Chopin, Etude in E-flat Minor, opus 10 no.6, piano solo (animated score)

[JuicyFruityDreamer]

the music is good... but the animation is just AWESOME.

[willrelio2609]

plzplzplzplzplzplzplz more chopin etude!!!!

[hogo1]

I thought you might be the guy to ask smalin, what is the title of the piece that plays at the very beginning of this documentary?

/watch?v=wtMq9iArxp4&list=PL33­6AF5E48324AF66&context=C391080­6ADOEgsToPDskLX6jxQ9ukkxzesTZr­Y4mne

[smalin]

@hogo1 It's the first Chopin nocturne.

[amadeus5889]

First time I've heard this etude: it's sad and beautiful, but that line of music represented by the yellow circles...it's unsettling.

[Nealkohol]

way too fast

[smalin]

@Nealkohol See the FAQ.

[Lisas591]

I just wanted to say that you play beautifull, you can really hear the emotion

[aojarrell]

Mr. Malinowski is fabulous! I just listened to the Heliotrope Bouquet and his Chopin, and for him to evoke such feelings from two extreme ends of the musical spectrum is phenomenal. Thank you for an entertaining evening.

[ionas82]

This is just so lovely and awesome. I listen to it very often. I am a piano noob (I like Scriabin, Wyschnegradsky and others) but this... I can imagine learning this some where in the future... maybe after practicing some more easy Glass pieces first ;-)

[TheAlienLordBaglier]

Sounds like Slayer

[emilamirg]

do you play these songs? kuz if you do.. ur a genious

[littleasshole26]

Whats your oldest video?

[smalin]

@littleasshole26 I made the first scrolling score video in 1985, on the Atari 800. It's posted on YouTube.

[rachel02raquel]

@smalin You, sir, are great at making videos. Please continue the good work. :)

[FugitivesOfSorrow]

i love listing to every thing,i'v seen alot of you're videos,and,this may sound stupid...but i also like watching the dots....

[Milky1944]

@FugitivesOfSorrow we all like watching the dots :D

[FugitivesOfSorrow]

@Milky1944 :D hehe lol

[LightflowFox]

If you ever made this into some sort of DVD I'd buy it. I love these videos.

[smalin]

@LightflowFox I made a DVD (see my website), but it was a long time ago, and the quality isn't as good as the Cerizmo downloads I'm offering now ...

[LightflowFox]

@smalin Well I know what to ask my husband for my birthday, and what to point my library to. :) I checked their database and they don't have it yet. I don't really have a computer capable of downloading from Cerizmo and I've loved playing these videos for my daughter for a long time now and it helped so much to deepen my husband's understanding of music (I only have a minor but there were times it was like speaking another language to him.) Thank you.

[EpsilonEnsis]

this is the only rendition i like. all the others are incorrigibly slow.

[PianoBart958]

way too fast...

[smalin]

@PianoBart958 I'm playing it slower than Chopin's metronome marking indicates.

[PianoBart958]

@smalin And you have the original piece, written by chopin himself?...

[smalin]

@PianoBart958 I don't have the original manuscript, but I use an edition that was made from it.

[racehellish]

I really love your subtle color choices. It really makes the music and animation come together. Beautiful aesthetically and musically. :)

[Eiltis]

how did you do the video? what program makes the awesome graphic

[smalin]

@Eiltis see my web site ...

[sargentmajor]

I saw you also learned opus 10 no 7. How long did it take you to learn each of them? Also, can you play any of the others? They're really nice etudes, but generally not commonly played//played first.

[smalin]

@sargentmajor I've played all the etudes; the question is: how well?

[sargentmajor]

@smalin Have you played any of the ballades or scherzos?

[smalin]

@sargentmajor I've played through just about everything Chopin wrote at least once. I worked seriously on one of the ballades and one of the scherzi in my youth.

[elizabethannwolfe1]

@smalin I think you play very well : )

[fredjmsuddenlink]

I know nothing about classical music, but I LOVE it! I found your site by accident and started listening to every piece, and now I can't seem to get enough.You have made a good change in my life. I would like to play piano but i fear I am too old (55) to begin. Nonetheless, I will never enjoy any other music as much as this, Thank you very much for sharing!!

[Urza26]

@fredjmsuddenlink well... why not? As long as you don't really overexert yourself... I think if you enjoy it, go on ahead! Age shouldn't be a barrier to learning new things! :)

[elliottharbo]

that is so beutiful. the music and the dotted lines

[malignite13]

I love this video, as well as the speed of the song. After listening to other (slower) interpretations, this one really captures the frantic uncertainty of overwhelming disaster, or perhaps the despair of inevitable choice in the face of unavoidable progression.

[MusicIsPeace4ever]

touching...

[MTheoryGuy]

This is brilliant. Don't give in to the romantics, you played this piece much faster than anyone else on youtube and the result was an original and beautiful interpretation. Interpretation, there is no such thing as wrong.

[s0fii66]

very nice videos smalin I like these ones with the circles =)

[Darean51]

I like to play this one very slow and very emotionally, almost in a beethoven like way, this is painfully fast for me. This is not a showpiece, its more

[smalin]

@Darean51 Well, you're in disagreement with Chopin, then; he marked this as dotted-quarter=69, which is substantially faster than I'm playing it here.

[Darean51]

@smalin

I think that the interpretation of piano pieces shouldnt be about strict accuracy to composer or aspiration to perfection, it should be about finding new emotional, stylistic and experimental creations from great material (what i would call "arcs") also it is about finding new purposes for piano music, and to connect to people, and the obsession with accuracy rather than meaning new AND old is Destructive.

Music means nothing on its own and with how we treat it, it soon will be

[smalin]

@Darean51 Your original comment, "... This is not a showpiece..." suggested that you thought you knew the right way to play this piece and that I was missing that. As long as you acknowledge that the way you like it isn't the way Chopin intended it and that the way I play it is just as valid as your way, I have no problem.

[Darean51]

@smalin

I meant by "...This is not a showpiece..." that the music really really doesnt lend itself to that kind of treatment and bringing it up to that tempo almost seemed like an attempt to do that, I didnt remember the exact tempo marking and I see that you are simply going for acccuracy, and of course I know my preferences differ to composers but the reality is its just a decision made by a person long ago, its not a law of the world, Yes I respect these men but I want to find my own way

[anteupper]

A very interesting alternative for children just starting out (of course we'll always need

"the dots"). Thank you.

[trvrchz]

chopin was quite extraordinary

[miles305678]

I love your videos, and classical music. I was thinking of getting your software, but I wantedd to ask if it can be linked to a Keyboard? or do have to transfer the midi files first? If so I will have to find a midi transfer cable.

[smalin]

@miles305678 The software is free, and there's nothing you need to get to start using it (assuming you're running Windows XP).

[miles305678]

@smalin Thanks for the reply, got the program and loving it :D thanks :)

[Cynthia95ish]

Thanks to you, I'm actually getting a "feel" for classical music even though I don't know anything technical about it; but just listening to this one and comparing it to other pieces, I think Chopin was a little "out to lunch" on this one; like he's "reaching" for something - like styling, or something - duhhh :)

[CreateWorlds]

This is so beautiful.

[patriarca888]

es muy dificil que vuelva a surgir musica y compositores, como esta ya todo es musica hecha por los medios y comercial

[Avusmalus]

@patriarca888 si lastimosa mente es asi...

[tazman1066]

Do the Raindrop Prelude next! I'd love to see that, with your software! :)

[smalin]

@tazman1066 see the "could you please" in the FAQ

[tazman1066]

@smalin awww hahaa

[franielee38]

Any way Chopin can be intrepreted is fine with me! Bravo!

[PolyphonicSeduction]

I love the clarity of this interpretation. Everything is clear and it's beautiful. Love it.

[Theodosius3308]

Too fast for me, i don't like this interpretation !

[smalin]

@Theodosius3308 I'm playing it slower than Chopin's metronome marking indicates.

[epiplp6]

@smalin I don't know if you feel the same way, but Chopin seems to enjoy playing pieces a little faster than need be in order to fully develop the right emotion

[savage1537]

@Theodosius3308 Then I think you got too used to people playing it slow. I think this is a great interpretation

[shizohal]

You always choose great music, and I always enjoy the performances.

[7papaverirossi]

un bel sogno colorato. !!!

[kicikicikot]

Pięknie.

[JohnFLupin]

verry verry nice my good man

[arivera3426]

If only Chopin was still alive today...

[capncoolio]

Yeah, I cried.

Shit.

[fuzzybeard2016]

The imagery is wonderfully abstract! The software you're using is marvelous! *gushing*

[123pelerin]

@fuzzybeard2016 - i think he invented the software

[smalin]

@123pelerin I don't know whether I invented it ... but I wrote it.

[MatchbookD70]

I really like how the circles now have fading according to volume. This made a big difference for me in seeing the circles as living the music and matching the mood. I think the size of the circles should be according to volume, though, do you not think so? It is strange to sometimes see two circles the size of silver dollars coming up, and the brain expects a loud punch, but it's usually soft and long.

[jascar88]

Beautiful. I ended up liking the tempo more than I thought I would. I wish the sixteenths could be more blurred/blended. It's a dry pedal effect.

[smalin]

@jascar88 I feel the same way about the 16ths. However, Chopin didn't put any pedal markings in this etude, and since most of the other etudes do have pedal markings, I'm assuming this means he intended the legato (his writes "sempre legatissimo" at the beginning, and then, later, as if he forgot, "sempre legato" later, and then, later, "legato") to come from the fingers (and that that's the point of the etude). So, I just gotta keep working on it ...

[jascar88]

@smalin More like "in case WE forgot." The Piano Society Study Guide agrees with you: "... the metronome marking is 69 and not 60 as appears in some editions. This will seem quite fast, but it is intended as a slow two, rather than a slow six... Once again, this étude must be played without pedal and is a real test of the ability to play legato and legatissimo in both hands.

[evaengineer]

GAH! Not possible! It requires 3 hands! *explodes

[smalin]

@evaengineer The middle line is played by one hand or the other, depending on which is closer and has the most fingers free.

[newpepsipopup]

i'm kinda overwhelmed by the circles. I can't see the differences between colors as well as I can see them with the bars

[19bluesman87]

Stephan, you are great

[Xolin11]

Will you be uploading opus 10 no.3 soon?

[smalin]

@Xolin11 Probably not soon ... but eventually.

[usenetposts]

It looks like musical DNA.

[florka29]

music is part of our DNA

[wollin20]

@usenetposts Excellent comment! And just like DNA, the result is far more impressive than the code itself!

[eskimopie155]

that was beautiful, and the circles add a certain grace that doesn't come with the bars. @bachaddict i definitely agree that the bars are more of an organ sound, or even the sound of a faster, clean-cut classical piano sonata with lots of runs.

[TheCrypticPie]

I like this channel just for the great music. Visuals can be nice but the music is just awesome. Big thanks to smalin.

[bachaddict]

i think the Circles suit the sound of the piano, they somehow match it. the Bars would be the organ sound then :)

[ultracoolhomies]

I love the last note. There's hope.

[gre2g]

BRAVO !!!!

[Hazelrat10]

This piece looks (and sounds) like a nightmare.

[smalin]

@MrJohnPax Still, it makes you wonder: what did Chopin have in mind?

[zrien]

thank you

[smalin]

@MrJohnPax (re: "fast" ... see the FAQ)