Godowsky: Chopin's etude op.10-3 for left hand alone

[dalecampbl5]

Chopin's etudes are so perfect...the virtuosity fits the musicality perfectly. Godowsky had to ruin them by paraphrasing them. If Chopin had composed these etudes in the manner of Godowsky, CHopin's etudes would be forgotten.

[Fredigundis22]

When asked who the greatest living pianist was, Godowsky replied, "[Franz] Schmidt is the other one."

Significantly, Franz Schmidt composed some important piano (left-hand) music for Paul Wittgenstein.

[tchykovsky]

Godowsky did not ruin chopin at all, he gave a gift for more people to enjoy chopin. just look up joanna lange or see that not everybody has a perfect right hand. there is a girl missing all fingers in her right hand, but she still plays piano. thalberg's three hand technique makes piano more accessible and godowsky's take on the technique is marvelous.

[Marcelo721]

Chopin must be crying in heaven, not only for our painful performances for over 160 years, but because "someone" it occurred distorting their work with a so-called improvements and greater complexity ... The reality is that the beauty of Chopin is that his works do not need any modification.

[hellboyreloaded]

@Marcelo721 who said this is an improvement? Godowsky modified this etudes because he wanted to do them more technically difficult, but nobody says it is more musical.

[Marcelo721]

@hellboyreloaded It's difficult to think that a musician in their jobs do not want to show "musicality" under the guise of imposing greater technical difficulty. In my opinion the Chopin etudes, they should not be used for that purpose because it blurs the essence of it.

[hellboyreloaded]

@Marcelo721 I recommend you to read "The art of Piano Playing" By Heinrich Neuhaus, There is a part where he talk about Godowsky (his teacher) and say why he did this modifications. He arranged this as a teacher, not as a musician per se.

[addeex1]

@Marcelo721 You still got the original etudes here, right?? I just think this is interesting.

[gsarci2011]

why the blurs? can you upload a better one of this?

[dave8ization]

To me this song is silly...I don't care how hard it is... the Chopin with two hands sounds so much better.

[PAGANlNl]

I couldn't play this even if I had 4 hands O.o

[MrStrav81]

I think the video gave me a seizure.

[MrDesperateArtist]

fuck! why the piece is to be blurred?

[rachman1noff]

C'mon - it's not the HARDEST thing... ;)

[RediForKing]

How?

Left hand alone?

HOW?

[mrficho097]

@RediForKing It's modified

[xtfcr7]

@RediForKing Look at the score on ISMLP. The thing with left hand transcriptions is that the hand is constantly shifting to create a two-hand effect (similar to Thalberg's "three-hand effect").

[charleshoskinson]

The sheet music scares me here

[chutdigadut]

Genius.........

[ijustretired]

Unbelievably difficult yet played with consumate ease and relentless tenacity.

[ollie3003]

fantastic!