MARCH 15 2009 KEMAL GEKIC: THE COMPLETE ETUDES Op. 10, Op.25,  TROIS NOUVELLES ETUDES

Chopin’s Etudes …what a veritable microcosm of his music! Barely in his twenties, he conceived an entirely new world of music, new approach to piano technique and sonority and a new standard for the taste and fashion of his time. James Huneker called these studies “titanic experiments”. No less critic than Robert Schumann described Chopin’s music staring at him from the pages as “ strange eyes- eyes of flowers, basilisks, peacocks, maidens. “

In his Etudes he consistently explores certain figurations or technical problems ( most of them unheard of in his time). It seems that Chopin’s inventiveness and ingeniousness in inventing new and unusual figurations was inexhaustible. Often  he adds to them a “ counterpoint” in form of accompanying melodies or rhythmical motifs(sometimes more difficult than the technical problem in the figuration itself) , in order to give more substance to the piece and create moods jubilant, mysterious, melancholic, agitated,
contemplative. From his keyboard there are raising sonorities misty, bubbling, frothy or thunderous, songs of joy or sadness . After solving the inherent technical problems in each piece, it appears that a real difficulty lies in giving them a living form, exercising one’s fantasy.

Physically speaking, the Etudes make new demands for the pianist, the main one being-suppleness. Hands being able to accommodate all of these textures are required to have no fixed form, sometimes just to glide over the keys, to stick to them like a snake or to terrorize the keyboard with broad strokes. They are supposed to be multi-purposed instruments of musician’s imagination.

Chopin did not conceive the Etudes as a set to be performed in its entirety in a concert. Despite the fact he played all of them, he seldom played more than 2 or 3 in public ( well known examples are op.10 nos 3&4 and op.25 nos 1&2). Nowadays they are performed often as a cycle, and they have been recorded at least 60 times for the past 50 years. I noticed that some of their “revolutionary” novelty and surprise is being lost by hearing them always in the same context i.e. in the same order. Therefore I have decided to invent a new order, to compose a large “Suite” from them, so to speak. I already tried somewhat smaller “units” of 8, 10 or 13 etudes in this fashion, juxtaposing pieces in a new, telling or dramatic order, sometimes composing small “harmonic bridges” between them when necessary, thus creating some kind of a connective tissue between them. This approach brought back their original novelty and freshness, keeping the audience in a suspense and expectation, and giving Chopin’s Etudes one more function: that of a compositional tool. Once the established order “wears out” , they could be shuffled and allowed to discover their new potential…a challenge for new generations to come

 For more:  http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/3495/etudes.html

 FOUR BALLADES

No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
No.2 in F Major, Op.38
No. 3 in A Flat Major, Op. 47
No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52                 

For more: http://www.chopinmusic.net/en/works/ballades 

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