Alan Walker on the Fiasco Behind Chopin's Preludes | Ep. 1 The Chopin Podcast 

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 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...

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.

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.

Wow, what a distinguished guest you've brought, Ben! It's amazing how lucid Dr. Walker is in his ninety-fourth year.

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!

Fascinating! Alan Walker’s biography of Chopin is a must read. 😎🎹

Time ticking, with death lurking is what I feel in hearing the middle section of the prelude in d flat

What a wonderful book and author, thanks!

Fantastic video. Lots of stuff I didn't about Chopin. Very insightful.

How I miss Mr. Walker. This was such a treat to the eyes and ears. 🌻

thanks

What a delight.

I'm so pleased to see and hear Alan Walker having read his excellent x3 volume biography of Liszt.

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. 🫠

Ben's material has been amazing since he went with his own channel. And I'm not saying it's because of the move.

Brilliant presentation on all levels....thank you Ben!

"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.

A wonderful half hour, well spent.

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.

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

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.

What an interesting story😮😮 (Ben, I keep hitting the like button, but it does not work. Hope it's just my hand-held device.)

Very very interesting - thank you.

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

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.

Good vid! Enjoyed the scholarship of Walker in his Chopin biography

Alan Walker is already 94 and still travels for his research. His memory is still so sharp. I thought he is around 75-79.

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

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.

Would love to buy the manuscript version of the preludes. Is it in stock anywhere? Also the Chopin edition of the WTC.

Where can one buy the Chopin edition of Bach's WTC? Thanks for this video!

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.

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.

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.

Utterly GOBSMACKING!

Ben WHERE IS THAT T-SHIRT FROM???

Dr Walker has aged incredibly

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 - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9W6Z_4Kd2SU.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)

20:04 so Nigel was right..

21:10 Chopin copied them from Czerny's edition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20:13 Is that prelude his only piece in d minor? I can't think of any other

FIRST🐐🐐🐐

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.

Am I tripping or does Walker's voice sound like AI here?