F. Chopin - Ballade no. 3, op. 47 on a 1842 Pleyel (S. El Oufir Pierini)

Fryderyk Chopin - Ballade in A flat major, op. 47
Performed as a part of the Preselection process for the First International Chopin Competition on Period Instrument (I Międzynarodowy Konkurs Chopinowski na Instrumentach Historycznych), Warsaw 2018.
Performer: Simone El Oufir Pierini
Instrument: Pleyel Petit Patron, dated August 1842 (vide Pleyel archives). Serial number 9615.
Tuning: 435 Hz
Performed at Scuola Alto Perfezionamento Musicale, Saluzzo, Italy, April 22nd, 2018.
Video recording made by Filippo Vallegra.

[@robertdierdorf484]

I love the intimacy of the sound and the interpretation. Granted the power of modern pianos, most pianists interpret this piece bombastically. Chopin’s music, even at its fullest, should have a bit of lightness and clarity. I was mentally criticizing another KZbin video of this piece, thinking the pedaling was not clear. It hit me that part of the problem is the modern piano. Even with good pedaling, there is a bit of ring after the damper drops that, for bass notes, obscures the clarity of fast passage work. This performance had all of that lovely left hand work, especially in the C# minor section, like a string of pearls. Thank you for posting this. It is a revelation for most listeners.

[@simonepierini96]

Robert Dierdorf thank you so much for your kind words!

[@jacquelinewilkinson4849]

It is wonderful to hear the sound Chopin envisaged when he composed this Ballade. The bass is so clear and the high notes are really sweet sounding and have a bell-like quality.

[@jorgeandrade20]

I'm so glad I came across this video, this is a feast for the eyes and the ears! ;) I can now understand why Pleyel were Chopin's favorite brand of pianos, and I also noticed that I was totally born in the wrong era.

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

Finally a Pleyel with an appropriately mellow sound! And I am quite sure it is not merely the room's acoustics. Was the felt on the hammers made from rabbit?

[@simonepierini96]

CaradhrasAiguo49 yes! The hammers have been restored using rabbit felt.

[@PickleToothpaste]

I've had a devastating anxiety attack not long ago and Victorian music helps me to forget all the worries

[@finderrio]

hope you've gotten better since then :)

[@kyrvhy]

I much prefer the A435 tuning here. More Accurate to the period and makes the piano sound wonderfully colorful. Lovely playing on the Rabbit Felt hammers. This is how the instrument was supposed to sound, even with the copper wound base strings. Wonderful. This young man Knows how to play this piano.

[@frankmarter6845]

Old pianos fascinate me. You know many people have played them and given enjoyment to myriad people over a long span of time. They have history. New pianos don’t. Old pianos are very individual unlike newer instruments. I can overlook their faults in construction and their simplistic actions with the goal of playing an old piano that has a unique sound and personality. They aren’t perfect and probably never were but they are a part of the history of music performance. I greatly enjoy immersing myself in the period of the piano I am playing. They all have a story to tell. I listen.

[@Wolfganger]

Beautiful, especially with an instrument from the period.

[@karlpersson7329]

Viva polen viva chopin

[@microsoftice6498]

I wonder what makes Pleyel pianos sound so mellow.

[@mariapaolamattolini3234]

Bravo!!

[@AeneasMeier]

beautifully played :)

[@jimc1466]

Excellent performance

[@AB-rb2hk]

Bravissimo. Eccellente esecuzione.

[@gerardvila4685]

This is sublime and excellently played, but I can't help wondering: did that piano sound like that in 1842? Has anyone tried to find out?

[@sunilj2608]

It almost certainly did. This has been restored quite originally, at least it sounds. The echoey acoustics do distort the sound a bit too much for my liking, but in a nice room without superfluous echo, this recording would sound like a portal to the 1850's.

[@JMoura-qj6rr]

Maravilha!!!!Piano e execução!!Bravo!!!

[@245artist]

Excellent playing and I love the sound of this piano! Do you know who restored it and what felt they used for the hammers?

[@ranchoelchamusquito3683]

awesome!

[@aurelbetz2172]

Aurel Betz 0 seconds ago One of the best interpretations I have ever heard ! And I agree he knows how to handle the action. Congrats Simone! The Pleyel could be better, see restored examples of Olivier Fadini, David Winston or Edwin Beunk.

[@jostephenz3260]

The pulse is very choppy. I found myself forgetting the structure after just a few minutes.

[@bobschaaf2549]

Thank god for Erard.

[@marcoperugini5862]

Does this piano have double escape?

[@simonepierini96]

Marco Perugini hello! This Pleyel actually has a simple escape system, which has been used as well on English pianos of the time. If I’m not mistaken, Pleyel started making pianos with double escape system after the 1860s (it is noteworthy to mention that Camille Pleyel died in 1855), while Érard began implementing it in the 1820s already, thanks to its patent no. 4,631.

[@scottweaverphotovideo]

Dedicated to Robert Schumann

[@harryzarick5826]

Ballade 1 plzz

[@andersbarfodsvaneskolan9378]

everything always sound smoother in 435Hz tuning.. This was the standard in France after the commission meeting in 1859 and adopted in the European countries the next 20 years. It was also again verified and detemined at a conference in Vienna 1885 as the best standard to use. The shift to 440Hz in 1939 in Europe is an atrocity.. The brits in 1896 adjusted the French 435Hz to 439Hz due to the claim of hotter concert halls than what the French was using as wind instruments go up on pitch with temperature. In the USA 440Hz was more or less the standard by 1930. But they got it all wrong.. 440-443Hz causes early vocal resonance/register shift at the passaggios. Opera by Puccini and Verdi should be performed at 435Hz not modern 440-443Hz tuning. Just listen to a dramatic tenor such as Pavarotti.. 440Hz is just at the edge,, He can't really go higher or there is too much color/resonance change on his B4 note. Better to go slightly down in pitch.. 437Hz was the highest pitch that Verdi would tolerate for his Otello.. When the brits adjusted the prime 439Hz up to 440Hz they should have gone down to 438Hz which is the real upper limit for heavy dramatic voices. (Quote Prof. Opera singer)

[@spiritualmeditator3850]

What was the tuning back in Chopin's days?

[@andersbarfodsvaneskolan9378]

I am not sure about the pitch that Chopin used.. Or whether he used 12-TET tuning or a Meantone temperament instead. digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1541938715886~9 Link to an article about Chopins piano tuning.. I am more focused on pitch and vocal reproduction of classic masterpieces.. I do believe that pitch is not entirely arbitrary when it comes to the human voice.. 440--443Hz always seem to cause some problems for opera pieces that are written for dramatic voices that has a very wide tessitura. .. I feel it on my own voice.. 441Hz is a drag to sing in.. It is the difference from 435Hz to 440Hz (19.8 cents) that pushes the voice up above it comfy zone when you want to stay connected as you approach the second passaggio. Tuning your A4 to 430.54Hz (C4=256Hz) with 12-TET is dead easy... The C3 to C4 siren for a deep baritone like me (crossing from chest to middle) is dead easy an natural when C4 is 256Hz (speech resonance),, And doing a siren from G3 to a connected G4 (crossing from upper chest to head resonance) is not difficult at all when A4 is placed at 430-432Hz with 12-TET but very difficult and has a weird color (too bright) when A4 is 440-443Hz. An opera singer informed be that A4=438Hz (12-TET) is in fact the highest healthy pitch for dramatic heavy voices.. This fits exactly with my voice (bass baritone)..

[@gerardvila4685]

@@andersbarfodsvaneskolan9378 I don't know either, but I shouldn't think mean-tone is likely with someone like Chopin. Mean-tone implies sticking to a reduced set of keys to avoid the "wolf" interval. He might have been using a "well tempered" tuning, they were typical of the 18th century - a compromise between mean tone and equal tempered, where the different keys still have different "personalities". Most classical musicians seem certain he used ET, but I don't know of any proof. Not that I am an authority, I'm just a guy on the Internet...

[@The_Throngler-tf2]

1.25 sounds good