being disappointed!
@@farazhaiderpiano Saint-Saëns is another great suggestion for LH etudes (and etudes in general)!
Browsing the internet, it would seem there is general consensus that Chopin was indeed left-handed - as apparently were also Mozart, Beethoven and Rachmaninov. Sadly, the world has not always been kind to those of us who are left-handed - the word 'sinister' (suggestive of darkness or evil) comes from the Latin word 'sinistra' meaning 'on the left side', with the association of 'left' being 'evil' rooted in the dominance of right-handed people (90%) within a population, which helped incline the Romans to the view that left-handed people could not be trusted!
Fortunately, the piano is a more forgiving tool for left-handers, especially as pianists are, from an early age, taught to play independently with each hand. And though the instrument’s repertoire is largely composed with right-handers in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that some of the world’s most famous pianists, whether through choice or necessity, have been left-handers - such as Barenboim, Gould and Horowitz, to name but three. Of course, 'handedness' is generally defined by which hand a person naturally writes with and many musicians - left-handers and right-handers alike - operate on a spectrum that requires a great deal of dexterity from both hands. So perhaps being ambidextrous would be the preferred proclivity for keyboard players!
@@grahamtwist I myself am right handed, but I would swear that my early exposure to piano playing led to me favoring my left hand for certain tasks!
I’m working on this right now with my teacher and he was pretty emphatic that the accents in the beginning run are NOT accents, but actually written as many diminuendo. He pulled out a very thick binder full of multiple copies of many different editions of opus 10 and we looked at many urtexts and found that many didn’t not print accents but large diminuendo signs in their place. He argues that the accents disrupt the legatissimo marked at the beginning.
Thoughts? Have you seen other urtext editions to compare?
Interesting point. I have the Ekier edition, which has presumably done similar analysis of multiple sources before deciding on what to publish. Ekier does not write accents but longer hairpins which typically denote “emphasis” - often by stretching time. Chopin did this often separately from either the accent or decrescendo.
@@Zagginair that is a very interesting detail. I haven’t seen the autograph, and the 1st editions differ in this aspect. The French edition shows larger accents/diminuendi, the English edition shows unequivocal accents. Even if diminuendi were intended, it isn’t clear to me how this would alter the interpretation, since the necessity of added tone at the beginning of each diminuendo would result in something akin to an accent anyway. Otherwise, it would make more sense to notate this passage with one long diminuendo. I could be wrong, but it doesn’t seem very characteristic for Chopin to use multiple small diminuendi in a row in this manner. Certainly you don’t want to disrupt the legatissimo, but to me that seems like a separate matter from one of dynamic emphasis-at least, I think it is still possible to play legato while also providing accents. Thanks for bringing up this interesting point, I will definitely be tossing it around in my mind more!
beautiful performance. thankyou. so excited about your liszt recording!
I find impossible to hear the last C major as a tonic, considering the last run is full of E naturals and D flats.
Perhaps it's meant to sound ambiguous, but I keep waiting for the last F minor chord to set the perfect cadence in my mind xD
Great video and playing, as always!
@@mvmarchiori yes, there’s a similar situation in several other minor key pieces that end in the major (Beethoven, Op. 10 no 1, and op 1 no 3 for instance), where the insistence on the subdominant leading up to a major key conclusion almost makes it sound as if the music has modulated and never returned to tonic! I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds that odd (in a good way).
THANK YOU for saying this!! I brought this up to my own teacher as well as several colleagues and they all insisted that I was just “hearing it wrong” and that it absolutely sounds like it ends on tonic at the end. 🥴
But all I want to hear is Fm at the end!!
Anyway, I’m coming to terms with the ending by interpreting it as an ending where we feel lost and without a home, since Chopin avoids resolving to the home note. Chopin lost his home in the revolution, and so have we in this music.
@@Zagginair I once brought it up to a college teacher as well. He used to teach harmony and perception, and play classical guitar. He also heard a half cadence at the end, but he was the only one haha
I actually went and played the coda to try and understand. To my mind, if he'd stopped at the chord right before the last run I'd hear the Picardy third all right, ending in C major.
But as I said before, I think its meant to be ambiguous. Poetically ambiguous, perhaps 😂
WOW! Virtuoso playing once again, Cole: bravo! It is such a thrilling, dramatic 'Etude' for piano and your performance is truly awesome. Thank you for the interesting commentary . . . and for sharing some of your 'magician' playing secrets with us. One thing for certain is that as a musician and pianist, you are pure magic in every sense, and every upload continues to cast a spell over your many fans. Long may that continue!
(And now for something to maybe surprise you! Some Chopin compositions work well in transcription on the organ . . . but I'm sure you'd be like me in thinking Etude Op 10 no 12 would not transcribe successfully to the King of Instruments. Well, American virtuoso organist, Cameron Carpenter, set out to challenge such a view. Never mind giving the left hand a workout . . . he tackles all the demands of those left-hand passages with his feet. The first time I saw it, I was both shocked and mesmerized by his pedalling! It might not be as Chopin would ever conceive the piece, but it is certainly 'revolutionary' for the organ! Have a look: ruclips.net/video/PvbEEhee3GU/видео.html and, should you have the inclination, tell me your reaction and what you honestly think!)
Hi Cole! Fabulous performance as always. I particularly love the way you extend the first two semiquavers in the first descending left hand run and similar places. It creates a powerful and expressive effect, and also makes those two notes appropriately sound like an upbeat, and not like a downbeat as they often do.
I’m also trying to work on my left hand technique, as I’ve been much less proficient in my left hand than in my right since I’ve started playing the piano and I’d like to remedy that soon. I don’t think I’m quite ready to tackle this etude yet, so I’ve been playing the fourth movement of Beethoven’s first sonata a lot and I’m planning to try some of Saint Saens’ op 135 etudes in the near future. I’m looking forward to the day when I can start learning this piece; it’s been one of my favorite works since I started listening to classical music!
Finally, I’d like to again put in a good word for the works of Scott Joplin as pieces for you to consider putting on your channel. I believe his output constitutes one of the great sets of dance pieces written for the piano, on par with Chopin’s mazurkas. I think his works have been unfairly neglected by most classical pianists, probably because they have often been denigrated as trashy by elitist commentators. In my opinion, any one of them would make a delightful encore! I would love to hear your thoughts on his work, and to possibly hear you play some of it at some point!
@@fTripleSharp thank you for these thoughts and I hope you have good luck getting your left hand developed and learning this etude! I actually quite like Joplin myself, and his music is a wonderful bit of Americana. I will certainly include a few of his pieces here and there as I get to them.
This might be a bit of a stretch, but your pointing out the motivic connections relating to C-E-Eb reminds me of Beethovens pathetique (also in c minor) which uses the same motive throughout the first movement and again in the third movement. The fact that the ending of the etude alludes to Beethovens op 111 (again in c minor) makes it seem like even less of a coincidence to me. Bach also used the same motive in his c minor partita bwv 826. And in all of these examples, the three note idea is occasionally preceded by the fifth (g) as it indeed is in the left hand of this etude
You play this so clearly and beautifully. Thank you. The sound of the piano is excellently mastered, what is the piano? I am intrigued.
You are a rare species. How do you reconcile and understand this in your appreciation of your self? And what do you think Chopin thought about himself?
Hey Cole when are you going to record Prokofiev?
It has often occurred to me that, as this piece has more power when not rushed, there might have been more notes written into the texture in order for it not to get thin in places where the performer wants to keep the line expansive
@@virtuosafatale That’s an intriguing idea and quite probable from my viewpoint
I find the coda (e.g 14:50) always reminds me of the code from the first movement from Beethoven’s op. 111
funny you say that, usually people comment on this similarity on recordings of the beethoven, not the other way around
Bitte wieder deutsche Übersetzungen der Kommentare! Achim Z.
I thought this was going to be about the Godowsky one
Same
@@peterkovacs9951 sorry guys, didn’t mean to fake you out… I will do some Godowsky later, not sure if that will be this particular arrangement though
Faked me out. I was thinking the Godowsky transciption too. (Which is a beast to bring off in tempo, but well worth practicing 'moderato.')
@@TheIndependentPianist please do something from the Java suite! I’m learning some movements as well and they’re amazing.
@@Medtner26 I love that piece also!
It sounds strange that you pronounce it Etoode and not Etude as it's spelled! And you pronounce Chopin correctly and don't pronounce it Chop-in as it appears but use the correct pronounciation for Chopin as Chopan!
A lot of people pronounce it that way