An invitation for the pianists of WTF

ShiroKuro

@andyd I don’t have a favorite version, but the two videos linked above are where I started. I’m going to play the easier version just because I don’t want to spend too much time on it. I think the harder version would be doable for me, but I have a whole list of other pieces I’m trying to finish as well.

Also, the easier version is quite sweet and I think it’s a fine piece on its own. But I’d love to hear you play the Liszt version!

AndyD

No sellotape but I like the softer toned pianos and slightly faster tempo

Link to video

Dont like the last arpeggio being differently major when it is left effectively minor by Chopin? But who am I to doubt either of the masters.

Sellotape...

ShiroKuro

@AndyD oooh I like the Hough version best. By far!

Thanks for posting those, it’s fun to compare!

AndyD

It's been a fortnight and I've had a week away, just wondered who's practicing this?
I've run through it a dozen, maybe 15 times now, so it's coming along nicely.
First two pages learned, third page I'm still making mistakes.
That last chord involves shifting the torso left.

AdagioM

I’ve played that first version before, a long time ago. I haven’t really played the piano in a decade, maybe?

ShiroKuro

@AndyD I'm glad to hear yours is coming along!

I have been half-heartedly playing the easier version, I plan to record it by the Piano Tell deadline (July 15 I think) and since that's a ways out yet, I've been focusing on other goals.

I don't know if anyone else here is playing it, but several people are working on it at Piano Tell.

ShiroKuro

@AdagioM said:

I haven’t really played the piano in a decade, maybe?

I guess I didn't know that! Do you still have your piano at home?

CHAS

Got a copy of Chopin's Wiosna. Started it, only to learn that I am worse than ever. Have not played in too many years and not getting any younger, but I am enjoying it. Bob isn't.
I don't like it very much. Will see.

ShiroKuro

@CHAS said:
I don't like it very much. Will see.

The funny thing is, a lot of pianists at PT don’t rally like it either. I’m kind of blah about it myself

But nevertheless I plan to polish it (mostly) and upload a recording next month.

AndyD

You don't have to like it, just play it better than Ax & Jon

Bernard

I've taken a quick look at this piece. To me, the big challenge is it's repetitiveness, but the deeper one digs, the more one finds. Isn't that always the case?

Chopin ends a number of his minor pieces with a major chord. In the case of Wiosna, it can be understood by reading the lyrics of the song (if you can find a decent translation!).

The lyrics from LeiderNet (translated far better than my browser's translate function which made a mish-mash of it):

Droplets of dew sparkle,
A spring whispers in the open field;
Hidden in heather,
Somewhere a heifer's bell rings.

Pretty gentle open field
Picture views form happily,
All around, flowers release fragrance,
And bushes bloom.

Graze and wander, my little herd,
I sit by a rock,
A sweet song that I like
I'll sing for myself.

A pleasant quiet abandonded place!
Yet some regrets wander in my mind,
my heart mourns,
and a tear forms in my eye.

The tear escapes my eye,
Within me sings a stream,
To me from above,
A skylark responds.

His wings he spreads,
Barely visible to the eye,
Higher, higer...
Lost already among the clouds.

Above prairies and fields he flies,
Still singing his song;
And the song from the ground
He takes up into the sky!

ShiroKuro

@AndyD said:
You don't have to like it, just play it better than Ax & Jon

Not likely!!

@Bernard that’s lovely, thank you for posting it!

AndyD

Do people usually play it straight?
Hough effectively ignores 'a tempo', sings out a nice counter in bars 15 to 32.
And then his final 8 bars, love his interpretation...

Bernard

@AndyD said:

Do people usually play it straight?

What do you mean by this?

PS, I've stopped listening to interpretations temporarily.

AndyD

@Bernard said:
Do people usually play it straight?

What do you mean by this?

Pretty much as written and therefore all pretty much the same. I imagine like the first YouTube video I linked.

WTF-Beta

An invitation for the pianists of WTF