chopin mazurka op. 50 n3

To me the performance seemed very heartfelt and I listened to Chopin with pleasure after many months.

Piccinesco wrote:

To me the performance seemed very heartfelt and I listened to Chopin with pleasure after many months.

you make me happy...!!!!!! THANK YOU

You're welcome, it's the impression I had.

Beautiful. Very pleasant listening.

Terenzio wrote:

Nice. Very pleasant listening.

...I'm glad you liked it....I am not quite satisfied yet...there are still many little things that need to be fixed.. then I am recording with these new gadgets (h4n) which seem more like spaceships than recorders to me.... and I can't manage to adjust the levels, the distances and everything else if there is anything left to adjust!!!!!!!!!!!

I liked your performance very much. This is one of the most important and structured mazurkas and one of my favorites, even though I have never played it in concert. It is also one of those mazurkas that tells us how much Chopin loved polyphony. Perhaps not everyone knows that he knew Bach's "harpsichord" very well and that he performed ten or twelve preludes and fugues from memory. The final modulating part carries us "to heaven," to the heights of pianistic expression.

Allow me a few completely friendly and purely personal observations, in the face of a very good technical and interpretative performance.

The rubato is excellent and it is clearly felt that you know this fundamental Chopin aspect. I would even dare to push it further, freeing myself a little from the slavery of "tempo."

Diction, pronunciation: The "bell-like ringing" between the right and left hands, so dear to Michelangeli, is personal and appropriate nonetheless. Personally, I do not prefer it to be a constant element throughout the entire performance. Despite this, you make it pleasant and completely natural!

The phrasing is clear and the ideas are well-defined, yours. This denotes great artistic value. If Rubinstein, whom I knew well, had heard it, he would have advised greater "eloquence" in the right hand compared to the left. This greater imbalance also makes the phrases in p very expressive, singable, and "sincere." Watching Rubinstein play was a great lesson. He played even the phrases in piano mezzoforte. His trick, so to speak, was to render everything in the right hand and then emerge with the left in the forte. This captured the listener and pinned their attention on the cantabile part. Perhaps it wasn't always right, but in the Mazurkas, it works.

In short, your performance is beautiful and very interesting. Too many words from me.

Compliments,

Paolo

Wow......I'm actually blushing.....thank you so much.

And thank you very much also for the extremely interesting insights.

It is the mazurka that I prefer precisely because of its structure with polyphonic foundations and typically Chopin-esque sonorities..a perfect combination and a captivating interpretative challenge that gives space to many ideas. The suggestion to venture more outside the slavery of tempo encourages me toward new study. It all depends on knowing how to dose it....without excesses. I will study it thoroughly with enthusiasm...thank you.

Rubstein...a unique performer. The strategies you refer to are certainly effective and can be a valid alternative precisely to avoid excessive left-right bell effects. I will treasure this advice as well....and in fact, thinking about it, it is also useful for solving some problems on another piece I am working on (Bach Busoni BWV 140)....for which my thanks are amplified even further!!!!

Nancy

...oops I ate a piece of Rubinstein....

Well done, good studying!

Well done Nancy, excellent Mazurka!!

Thank you, I am very honored by your compliments... these days I am avidly reading and listening to discussions and performances present in the forum and I am being pleasantly struck by your artistic depth... and your compliments are particularly welcome!!

...in a few days it is possible that I will ask you for help with Franck's choral prelude and fugue, if I don't bother you too much... I am not managing to perform it decently cleanly... I have just finished reviewing it all from memory but when I perform it in its entirety I often stumble... I hope it is just a matter of time...

It is a difficult piece and difficult to remember. As far as memory is concerned, the more awareness and analytical ability you acquire, the longer the assimilation period can be. But it is truly true, as the French say "par coeur", that when you know music by heart, it means it has entered "into your heart...and comes from the heart". How beautiful!! The final page is the most difficult. It is advisable to learn it well separately. A wonderful piece. We await your next Post!!!!!

I, Nancy, am listening to her now, wandering a little here and there.

I find her truly beautiful, with a phrasing humility that denotes research with respect for the author; respect that also shines through from the rhythmic attention. As Paolo says, I would still venture more on rhythm and rubatos.

Beautiful!! Truly beautiful.

hi Fabio! how are you?

thanks for your appreciation!...listening to it again makes me smile...two years have passed which for me were a time of intense study and listening to it again makes me say that it is impressive how the interpretative choices and style in performances reflect what a person's inner self is and is always evolving....  

But ...I'm fine, except for losing work again due to companies that nowadays aren't serious enough about surviving anymore. You say something very true; even I almost get moved sometimes when, after some time, I look back at some of my paintings, or small writings, or even better, old recordings. You see yourself as exposed and revealed; something that you can't manage to understand or see at the moment. You see yourself as a stranger for a moment in what you listen to and read it as if you weren't the one who created it. It's a very strange thing, but extremely useful and interesting.

At least you are studying; for now, I am going to look for work.

I am so sorry about the job... I can only send you double wishes, hoping that the new year brings something better...

I'm sorry about your job Fabio... What kind of work did you do? Write to me privately...

Thank you so much Nancy and Simon... I'm not giving up. I am at my ninth job since the beginning of my working period.