Chopin: Fantasie-Impromptu Op. 66

[Theo Verelst]

It's a piece I've hear a number of times when working on the Kurzweil Steinway program (it's on this official demo page under "piano" "Steinway"), here an a Rubinstein interpretation:

This version is played on Chopin's actual (!) piano:

(I don't think he would say no to a newer one).

 

I like the power and harmonic interest of the piece, and I suppose it requires a certain understanding to give a rendition showing Chopin's brilliance and fun.

 

This version is from Tiffany Poon, a young concert pianist in New York, at a very early age, but done with understanding of the sounds of a good piano:

 

 

well, done, and containing some of the feel I suspect is in the composition for playing with the sound and the reverberation, giving that grand idea of interesting music being made.

 

For who wants to learn:

I liked it when I was working on the Kurzweil sound, even importing another Midi version into the PC3, and the sound became resonant and orchestral like the king of the instruments is challenged and the design of a interesting harmonic program is played.

 

Sort of disclaimer: I don't play the whole piece at all, wouldn't try it with my practice of speed sight reading (none), though I can try strategic pieces by playing from listening and following the some of the developing harmonic logic, which is fun, and probably interesting from instrument design point of view. Digital kills certain elements of all these recordings, but people are used to that, I suppose...

 

Theo V

 

[Ibarch]

It's on my bucket list of pieces I want to master but has defeated me to this point. Seeing an 11 year old Tiffany Poon perform it like that really puts me in my place. 

[Redknife]

I’ve anlways enjoyed this piece, which I suppose is not surprising given its popularity. The frenetic runs can slip if I don’t play it for a while. D flat major 2nd movement is stunningly beautiful to me. Somehow it works with the first and 3rd movements coalescing in the final bars, I like your inclusion of different pianists in your post. I follow Tiffany Poon on YouTube and find her content reliably interesting as she prepares for performances.

[K K]

This Impromptu was one of the first pieces I learned when I switched from pop/prog/etc to advanced classical music and study the great piano masters. But with the years, I ended up disliking it more and more. So many people play the allegro parts completely wrong (often presto and beyond - hey everything has to be extreme to be noticeable) while disregarding the actual music. Even Rubinstein above sucks big time with his coda a complete Alzheimer's train wreck - it is beyond me that this was retained as some official recording. The two others also got the coda dual rhythm wrong but at least they don't erase several bars off the score. So strangely here, only the Synthesia video is respectful of the coda.

 

The best performance is actually from the girl as she is the only one out of four examples to correctly play the accents after the initial diminuendo. For the second occurrence it is clearly specified to emphasize the high notes and not once again the thumbs banging the low notes, another mistake that Rubinstein does remarkably well here. In any case, Chopin didn't want to publish the piece because he borrowed/photocopied Beethoven passages from his opus 27-2. The two pieces are even in the same key, so kind of too obvious.

 

Don't misunderstand me, as an exercise I think this piece can be very fun to learn : a nice challenge and also good to practice different rhythms on both hands at the same time. And it is actually quite easy to be unable to hear one's mistakes given the amount of notes played very rapidly in poly-rhythms, so kind of fun to warm up.

 

But more importantly, do Chopin a favour and let this piece being what it is - a fun exercise. Anyone using it to try to show off might be shooting oneself in the foot.

 

[David Emm]

I had an uncle who played casual nightclub dates at higher-end places. He could do goofy things to amuse the crowd, but he could also pull this piece off nicely. IMO, this is one of those transcendent ideas Frederic fleshed out on a very good day, because its a serious masterwork. Its mastery requires massive brass ones like those of the best stride players. Its something you can pull out if someone sneers at you a bit and make their yaps slam shut audibly. Good thread.