F. Chopin - Prelude no. 14 in E-flat minor Op. 28 no. 14 - analysis. Greg Niemczuk's lecture

[@PhilipGarciaReacts]

Wow! Your suspense, curiosity and passion makes this a remarkable analysis!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you Philip!

[@annacerbara4257]

very interesting example of how dynamics can become a theme. 🌿 🎼 🌻

[@richardyu4881]

Very informative analysis again! Thanks for demonstrating the two voices in lower and upper registers. Without this video, I would not even get close to understanding this piece

[@christineberling93]

Wonderful analysis. I learned so much and I definitely hear the piece differently after this. Thank you.

[@gregniemczuk]

So happy to hear that!

[@michelangelovaccaro8191]

Very interesting and thought-of video! I feel like the dynamic emulates the wind howling through semi-closed window during a storm that happened when Chopin was composing

[@gregniemczuk]

It's so possible!!!

[@joannawronska4100]

SO WONDERFUL AS ALWAYS!!!!! Thank you for this great Chopin's Prelude known as "Strach" in an excellent rendition and for your analysis/tutorial, as every day my best regards, have a nice weekend. Joanna

[@seansmart2756]

This looks like another interesting lecture! I’m looking forward to this.

[@gregniemczuk]

Very mysterious Prelude!

[@seansmart2756]

@@gregniemczuk can’t wait! ❤️👍

[@davidhertzberg]

Dark, brooding and mysterious, like the fourth movement (presto) of the second piano sonata.

[@petroglyph888mcgregor2]

To me, 2nd sonata, 4th movement sounds like someone acutely and extremely ill struggling to walk home and stumbling to their bed, finally collapsing there at the final chord. Then this prelude in e flat minor sounds like that same person waking briefly in the early hours, still feeling despairingly sick. Specifically I grew up with Claudio Arrau's slower (less fast) interpretation.

[@ΜιλτιάδηςΒιτσικουνάκης]

Another miracle achieved by both, Chopin and you Mo Niemczuk !!! I am really dazzled by your deep devotion to music and your analytical and creative aspect! Through "soprano" voices of the triplets, haunted flamenco guitar sounds, especially in the two last bars, before the final e-flat, are more than evident in this masterpiece !!! Infinite thanks !!!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!! Yes, FLAMENCO!!!

[@Kindofannoy]

Watched this in music class, and it really opened my eyes to the piece. Really informative video and its so nice seeing someone be so passionate about music! Keep going my guy

[@gregniemczuk]

Hello! How nice!! In what class have you watched it? I'm curious to know. Thank you for your words!

[@Kindofannoy]

@@gregniemczuk Well, we’re focusing on Romance, so basically pieces like this and the history of how they came to be. We’ve been going through different genres all year and recently finished with Classical music. Our teacher had said you explained the workings of this piece really well, and we watched your video to be able to better analyze the genre romance and the works that came with it. I cant disagree with her!

[@gregniemczuk]

@@Kindofannoy it makes me so happy to hear that

[@musinascinema]

Hi! Really interesting lecture! When you were talking about the tempo "Allegro " and the "pesante" marking I inmediately remembered something I read not long ago. It was an edition of the Preludes supervised by Alfredo Casella (composer, pianist and musicologist) that I found on IMSLP. About this prelude he writes: This is a really interesting fact and is showing to us a new way of thinking about this prelude. I wanted to share this with you! I'm enjoying this series. Thank you!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!! I'm so surprised that I don't have this comment in the commentary of my urtext critical edition which I'm using. It should be! It's very interesting!!!!

[@athma75]

molto interessante, grazie

[@franciscopetracco5553]

Wonderful! Amazing video! I would play like this: Short (Upper or lower voice), Short (The opposite voice) and Long (The two voices quarreling and fighting). It makes a lot of sense to me and I like it better than short = lower voice and long = upper voice. Great job! You're a machine, don't understand how can you work this hard! Keep up! ☺️

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you! I'll try also your idea, seems fantastic to me! Thanks for watching! Indeed I'm working hard and a little under the pressure of time but also it makes me happy as I love Chopin!!!

[@joannewiggins8028]

Thanks

[@msagataondine9]

The first few bars remind me of Gluck's "Dance of the Furies," which also suggests the character of the piece.

[@SH_mss9]

Hey greg how are you doing today😊, thank for this big work for explaining all Chopin works, I love Chopin ❤ so much and he is the reason why I started playing piano 🎹. So I’m a self thought but I’m trying to imagine that Chopin is my teacher, that’s why I started learning his Preludes as an Etudes to unlock a new emotion and technique for my piano playing, I learned so far 8 Preludes no2,4,6,7,9,20,13,15 and I always watch your videos about each prelude, and O my god I love your piano playing ❤❤ I always cry😢 listening to it maybe because you’re polish 🇵🇱and you understand Chopin more,that’s why I try always to play it more like you. So thank you so much for everything you did, 🙏🏼 you make me understand my favorite person Chopin more and more. My question is do you think after learning the 8 preludes I mentioned before am I able to play this prelude no 14? Or should I play some easy mazurkas first?

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!! Yes, you are!! But learn it hands separately and don't play it too fast!!!!

[@SH_mss9]

@@gregniemczuk thank you so much master, this absolutely will give me the courage to learn it.

[@charlieinslidell]

The other thing to take into account about this short prelude is that Chopin very much admires Bach's music. This is Chopin taking on Bach's technique and style, with similar interesting progressions and chromatic notes.

[@gregniemczuk]

True! Thanks for pointing this out

[@YonatanSetbon]

hi Grzegorz, where can I find the diary where she talked about what you mentioned ?

[@gregniemczuk]

Hi Yonatan! Can you give me the exact moment in this video when I'm talking about that?

[@YonatanSetbon]

Hi again :) in the section of 5:38 , thanks again! (i'm doing a seminar for op. 28 and it can be a good source for my project) @@gregniemczuk

[@gregniemczuk]

​@@YonatanSetbonof course! The book I quote is only in Polish, but this fragment is another quotation from a book: G.Sand - Histoire de ma vie, Brussels, 1855, vol. XI, pages 90-91 !!! I hope it helps!

[@YonatanSetbon]

​@@gregniemczuk thanks!

[@gidieff4990]

👏👏👏👏🙏🙏

[@jewgienij131]

Być może to jakiś przejaw mrocznych wizji Chopina, lecz bardziej przemawia do mnie, że w tym cyklu testował różne sposoby wyrazu muzycznego oraz techniki gry. Tu mamy "ciemne" unisono, coś co wykorzystał raz w finale drugiej Sonaty. Śodek techniczny, którego nie nadużywał, ale pokazał światu, że ma taki w repertuarze.

[@gregniemczuk]

Tak, myślę, że o to chodziło, aby ukazać w Preludiach różne środki wyrazu.

[@jewgienij131]

@@gregniemczuk Tak sobie myslę, że gdyby Chopin tworzył tylko pod wpływem swej choroby, stanu emocjonalnego, to cały cykl musiałby być mroczny i chorobliwy. Tymczasem tylko część utworów jest taka, a są obok nich i młodzieńczo- radosne, a nawet figlarne. To przypomina Mozarta, który w najcięższych chwilach życia pisał też radosne utwory - tajemnica geniuszu.

[@gregniemczuk]

@@jewgienij131 Tak, choć Mozart miał zupełnie inną sytuację: w jego czasach muzyka nie mogła być mroczna i ponura- było to "zabronione" - miała cieszyć i być rozrywką, stąd tak pisał

[@nanthilrodriguez]

But in Chopin's era of music the hairpins are not dynamics, they are stretching time. There are many instances when he marks diminuendo or crescendo and the hairpin at the same time, and why would he repeat himself? Not to mention the other sources like Mendelson and Brahms who specifically explain that these markings are indications of time interpretation and not volume.

[@gregniemczuk]

I'd say, sometimes they mean time stretch, sometimes the volume. It's never black and white and also differs from one composer to another. Of course I know this theory very well but thank you for pointing it out here!

[@nanthilrodriguez]

@@gregniemczuk it's news to me, I've only encountered it recently. My comment was as much a question, I wonder how this piece would sound with the other approach because this is new to me

[@gregniemczuk]

@@nanthilrodriguez the problem is we will never EXACTLY know how they were doing it back than 😞

[@nanthilrodriguez]

@@gregniemczuk true and sad. I would love to have heard Chopin play