# Chopin etude op 10 no 1 (new thread)



## Guy Bacos (Jun 8, 2010)

Each of Chopin's 24 Etudes are masterpieces for the piano repertoire. Here is Op 10 No 1.

Chopin Etude Op 10 No 1

Thanks for listening!

Guy

(I preferred to start again on a fresh thread and copy/paste the comments here)


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## Guy Bacos (Jun 8, 2010)

*Re: Chopin Etude Op 10 No 1*



tomgahagan @ Mon Jun 07 said:


> Nice!! Really Nice!!!
> 
> Thomas





synergy543 @ Mon Jun 07 said:


> That's both an awesome sound and a spectacular performance!
> 
> For me, this is and example of where samples actually surpass any real recording I've heard.
> 
> Thanks for sharing! o/~






mikebarry @ Tue Jun 08 said:


> Guy very nice performance. Wicked Wicked hard piece.
> 
> I think of all the chopin pieces the etudes are most open to interpretation. I always have listened to this etude and thought it is the brother of the Winter Wind A minor one.







michaelv @ Tue Jun 08 said:


> There is probably nobody else on this forum who could pull this off: is there anyone out there up to the challenge? You show guts, technical prowess and, on top of all that, you compose also. No-one likes a smart-ass, Monsieur Bacos,lol. People with a surfeit of talent are easy targets for the less able to fire their green-coloured bullets at. Oh, and you don't hide behind a silly avatar either, where any comment can be made with relative impunity.
> 
> 
> The arguments concerning historical correctness and personal interpretation will never go away: it's inextricable, and any artist will need tough skin and be prepared to be attacked, from time to time, by those who think they know better. It comes with the territory.
> ...





nikolas @ Tue Jun 08 said:


> _______________________
> 
> Thanks for posting this Guy! A very interesting work, and a very enjoyable performance! I think that this is the first piece by the Imperial that I enjoyed! (Yikes...).
> 
> If I was to offer any comment for the performance, that would be that the whole etude seems a tiny bit (only a tiny) 'too clean', so I'm wondering if you after touched it a bit. It doesn't really matter, and it could very well be that I'm guessing this because this is the VI-control and not Piano-control... :D So the blame IS probably on me!


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## Synesthesia (Jun 8, 2010)

Great playing Guy. I really enjoyed listening to that.

I'm a huge Pogorelich fan - I could never approach that level in my own playing - sadly he hasn't recorded the full Etudes yet.

His recording of Gaspard de la Nuit is just.. incredible.

Good work!

Cheers,

Paul


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## Guy Bacos (Jun 8, 2010)

Thanks Paul! Glad you found the door.  

I remember when Pogorelich, 17 years old, won the Montreal international piano competition, I was following this of course and he was head and shoulders above all his competitors.


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## Guy Bacos (Jun 9, 2010)

C M Dess @ Wed Jun 09 said:


> Guy, I like your performance of this piece, really skilled work. To me it sounds a bit as if Scriabin had played the Chopin piece (devious  ). Just a bit. I like that it is more rubato, dynamic and expressive than some versions I've heard, drives me crazy when this piece is played too fast because it becomes more mechanical (what arp next) to the ear and less passionate. This has an enduring drive and freshness.



Thanks CM Dess. this was exactly my intention, I have played this piece so many times and I was happy to be able to add a little extra color with this version. I remember when I use to give piano lessons, during a break, I played this Etude on a grand piano the school had, but back then in a pretty conservative way, and later I heard this kid watching me said to his teacher: "That's a boring piece, just going up and down the keyboard". So you are right, it can sound easily very mechanical.


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## Guy Bacos (Jun 9, 2010)

I'd like to add that Synergy543 was very helpful in suggesting me some interpretations.


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## nikolas (Jun 9, 2010)

I've been pondering over this piece for the past few days... 

This seems like an almost boring and unimaginative piece by Chopin! (<- Heretic view). It's a series of arpeggios and the bass, a series of 16th notes and "that's all" (Complete oversimplification, but bare with me). 

I find that as a pianist, if I could play this (cause although I'm a pretty good pianist my right hand does not enjoy arpeggios at all) I would also try to bring out various things not in the score exactly. This piece seems to be asking for it.

So, yes, Guy, after a lot of thinking I agree with your performance!


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## synergy543 (Jun 9, 2010)

Guy Bacos @ Wed Jun 09 said:


> I'd like to add that Synergy543 was very helpful in suggesting me some interpretations.


Thanks for the mention Guy, but you know its your wonderful interpretation, and I was just a critic. :oops: 
Truly it was a pleasure though. I've never met anyone who works at such lighting speed and is so receptive and responsive to different ideas.

@Nikolas - very interesting observations on the piece. Although I'm just an elementary pianist and certainly can't play this piece, I have so much fun trying! I thrive on those arpeggios to the point my arm was aching the next morning. 

The zigzag structure of the arpeggios is also very interesting to me. The fingering pattern works very nicely and makes good sense. This got me thinking though... I would never be able to arrive at such patterns for other instruments that I don't play. Even by studying scores, it would be difficult for me to recognize when a pattern for another instrument is used more because its very playable, rather than for the sound of the pattern. Can a composer only gain this depth of insight by actually being a performer of an instrument?

(Of course with samples, we'd never know this, as we never get feedback from the players screaming that they can't play it!)


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## Rob (Jun 9, 2010)

Nice work, Guy, I myself like to give personal interpretations of the classical masterpieces... although I can't go beyond 120 MM on this one without starting to hit wrong notes etc. Did you play this at full speed or slower and then took it up to speed? If so, nothing bad, I do it all the time... :D


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## Guy Bacos (Jun 9, 2010)

I actually play it faster. :wink: 

Seriously, I do play all 24 Etudes in real time and most of them in concert at one time or another, but of course there is no way I would be able to play it which such accuracy, notes and musicality together. And this is the idea, to increase to effectiveness of the piece with a rested mind. I think it will take a long time for some people to accept, if ever, this approach. I keep saying, one does not stop the other.

Thanks Nikolas, Greg and Rob!


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## Rob (Jun 9, 2010)

Guy Bacos @ 9th June 2010 said:


> I actually play it faster. :wink:
> 
> Seriously, I do play all 24 Etudes in real time and most of them in concert at one time or another, but of course there is no way I would be able to play it which such accuracy, notes and musicality together. And this is the idea, to increase to effectiveness of the piece with a rested mind. I think it will take a long time for some people to accept, if ever, this approach. I keep saying, one does not stop the other.
> 
> Thanks Nikolas, Greg and Rob!



after all, Glenn Gould had a similar kind of approach in the studio, so we do have an illustrious model...


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## P.T. (Jun 19, 2010)

My right hand hurts just listening.
Good job.

Which piano is this? 
Is it samples?
If so, it's one of the first that I like.
Good tone and a decent stereo image ( doesn't have the bass notes all the way over there on the left and the high ones over there out the window.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jun 21, 2010)

Guy,

This is a very complicated piece and its really amazing that you have played this live!

Its a very good performance with slight exceptions. 

The piano (specially in the high registers) is almost too bright for my taste at least. I think, the eq (or I suspect the Vienna Exciter) settings are slightly edgy and the tone looses its warmth and the mid range a bit. The higher notes sound too bright and brittle. 

Certain notes sound - how should I say - masked - this is probably because of the above mentioned settings. Just something to think about. 


Its a really great performance otherwise - I know you have taken some liberty with certain parts but thats making it your own! nice!


Good work!


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