This is one of the few Chopin-Godowsky studies I can actually play (the other ones being Op.10 No.6 and Op.10 No.12), and its difficulty is deceiving despite the sheet music being relatively simplistic. The section at 6:09 is the closest equivalent I know of to “running” for the arm without doing an actual workout. If I ever play this one, I have to do considerable practice just to ready my arm beforehand. One time I tried playing this study on a public piano during a busy time in my life where I wasn’t able to play the piano much for months, and I had some downtime to play for about 15 minutes or so. I thought I’d tail off the 15 minute recital with this study. Having not practiced in a while, my arm STRUGGLED to get through the entirety of it, especially from 6:09 and onwards. I was completely caught off-guard, and it was easily the most embarrassing public performance I had ever given. Personal shameful anecdote aside lol, I’m so incredibly happy to see this set of videos finally well and done on RU-vid :) Without exaggeration, these videos are an important and integral part of music history! I’m excited to see the next performances you have lined up for us (or perhaps they’ll be on the DVD?). As others have expressed, it would be nice to see you do the combination studies and studies on nouvelle etudes, but the Op.25 studies were already a huge enough thing to ask for. I’d personally feel bad for asking for much else after a fantastic 24-video-series so far haha. Bravo Mr. Stanhope!! Hope to see more videos from you, because this channel has been nothing short of a delight in every sense of the word :)
Thanks for your kind comments. To do more recordings means months of at least six hours practice a day! I must have a rest for a while as I have other things to do.
The only Godowsky study I've learned, was great hearing you play and your insights. When I learned it a few years ago it was hard for to find reference recordings. This series you've recorded is a treasure for sure!
Thank you very much and congratulations for completing Op.25!! I hope there will be a continuation with the Etudes op. posth. and the Double Etudes at some point in the future! :)
The original is easy to learn, hard to master. This is one of those etudes of Chopin I feel like people keep putting too little effort on. There's TONS of youtube videos of this one but extremely few are actually "clean" and consistent. It's like 1 out of 100, if even that. The piece has such a flow that it absolutely needs to be maintained through everything.. even the octave "jumps" in some of the tricky transition parts. You keep hearing versions where the jumps are way too obvious and break the flow. These Godowsky studies are extremely interesting btw! Huge potential for practice and betterment.
@@worstpianist3985 His interpretation is extremely nice! (you mean the Chopin competition one?) Unfortunately it's not exactly clean either.. but yes, the way he tackles the piece is completely unique and so very delicate.
I find it more challenging than op 10 no 1 and op 25 no 11. Musically I think it's the hardest to get to sound right. Frankly I've never heard a version that I felt lived up to the piece except maybe the Horowitz version if it is him playing in it. It just always sounds choppy, especially at the full tempo.
Wow, sad to know there won't be more godowsky studies coming, unless you plan to do the other 10 studies. I can't wait for the encores though! Your musicality is brilliant!
Mr Stanhope, is there some way I could get in touch with you in person, please? I would very much like to reach out to you about a certain matter over a more private channel if possible. An e-mail address perhaps? (I am more than willing to provide one of mine first in the interests of your privacy). Thank you once again very much for the op 25 set. Wonderful, thunderous performance of the Godowsky study 43, more impassioned than any I've heard.
When you said about the Godowsky's advice to move your seat a little bit up, I remember some story which Rodion Schedrin told. He couldn't play op. 10 no. 1 properly (the original one of course) no matter how hard he trained. And it was Yakov Fliere who adviced him to move a little bit to the left side of his seat (not moving the seat itself). And it helped!
Wow! Thank you so much David for completing the series! This is a very important contribution to musical history and I will enjoy it for years to come. For some of these it is the only good recording to show all the hand action. I will not ask for you to learn & perform any other pieces as this is more than enough. I'm curious how well it sticks in the memory, could you sit down and play a Godowsky Op. 10 study without re-studying the score?
Congratulations on finishing the series! What a privilege to be able to tour all the Godowsky studies. For someone who cannot invest the time to learn them all, which ones would you recommend to a student as most "useful"? Also, maybe it'd be great to have a recap video. For example, discussing which ones are more useful/practical, which ones are hardest (maybe ranking them?), and which ones are your personal favorites.
Thank you! It would not be easy for me to make a recap video - setting up cameras, lights and borrowing microphones is a major undertaking. If I make more videos, it will have to wait until I have other pieces I want to record. My favourites of the opus 10 set are the three Godowsky versions of Chopin 9th study. For the opus 25, hard to go past the Mazurka and Polonaise studies, which are most enjoyable and not so difficult to learn or play. From a technical point of view, the main usefulness of the left hand alone studies is as Godowsky intended: developing strength and flexibility. The opus 10 no.1 left hand alone study is a good one to start with, both from a technical aspect and for musicality.
Hi David! Any chance you'll learn the passacaglia? I know it's very difficult of course, but I believe you'd pull it off considering you played (almost) all of the Chopin Godowsky studies :)
I did record the Passacaglia last century (!). It's on Tall Poppies CD TP135. I doubt if I will return to it again, although I might play it better now with all these studies under my belt. There are other projects that should take precedence.
@@davidrichardstanhope wow that's really impressive! Is it really as difficult as some people say it is? Let's say, if you can play gaspard de la nuit, could you pull off the passacaglia or vice versa? I'm totally not at that level yet but just curious :)
@@Medtner26 I have never played Gaspard de la nuit, but I think you would need great agility and lightning fingers to play it. Most of the Passacaglia is not difficult compared with the Chopin-Godowsky studies (which tend to be difficult from beginning to end), but the hard variations are very hard, some (like the Erl King one) requiring great strength and accuracy with the wide leaps, sometimes demanded from both hands simultaneously. I think those are the bits that Horowitz is supposed to have said that six hands are needed to play it. (Tongue in cheek, I am sure!)
@@davidrichardstanhope you certainly need strong fingers for the passacaglia! I'm currently writing it out in musescore. Hopefully this wonderful music will reach more people that way. Gaspard is quite difficult musically. Having played (a part of) le gibet, I can tell you it's not easy to keep the bells ringing troughout! Is there any chance you upload a performance (old or new) on youtube as well. I can't find the Tall Poppies recording anywhere to deliver to Belgium. I'm sure your performance is great!
After following this series a question: when does the DVD come out? I will definitely get it; the op10 was not easy to obtain in the UK. Years ago I got your recording of Passacaglia and enjoyed it. As it's in your fingers could you do a video on it? You could also compare Liszt and Godowsky arranging Schubert. OK I'm very greedy. Many thanks for what you've done.
I hope before the end of the year. When it does, best to order direct from Tall Poppies here in Australia. It would take a long time to get the Passacaglia back in my fingers!
