Performance by Richard (zrtf90) from Recital #52 - 2018-11-15

• Performer: Richard (zrtf90)
• Location:
• Experience: More than it sounds, less than it feels.
• Composer: Chopin
• Piece: Lento con gran espressione
• Duration: 290
• Music Link: click to play
• Video Link:
• Music Source:
• Instrument:
• Recording Method:
• Info: Chopin: Lento con gran espressione (Nocturne No. 20, Op. posth.) I've been participating in the Study Thread for this piece and responded only recently to the suggestion of submitting it to this recital (just shy of three weeks ago as I write). This is not a difficult piece as Chopin Nocturnes go and it's very easy to memorise. None of the difficulties are such that they can't be overcome with slow and careful practise. The biggest challenge for me here was deciding on the version to use. I've never learned a piece before that has so many published versions yet so few the same. I haven't even stayed with one version in its entirety but patched together extracts from various published editions. There were up to fourteen sheets for this at one time on my piano rack, many parts excised by coloured pencil and others double outlined as firm. It's only having memorised extracts individually that I've joined them together, and only since it was suggested in the thread that it be submitted, so I don't actually have a complete copy on paper just yet of the final version I'm playing. The trills are among the most critical I've had to deal with as I feel they're vital to the character and the performance and of this piece. While the runs in the coda look like hard, they're actually just regular scale runs with flexible timing and the focus on different end notes. Not difficult for someone who regularly works on scales (as opposed to playing them often). There's a central section that in all the recordings I've listened to are taken at twice the pace that's written, largely based, I think, on the scherzando passage in his 2nd Piano Concerto - but it's only from recording myself early on that I realised why I needed to follow suit - the pace lags just when it needs to pick up. The judicious use of the otherwise unoccupied RH helps maintain the rhythmic energy in this section. There is, on top of all this, the fact that Chopin's own autograph is marked as being in cut time, takes the middle section in 3/4 time for the RH and 4/4 time in the LH, only later joining both staves in 3/4 before taking the reprise in common time (though marked a tempo primo) while in another manuscript the piece begins in common time but reprises in cut time! I chose a gentle pace to afford more leeway in the 'gran espressione' and I think it's better than rushing anywhere. Once I'm more used to the piece I'll be able to adjust the tone to suit. Many thanks to Craig for the idea of starting this piece and the participants in the thread who've contributed ideas. It's been a joy to research, to work on and to share the effort with others. I've not been able to enter recent recitals because of unexpected issues in the face of impending retirement. I expected a quiet year and it's not turned out that way. This piece has kept me at the piano instead of taking days off from indolence. My gratitude, as ever, goes to the team who provide this wonderful opportunity to motivate our practise.