F. Chopin - Prelude no. 2 in A minor Op. 28 no. 2 - analysis. Greg Niemczuk's lecture

[@joannawronska4100]

SO WONDERFUL AS ALWAYS AND IMPORTANT!!!!! Thank you for this dark Chopin's Prelude known as "Przeczucie Śmierci" in an excellent rendition and for your analysis/tutorial, this great video will be helpful for many pianists, again my best regards, have a nice Sunday/happy new week. Joanna

[@nicoleaube4729]

Absolutely brilliant, Greg, thank you. I felt my soul absorbing the music as you explained it.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!

[@laurie7357]

It feels ironic, thinking that Chopin wrote this music because he felt lonely and lost, but it led to so many people feeling less lonely and lost thanks to his music. It literally feels like the presence of a friend who understands. I wonder, if he would have known that he is still warming so many people’s hearts 200 years later, if it would have made the pain more bearable for him... 💔

[@gregniemczuk]

I'm sure it would!

[@correasilvio2010]

I agree for your comentary! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@seansmart2756]

Such a great channel! So glad to have found it. I appreciate the depth of your lectures.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!! Welcome to my musical world!

[@seansmart2756]

@@gregniemczuk Thank you for letting me in! It’s a delight!

[@correasilvio2010]

I like this Chanel! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@PedroStreicher]

In this comment I just wanna thank you, Greg, again and again for this amazing effort that you're doing, and tell how incredible this next 30 days will be for us Chopin lovers since we have the Chopin International Piano Competition and the Preludes Op.28 on this KZbin series. Enjoy everybody.

[@correasilvio2010]

Congratulations for your comentary! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

9:54 also, I don't know if this is just a coincidence but there are a lot of instances in Chopin's Preludes that remind of of the Second Sonata. The 14th Prelude has fast running eighth notes with a lot of chromaticism, like the 4th movement and the left hand of the 16th Prelude is of the same rhythm as the motif that opens the exposition of the first movement (Doppio Movimento). By the way, the tenor plays Dies Irae.

[@richardyu4881]

As you pointed out, this is an extremely sad piece. I envision an old man trudging his way on the very last stretch of his life’s journey. Hardly had any more strength to continue when he saw the end of his journey and his suffering near, which offers him a final moment of relief

[@gregniemczuk]

Very good imagination and description

[@elisabethmartini8222]

It was in the film of Ingmar Bergman with Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman. So well chosen. I recall the look of Ingrid Bergman showing her daughter how it should be played. The mother plays the role of a pianist. Thank you dear Greg for playing what Chopin meant to tell us. Thank you for all your explanations. The name of the film is : Sonate d'automne.......... Lots to say about the music of Chopin and the film of Ingmar Bergman.

[@gregniemczuk]

Beautiful!

[@zehuazhen9747]

In the melody there is “B”which repeats 3 times. I think it‘s like a ball falls on the ground and then bounces

[@Rose-zg9pu]

That theme in the left hand is a very important here. Many of Chopin's contemporaries also use this specific theme in music related to death. In Liszt's Totentanz, Berlioz symphony fantastique (march to the scaffold, performed in 1830 so Chopin probably knew it) and also others (later Rachmaninoff Isle of the dead). The theme comes from the gregorian chant Dies Irae, which centers around death and punishment. It is quoted in another piece too, namely in the Polonaise-fantasy (towards the end).

[@gregniemczuk]

Fantastic, thank you very much!

[@gregniemczuk]

Of course I know Dies Irae but I was not sure that Chopin quoted it here. It's just a short motive but you might be right!

[@Rose-zg9pu]

@@gregniemczuk I'm ofcourse not sure either. But it seems strange to me if chopin had written it unkowingly.

[@correasilvio2010]

I agree your comentary! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@vincent-ataramaniko]

Also the 3rd movement of the Sonata op 35 :) !

😍💪🎹 good job! thanks

[@sevenheart7353]

Following🤩

[@mariaawaria6123]

dziękujemy..

[@WoutDC]

Thanks for this video! Enjoyed the video on the first prelude a lot as well, very informative! Quick question: the book you use wich has this table on what preludes were written in Mallorca, do you know if there is an English version of this book available?

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes ! Mieczysław Tomaszewski - Chopin, a Man, his work and resonance.

[@WoutDC]

@@gregniemczuk thanks! Will try to get it!

[@correasilvio2010]

Congratulations for excelent explanation! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@fernfunk]

Wonderful! Please watch the movie ‘Autumn Sonata’ (from the 70s with an older Ingrid Bergman in it)- this piece has a very large role in it and was the first time I heard it. I couldn’t believe it was Chopin!

[@vcliburn]

You paint a very dark, dreary, but REALISTIC picture of Chopin's mental & physical state when he wrote this short Prelude...riding in a horse-driven coach in the dark and chilly rain...in Majorca.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you so much for watching.

[@correasilvio2010]

Excelent explanation! My personal interpretation this Chopin Preludes kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKjUiJuAlKh7iaM

[@ΜιλτιάδηςΒιτσικουνάκης]

This sadness matches the Ukrainian issue. Unfortunately, unwilling forces urge the Ukrainian people, either to a desperate struggle or to exile. I was so mistaken, dear Maestro, when i initially referred to Study Op10, No 12. As the time goes by, i can realize that "uneven" and "dissonant" events will exclusively prevail on the international horizon. This sad prelude is also included in Bergman's "Autumn Sonata", a film created in 1978. On the occasion of a family meeting different aspects of life and music are conflicted in a masterly way by the director. Chopin's personal feelings of frustration, come true either through the art of cinema or through the contemporary crisis in Ukraine. Let us wish a rapid solution, as exactly the final a-minor chord does: It finally appears in order to appease sorrow, tears and mourning ... Thank you so much, once again !!!

[@HanzoMX88]

Hi, Greg. I am 100% in agreement with your conclusion about the use of A minor to bring release to the suffering imagined and relayed in this piece, but I arrived at a separate conclusion. I just find the use of the A minor so abrupt of an ending, or rather, the A minor progression that follows. To my ears, it is very reminiscent of the opening of no. 9. Now, I have not examined the relationship between the two keys of the preludes in question relative to the circle of fifths and their proximity, but the very same happens with prelude 18. Prelude 18 ends in the way no. 20 begins. The ending progressions of 2 and 18 are imposed so suddenly, almost with little cohesion to prior themes in the respective works. I have yet to find any threads discussing this, and I am wondering if this is something you, too, have taken note of. Thank you for the analyses.

[@Manfred-nj8vz]

It's interesting that in this somewhat older video of yours you hadn't yet "saw" or - better said - understood and developed the right feeling and understanding for the Allebreve notation. The issue of Chopin and tempo in general, or his metronome marks in particular, should become an issue that every serious Chopin pianist (but also the so-called "Chopin experts", critics and, last but not least, jury members!...) will have to start to think about. Check out, for example, the very interesting article written by Thomas Higgins "Tempo and Character in Chopin" written back in 1973. A must read for every pianist; but pianists, unfortunately, don't bother themselves with musicological research or issues of historical performance or even the most simple matters of... musical notation: "What means Allabreve?" However, I have to confess that there is an interpretation of the Preludes that I find very special and most musical convincing from any other I have heard, although the tempi are in general on the slower side. I'm talking about the recording made by Eric Lu in 2020 (Warner Classics). Have you maybe listened to that? Any opinions about it? For me, the somewhat slower tempo-approach of Lu, works very, very well with that particular piece. Now, if Chopin would be pleased by it, is a totally different matter...

[@ksprenke]

Yes, on his CD (#8), Greg plays this prelude in cut time (nearly twice the tempo used here).

[@virtuosiproducoes2591]

Sorry but I don't think he expressing his feelings on this or any other Prélude because they were composed at the same time and show a variety of moods. The third Prélude, which was written in G major, is a quite happy piece. This also applies to other composers, specially Beethoven. How could he be in anger, when he composed Appassionata Sonata, if he was composing Waldstein at the same time, which is a brilliant piece? That's not how professional composers work, sorry for saying that. They obviously explore the possibilities of keys and Chopin was experimenting a lot with his Préludes, specially the second. Anyway, congratulations for your serious work, it helps many people worldwide.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you! But the Preludes were not all composed at the same time

[@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

11:48 🤣🤣🤣

[@gregniemczuk]

🤪

[@zehuazhen9747]

The left hand sounds really weird 😢

[@jewgienij131]

Musical minimalism.