My piano is starting to get a bit out of tune here in snowy Sweden, sorry if that's bothering you too much. I have booked a tuning for January. This was the last piece I had on my long repertoire to-do list. I got one more Patreon analysis request to do, and after that I'm looking forward to some new things in 2024!
:) There seems to be a trend on RU-vid that pianos are out of tune and the uploader doesn't seem to care, so it's refreshing that you acknowledge it. I only upload chunks of music twice a year for that reason...I record right after piano tuning (and I tighten unisons myself), but sometimes the microphones pick up out of tune unisons that our ears can't hear live.
I still can't grasp how your touch of every note is so impeccable. I know I have said that in a comment before, but your organic way of releasing phrases, even at FF is just...something that no other pianist has ever done as well as you. I still can't put my finger on it...!
I know Chopin would have been sad with everything Poland has been through but would have at least been happy to know that his piece was used to bolster the morale of his countrymen.
Nice video. Note that the galop rithms are also based on the polish cavalery. It is a nobel dance, oposed to the mazurka, a popular pesants dance. My urtext edition has 6 more Polonaises than the ones you mention. They don't have an opus like op. posth. 73 and are also very demanding polonaises in some cases... Keep up the videos!
The new format is ceaner, sharper visually thanks 🙏 but those green lights flare and distract a bit. As a non pianist, non musician I love your stuff ❤
Excellent video. On the trills, my first instinct is to play them starting on the upper note. There is a trill passage in the polonaise-fantasy where it’s clear this is what Chopin wants (bars 199-204). In the A major, bar 41, I start on the upper note and play measured 32nd notes, which connect to the written termination in 32nd notes. But at the end of the section, bar 48, I can’t make it work this way. I do exactly what you did, which is to start the trills on the principal note, and also to add a termination to tenor D before the alto and soprano D indicated in the next bar.
Don't forget his Spanish polonaise in disguise haha Also, the middle section left hand reminded me of the Viennese waltz "crispness" on the rythm. Thank you for the video
@SonataSecrets Figured out! Worked after pushing up the super thank you area. Thank you for your wonderful work. I get inspired by watching your work!
Hello Mr SS, I don't know wether I have the right to ask you but could you do a video on the Mazurka in F minor post. It's the last mazurka and piece composed by Chopin who was so much sick that he had to ask someone to write (like Mozart) btw.
01:45 Not sure how the grading system in Sweden works but in England the highest in ABRSM is grade 8, and this piece on that scale is a bit above that, so would be grade 9 except there is no such thing. I guess the terms Intermediate and Advanced are all pretty relative 🙂
Right, I guess I was after that for being an advanced peice it's pretty forgiving. All octaves passages are very logical and not too demanding, but of course there are still many notes to cover.
I usually prefer earlier time periods but I like how the Military Polonaise sounds like bells pealing. That makes me think of the Royal Family weddings. I'm an American Anglophile.
