Several years ago I did the entire life of Chopin at the Canteen over a period of several months. It was along the way that I discovered Valentina’s videos of the etudes. Even the incomparable Arthur Rubinstein shied away from the etudes, although he would occasionally program one as an encore at his recitals. There were very few of them I could play with any facility. Even the slow etudes were difficult. Chopin published them in two different sets, Opus 10 and Opus 25. Tonight I’ll link to the videos of Valentina playing the 12 etudes of Opus 10.
The first, an “allegro” in 4/4, is in the uncomplicated key of C Major. You would think that no sharps and no flats would make for easy playing. Guess again! The purpose of this exercise is to force the right hand to pivot the thumb three times on the way up and three times on the way down every two bars. There are a lot of bars in this piece, and they don’t serve alcohol. Watch what she has to do with her right hand. This requires a supple wrist, something I never developed. Adam Neiman, a pianist who appears often at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and who is a fellow Ayn Rand fan, told me that this is one of the toughest of the etudes.
Good evening, Publius, and thank you for the Chopin etudes. ((HUGS))
Old Composers never die.
They just go from bar to bar.