Chopin, Prelude, opus 28 #5, D major, Piano Solo

FAQ

Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this piece?
A: You can get a free PDF of the piece here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/chopre5.pdf

Q: The piece is marked "Allegro molto" --- how come you play it so slow?
A: It seemed too beautiful to me to just rush through it.

Q: Is there a way I could make the bar-graph scores myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: Please refer to this:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMRequests.html

Q: Please tell me more about the composer.
A: You can read about the composer here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopin

Q: What instrument are you playing?
A: This is the Acoustica Pianissimo piano, played by me through Tapper, my implementation of the conductor program:
http://www.musanim.com/tapper/

Q: What do the colors in the bar-graph score mean?
A: The colors indicate the "pitch class" of the notes; that is, every A is a certain color (blue), every B is a certain color (olive green), etc. The piece is in the key of A, so there's lots of blue, especially at the beginning and end. The choice of colors is based on the "circle of fifths," which you can read about here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
This method of coloring notes is described more here:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/pfifth.htm
Because this form of coloring reflects tonality, the places where the piece moves into another key are easily visible; here's a picture of the whole piece:
http://www.musanim.com/img/FuerEliseWholePiece.gif
BTW, the colors are more distinct in the high-quality version of the video.
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Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano
• solo
• romantic

[pastromthor]

I'm seriously confused by the tempo chosen for this interpretation. There is a significant dance-like quality to this piece that gets lost in this plodding pace. This is closer to a funerary pace than Molto Allegro.

[smalin]

@pastromthor Yes, you can play this piece like a dance ... but there are other ways to play it, too. In my interpretation, is it more like people having a discussion, asking questions, considering alternatives and, in the end, reaching a conclusion. Chopin doesn't say "play this like a dance," he just says "Allegro molto" --- which is open to interpretation. This is mine.

[pastromthor]

@smalin No offense intended, I'm just curious about your reasoning for the choice. You describe the effect quite well, and that certainly satisfies my curiosity. Like others have said below, the quality of play is very good. It's just that I found it hard to even identify the piece. All that being said, +1.

[smalin]

@pastromthor I don't think I could do it in 500 characters.

[Jaydoggy531]

Heh, do you take requests? It's so unique to see/hear music like this.

[smalin]

see the FAQ

[frits020]

Yes! It's twice too slow... Molto allegro indeed!

[Kentodragon]

I always enjoy your unique interpretations smalin.

[liammccabe05]

Was their music? The colors were so pretty I got distracted o_o

[canikostar99]

fact about me: i am naturally attracted to colorful videos and yours is very interesting to me i really like it :)

[gotbass33727]

Thank you for this.

[TheMagicBolt]

Who needs sex when you have this??