Chopin Preludes

12 years classical piano, first 5 in Yamaha music school, then a year without teacher, then intermittent private lessons for the next 11 years (2-3 months off at random periods). I've tried playing Chopin's Barcarolle (gorgeous, my favorite Chopin piece, the next one being the Grande Polonaise Brillante) and Liszt's No. 2 Hungarian Rhapsody (awesome, but I definitely need more training to play it properly), as well as Beethoven's Appassionata (love the third movement, the way Beethoven pushes the lower keys to its limits, and how the melody is transferred between hands), among others.

Favorite recordings:
Martha Argerich's debut recital (Liszt's B Minor Sonata and Barcarolle )
Vladimir Horowitz's self-arranged 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody,
Gyorgy Cziffra's Liszt piano concertos and Hungarian Rhapsodies and Hungarian Fantasy
Emil Gilels' 1984 recordings of Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata, and Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto

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The debate about harpsichord or piano for Bach will go on for ever, but Bach is great enough to survive both the debate and wide variety of treatment on either instrument. THe wide and varied emotional range of the 48 subjects in WTC and their development is, in itself, astonishing. It is an extraordinary example of keyboard writing.

Should these preludes and fugues be interpreted from the standpoint of period music conditioned by the harpsichord? I'm inclined to view that Bach, being an inveterate transcriber, would have enjoyed hearing these works played on a modern piano. Bach used instruments for music, and was less concerned with writing music for special instruments.

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I have always been taught to interpret Bach and all other Baroque music the way the composer intended it to be played at the time. So play the music on the piano but act as if it were a harpsichord or clavichord. I'm sure Bach would have loved to hear his music played on the modern piano but the fact that he never got to should be the determining factor.

For example, the modern staccotto is a very rapid up and down motion of the finger on the keyboard. The Baroque staccotto sounds as if there were a weight attached to the finger when playing the note.


Chopin made one Fugue in all of his music. Chopin was in the Romantic period of music so inevitably the Fugue was played with the Romantic style. If we were to implement this style to Bach's music, I'm sure it would sound good but I don't believe that's the way he intended it to be played. This is my opinion on the matter.

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I'd like to add the Sonny Clark Trio (and the eponymous Blue Note release) to that list. Might want to check out "Cool Struttin'" as well.

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Bach's music is fundamentally abstract. Abstract not in the theoretical sense, but in the sense that its existence is based on fundamental musical terms, rather than that of a confined period or instrumental style such as Couperion's or Chopin's. Therefore, Bach's music can be performed on all instruments worthy of this honor. The type of instrument is of less importance than the scholarship and artistry of the performer.

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The replacement of the harpsichord with the piano cannot be compared to the evolution of classical form, such as that of baroque to romantic. The former can be attributed to modern innovations, the latter to musical tastes.

A performer's choice in the instrument used to express Bach's work is open to the interpretation of the listener. But should a performer choose to play baroque music in a romantic style, that is just plain bad taste and borders on silliness.

Wow a lot of piano lover on the forum. Well I think Bach's keyboard pieces are often rhythmic so that calls for non-excessive use of rubato. However some slow movements/pieces does give the player more freedom to express. I always wondered why the Cellos suites sound acceptable when the player stretches the tempo of the music but for keyboard pieces it just doesn't sound right. My favourite Bach player is Gould of course, because his Bach just sound so natural and convincing.

I've studied piano with a teacher for 16 years in the past, and my favourite pieces to play would be Chopin's Nocturne Op.55 No.2 and Sarabande from Bach's 1st Partita.

My favourite piece to listen to is Rachmaninov PC No.4 (Michelangeli's recording if I had to pick one)

Phineas Newborn, Jr. - "Lush Life"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSUp7FeEM0E

Who else would even think to mix Ravel with Billy Strayhorn?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzX2S3rfJ_Q

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Well, I'm a big fan of Gould's recordings of Bach, but I wouldn't have said that sounding natural was one of their virtues. He sounds like an out-of-control knitting machine most of the time.

I wasn't intending to open the instrument debate when I mentioned that the 48 weren't actually composed as such for the piano: I was more interested in the fact that a thread calling for one's favourite piano piece probably wasn't looking for an answer spread across four CDs. Nevertheless, since the debate is open I'd certainly question whether Bach's writing in the 48 is perfectly adapted to what a piano can and can't do (even Jarrett switches to harpsichord for the second book).

Moreover, I think that it does matter from the composer's standpoint: the entire point of the exercise was to explore the temperament opportunities of being able to play in all keys on a single instrument, after all, so Bach was taking a pretty cutting-edge attitude to the interaction between composition and instrument development. My own view is that the music sounds better on piano, but there's little doubt in my mind that this distances it not only from the author's original performing context but also from the author's original intentions. I also like Jaques Loussier's performances of Bach, but one has to admit at some point that a performer is compromising the composed work to favour his or her audience.

If I were a genuine Bach fan rather than a casual enthusiast I think that I'd make the effort to appreciate harpsichord more.

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Ditto!

It depends on the choice of music for me. If its Bach, I could listen all day but I've heard some medieval music that I just can't stand one minute. I don't know why that is. Its probably because of the circular style of composition.

Only medieval music I can stand is Gregorian Chants, but that's off topic.

Piano Sonata No.14 In C Sharp Minor, Op.27, No.2 ('Moonlight')-Beethoven/Serkin

My all time favorite pianist has got to be George Winston and Woods from the album Autumn is probably my favorite piece. Actually his whole Seasons series is fantastic. Here are some samples of his pieces on youtube -> http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...george+winston