Hey. I have just been playing through this piece and then when I get to bar 18 I see an Ab and Db in the Left Hand and then in the Right Hand a D natural...I play it and it sounds awful...

I just want to check that I am reading this right and it isn't a typo or anything like that.

Yes, that is correct - it is just a passing discordance though - when you play through it up to speed it does work!

Thank you, Carol. It's not like you to actually post anything useful! They should have a thread for you "Breakthrough of the Year"

Hmmm.... and I was so polite as well!
I was going to say - it will sound okay when it is played PROPERLY!

I do like this piece, it just takes a while to get going. WHY does he repeat that infernal theme like a million times? The ending is great but the start is, I dislike to say, BORING.

I'm playing this one too. I like it all (even the 'boring' bit at the beginning). The bits with triplets are the best.

I just realised that the music i had was only for the first half of it Why did that have to be the easier half?!?!

I have played this one since 1963, when it was on my ALCM syllabus. My teacher made me learn two pices from each set for a while before committing to one. This one bit the dust in favour of Mendelssohns Duetto. But I still play it even now! It may seem a bit boring initially but soon warms up !

i was wondering if anyone had any opinions on how to use the pedal for this piece. The first version of the music i got had no pedal marked on, i just did legato pedalling, but my new version has a mazurka-like pedalling marked in, which i personally don't like, but my teacher says you should play what it says in the music.

How are other people doing it?

Thanks

Sarah

Is it the ABRSM edition of Chopin Nocturnes that you are now using? That's the edition I'm using & I'm not convinced by pedalling as indicated; but as yet we haven't thought of a convincing alternative

Its the Henle edition. I think its the one mentioned in the front of the G8 book, but am not 100% sure of that.
The book's a grey/blue colour, if thats any help.

My edition is pale purple I think. Pedalling - seems to want the 1st & 2nd beat pedalled together, & the 3rd & 4th together. Is that what your edition indicates?

yep, i think mines the smae as what your's is. Pedal directly on the 1st and 3rd beats, then pick it up a bit over half way though the 2nd and 4th. Makes it sound all detached

That's what my edition does aswell (Schirmers)

so how would you play it? do you think it's the editor being 'helpful' or what Chopin wanted?

I play it myself as written so pedal changes every beat...just listened to a recording and they do the same

Thanks, sounds like i'm going to have to put up with it then.

Hang on, you said yours changes every beat, not every two

My edition has ped under every other beat and * under the other beats....

hmm, that sounds different, mines like this:

direct pedal on 1, off on 2 1/2, on on 3, off on 4 1/2.

Yes thats mine

ok, and don't you find it odd?

It looks like i'm just going to have to get on with the stupid pedalling. It's just really annoying because it was going really well until this was introduced, and, in my opinion, its not really an improvement.

How do you interpret them signs?! Do you do :

1: pedal on 2: off 3: on 4: off

?

no, i've been told to do...

1:pedal on, 2:pedal still on, 2.5:pedal off, 3: pedal on etc

I don't like that at all! Makes it sound too rigid! When I play it I change the pedal every beat...

FredericChopin is the best person to ask

good, someone agrees!! I will try what you said, see what it sounds like, then protest to my teacher about why she's making me do it in that strange way.

What do you think about legato pedalling every other beat - that's how i was doing it before.

That's how I do it! Gives the bass more power

There was an entire thread about pedalling this piece about 5-6 months ago: I know because I started it! Unfortunately I can't now find it, but never mind: Check out how pro's do it by watching them on Youtube. On-on-1, off-on-2, on-on-3, off-on-4 seems to be the way to pedal. Combining this with the staccato marks seems odd but there is a name for it (which I can't remember) and allegedly that was what Chopin put on the autograph copy, so it's not just editorialisation.

If anyone else can find that thread, please post the link.

now i'm confused , i thought you said, you go on one beat, off on the next.

No lol! I do a pedal change on every beat lol Did I not say that Confused at what I do myself now LOL

I can't find your thread anywhere Robodoc ... hmmm

Yoo hoo...did someone call?!!?

Yes we did

How do you pedal this piece?

With my right foot!


Always make sure that you give priority to the melody - i.e. don't neglect the RH - make it sing with a flowing legato. Whatever pedalling you use, avoid, as much as possible, blurring the notes of the melody. Therefore, I pedal slightly differently depending on the RH melody.

If you lift the pedal up every other beat, do it gently otherwise it will sound choppy and spoil the character of the piece. If you change every beat, try half pedalling so as not to lose the important bass notes.

Thanks. Thats what i thought all along. I will tell my piano teacher that i was given advice by Chopin himself, so should do it how you say!!

I don't play this piece, because I think it's VERY hard to pedal to make it sound good.

Anything else and it's a bit

When you first learn this piece you think the first page or so is easy, and the middle and ending are more difficult. Later you find that the middle section sounds like it is difficult, but isn't, and the finish just flies as those triplets ripple and then evaporate above the sustained chords ...

... but you still haven't figured out what that opening left hand accompaniment is supposed to sound like, with its sustain pedal over a stacatto touch.

Sorry to bring this thread back (again!!) .

Lots of people have said that most people play this piece too slowly. I was wondering how fast would be too fast. On the grade 8 cd, it takes 4:50 mins, on a Rubenstein recording, its a bit slower than that. I recorded myself playing it this afternoon and was surprised to find it was only 3:50, so that's probably a bit too fast?

What would you suggest?

thanks

Sarah

Well I have just played it through, and I'm at 4 mins 25 secs

Thanks, it looks like i can slow down quite a bit then!