F. Chopin - Prelude no. 24 in D minor Op. 28 no. 24 - analysis. Greg Niemczuk's lecture

[@helloxyz]

the left hand deserves more analysis. It is a unique form for Chopin, both in its unwavering shape and its repetition. Much more than just the background to what is happening in the foreground, it is its own story, a relentless, unstoppable force that eats away at anything that is going on in the right hand, finally consuming the superficial emotions of the lightweight in those dread three notes, drowning them, even, as they are played below the level of the 5-note arpeggio. Those 5 notes create a special effect, completely the opposite of Chopin's normal arpeggios, which delight in opening the hand and experimenting with every possible musical harmony. The effect combines the menace he wishes to portray precisely because it is not completed with a 6th, like an engine that doesn't start but is constantly tried, or a mastiff barking but that doesn't bite.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you for enriching this video with your precious comment.

[@nicoleaube4729]

Thank you, it means so much to me. I could barely hear you playing because I was crying so hard. I can’t wait to learn this piece.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you for this sincere comment. Good luck,!

[@MyPianoArchives]

These type of analysis’ make the music that much more interesting. Thank you, the history is just as important as the music we are listening to. That’s because it wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the stories that lie between the notes and silence. Thank you again, for such a wonderful translation and explanation!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you so much for watching and for your words!

[@vanewfies]

Fabulous interpretation and execution! I never had such a musical experience with this prelude. Thank you so much. I can't wait for your recordings and I'd love to hear you in a live concert in Milan.

[@gregniemczuk]

I hope it will be possible soon. Thank you so much!

[@465painkiller465]

I misread the title and until you played the piece thought you were talking about op 28 no 4. Imagine my surprise when you started playing. It was my first time hearing this prelude and I very much enjoyed it. Hearing you talk about the music always makes the listening experience very emotional. Cheers

[@gregniemczuk]

Wow!!! Hahahahah, I can't even imagine the shock! You're invited to watch other videos as well!! Best wishes, Greg

[@pedroajanel4597]

Great content! Thanks for sharing and translating for us! Greetings from Guatemala, Central América 🙏

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!!! Wow, I have never been there!

[@pierpaolaporqueddu8992]

Grazie infinite per questa meravigliosa narrazione dei preludi! Emozionante, profonda, entusiasmante e originale.

[@gregniemczuk]

Grazie mille!

[@michelangelovaccaro8191]

Fantastic narration! This prelude felt so heavy even before but now it’s perfectly clear why it is like so. Before I knew it like the “Tempest” prelude and connected it wrongly to the Raindrop prelude . Whit this video I’ve watched all the videos concerning preludes and I love them so much now while before I listend to them little. Hope by now you already recorded this prelude because I would really love to hear your final interpretation of it!!

[@lionplaypiano]

grand merci pour ce que vous avez fait.

[@soninukakaps3490]

I am so impressed by watching this video. The sight that I listen this prelude or other chopin's songs is changed when I watch your analysis. Thank you for changing my skill how to listen classical music and how to interpret composer's intention in the work.

[@dharmilsoni00]

Wonderful video man really felt touched with one ❤

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!

[@joannawronska4100]

SO WONDERFUL AS ALWAYS, MAESTRO!!!!! Thank you for my favourite Chopin's Prelude known as "Burza" 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 evening. Joanna

[@fredrickarnstein9419]

Thank you! The story of what Chopin was experiencing at the time he wrote this is something I knew nothing about and it makes a huge difference in my own experience of this prelude. Of course, as you say, the piece speaks for itself; it needs no explanation. Yet knowing how Chopin was feeling and your discussion of the prelude's structure makes it doubly profound for me. You've created a wonderful series, these explorations of all the preludes. I didn't agree with many of your interpretations, but that doesn't matter. Each unit provokes me to pay more attention, to experience more fully, these wonderful pieces.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you so much! Yes, it completely doesn't matter and anyone can have their own interpretation. The idea of this series was to be subjective but also based on the score. I'm so happy that it can be interesting and enriching for others. Best regards from Poland

[@hmandellhmandell6592]

Wow when you open the prelude there, your left hand is amazing I have no words at your execution

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you! I appreciate it

[@christophejavon3509]

Thank you so much for your passion and dedication and bravo! I was just brushing up on prelude no 24 and definitely your lecture helps me a lot! Will incorporate your ideas. Also I had not learned no 23 and was exploring that trill left hand knowing it is a difficulty of that piece. After watching your lecture on no 23, everything clicked and I will perform 23-24 as a set now. I agree with you such concentrated poetry, playing all the 24 preludes as a set may be too much, but they are very effective in groups. Good luck with continuation of your project!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you so much! Good luck with the whole opus. It's always a challenge!

[@finnianreilly1831]

I have been really looking forward to Greg's analysis of this piece ever since I first encountered it during the summer of 2021. It really blew me away the first time I heard it. Greg's analysis was very insightful and in-depth on this amazing piece of music, offering much to think about. Thank you Greg ! I like Greg's interpretation of the piece but he gave me a little surprise at the end with his interpretation of the dynamics of the last few bars. This was because I got used to listening to Ivo Pogorelich's version, where his final crescendo is very subtle, in fact I am wondering if Ivo even paid attention to the crescendo indication. Also with Grigory Sokolov, he plays the final few bar with only a slight crescendo relative to the start. Since Chopin did not specify an absolute indication f, or ff or fff etc, I guess there is much room for interpretation.

[@Счастливыйшанс.АААл-Анон]

Thank you !

[@batuhankaya5837]

That is incredible ❤️🥺

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you

[@hsw5878]

Phenomenal series on the Preludes, Greg. I really enjoyed your perspective on the pieces, as well as the historical background that you provide.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you very much! You're invited to watch also other videos. Best wishes!

[@NN-rn1oz]

Thank you again for such a great series! You have boosted my interest in Chopin's music, which was already high to begin with! Regarding the debate of whether the Op.28 is a cycle, I recently learned that there is a book by Anatole Leikin (2015) titled The Mystery of Chopin's Preludes, entirely dedicated to discussing the Op.28, including a discussion about the hypothesis of a cohesive cycle. I have not read it yet, but the reviews I found speak highly of it. Perhaps you know about that book? In any case, I look forward to listening to your recordings!

[@HPYB]

Thank you Greg!

[@CyrusandAurelius]

Thank you so much. I enjoy all your short lectures on the backgrounds! I try to use your thoughts for my own playing of this prelude. Your current etudes series is a wonderful new year gift!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!!

[@cristiandone5749]

what a class Greg. Thank you

[@gregniemczuk]

Thanks!

[@tsangmingki5592]

Greatest song by Greg Niemczuk's pianist

[@tsangmingki5592]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@davidraffe3445]

Great video. Thank you. I looked this up as i just started learning this fantastic piece of music. I was looking keenly for your timing of the right hand A melodic minor scale against the potential left hand collision. My music shows the right hand waiting until the left hand is out of the way. I don't think that was intended by Chopin. I prefer the way you play the hands together (same as most other recordings i have listened to). Thanks for your help clarifying this!! I always thought the repeated low D notes at the end were bells tolling for relatives/friends he was concerned may have perished.

[@sxdash9666]

I dont know why , this prelude reminds me the scriabin Etude op 8 no 12. The tragic sound. Thanks for your work Greg you're the best !

[@Manfred-nj8vz]

24:24 Sixth last bar of the prelude: Why almost every pianist I've heard, including you here, doesn't get the two pairs of quintuplets right? Why almost every pianist out there (please double-check) plays first six (!) and then only four (!) chords? You can hear lots of pianists in Chopin Competition who play the bar that way, and of course many 'great' pianists who play it also the same. Is there any "secret"? Two exceptions I have found are András Schiff and Mikhail Pletnev. That means there's no textual problem whatsoever. Chopin's manuscript is clear as well as the editions of the score we have. So, I am asking again: What's the matter with all famous and less famous pianists, who don't play this bar the way Chopin wrote it?

[@gregniemczuk]

Strange.... I thought I'm playing 5 + 5 but you see , there is a stretto. That means it should not be played mathematically 100% correctly. Give it some freedom in stretto making. Don't think about Chopin's music as Beethoven's. It's a romantic period. Look at Schumann or Berlioz, not to mention Liszt... 5+5 with stretto means we cannot count. It's just the expression for the extreme emotions

[@Manfred-nj8vz]

@@gregniemczuk Yes, but does stretto mean that we are allowed to extend one harmony (6 chords instead of 5) and reduce another (4 instead of 5)? The answer is: No. Stretto doesn't give performers any license whatsoever for such textual changes. And that has nothing to do with the composer whom we play (Beethoven or Chopin). The «expression for the extreme emotions», as you've said (and I heartily agree with that), is exactly expressed through the instability of Chopin's notation, i.e. the quintuplets with the stretto together. If we assume that our "hero" is facing death, then yes, his heartbeat in that bar exactly before his death is anything but stable. This extreme situation is expressed through Chopin's well judged notation 5 + 5. If, now, the performer changes that and plays instead 6 + 4, then we loose completely Chopin's extreme emotional thoughts and we play something that is a) too conventional and b) has nothing to do with Chopin's text. I am very surprised indeed that actually every performer of this piece does exactly and "consistently" this particular mistake.

[@gregniemczuk]

@@Manfred-nj8vzI agree with you!!! I'm 100% sure I play 5 + 5 with accelerando. Can you listen to my studio recording on Spotify and let me know what you think? open.spotify.com/track/0spmFcxlt0ZrTTaMig9jYO?si=8Xae8bWCQzqwX-VGsdRvjA

[@gregniemczuk]

open.spotify.com/track/0spmFcxlt0ZrTTaMig9jYO?si=8Xae8bWCQzqwX-VGsdRvjA

[@Manfred-nj8vz]

@@gregniemczuk It's nice that we agree. I have already listened to your recording of the Preludes not only on Spotify but here also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn_YoYGXiqycrKM On YT you can reduce the speed and therefore you can listen very clearly what every pianist plays. In your recording I hear again very clear 6 + 4 (the 6 chords being divided quasi as 2 + 2 + 2) and then I hear again only 4 chords. I hope you'll agree on that. As for the stretto/accelerando on that very bar, I'm afraid that I don't hear any increase of speed. Am I wrong? Please, I don't want to be critical or anything like that, believe me. But since you've asked me, I have to express my opinion sincerely. That being said, I by no means mean that a recording is to be "damned" because of that mistake. Nevertheless, I keep asking myself why almost every pianist I've heard (with just two exceptions, as I mentioned earlier) plays this bar simply wrongly. You can also watch another very interesting video called «Garrick Ohlsson Breaks Down Chopin Preludes | Ep. 1 The Chopin Podcast», where Ohlsson plays live that particular bar (also wrongly!) and beneath the screen we can read the score with its beautiful... quintuplets! There is also a comment written by myself on that video, which still waits patiently for any kind of reply...

[@Noracfxwc]

Perfect!

[@erggish]

:p I always had in my mind that preludes were supposed to warm the hands for the specific key, but then again there are many modulations going on in such a short amount of time...

[@OziCastle]

May I ask what your favourite prelude is? Mine is this

[@gregniemczuk]

B-major and F-major

[@Chopinetto]

Congratulations for the series! Any plans to review the #25 from the op. 45?

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes! On Sunday!

[@Chopinetto]

@@gregniemczuk excellent! Thank you! You need to rest of all these hardwork!

[@finnianreilly1831]

Listening to this piece does not make me feel sad. Perhaps I tune in more to the heroic or stoic aspect, and just admire the noble solemn beauty. We all eventually die, so a minor chord at the end is fitting. Perhaps the song is a metaphor for the journey through life. We start off in full vigor, energy and health and as we grow older, we become physically less robust, but gaining in wisdom, empathy and appreciation of life until eventually we die.

[@gregniemczuk]

Beautiful words. Thank you so much!

[@LeeLinTao]

Hi maestro, recently I came across maestro Fou Ts'ong's master class about whole set of Chopin's preludes. For this prelude, he mentioned the appearance of fifth D-A-F-D-A and it is connected with how the first prelude starts with C-G-E-C-G and I realised that the rhythm is quite similar to the rhythm of the beginning left hand part of prelude in d minor. This is interesting in my opinion and maybe it is another evidence that Chopin thought the prelude as a whole.

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes, it's very interesting and very possible!

[@KlausDave]

It looks so easy when you playing this prelude…and it is skill level 9

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you!!! Well, I'm a concert pianist and I started playing piano at the age of 7. It must work like that 😊

[@richardpl4426]

the notes you cited were written in 1831, and the preludes were created from 1835-1839. I don't think it has a direct connection. Perhaps as a memory of those tragic times...

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes, you're of course right but we have no proof that this Prelude was written exactly in those years.... He could have this theme in his head already earlier.. who knows ..... It's very powerful anyways

[@richardpl4426]

@@gregniemczuk I'm agree. If it weren't for this dark page of Chopin's life, we might never have heard this masterpiece.

[@lilyoy7942]

We are still combatting misinformation about Chopin leaving Poland. The Oxford Companion to Music, from one of the most prestigious universities, claims that: "Although he clearly drew much of his inspiration from a private, idealized image of Poland, Chopin found his way of life in Paris congenial and soon put to the back of his mind any thoughts of returning to his homeland." This theory was also being perpetuated by the spokesman of the Chopin Institute, Aleksander Laskowski. This is clearly false considering the Stuttgart diary. The sources of this entry also look really bad, all the sources used were by the author of the entry himself, except for one source about Chopin's sex life. I was at a masterclass with a Russian pianist who almost refused to admit that Chopin was from Poland. He said: "This is the most Beethovenesque piece that Chopin has ever written. But Chopin isn't Beethoven; he was half French, half----Eastern European." There was a very long pause before he finally said "Eastern European." He had to eventually admit that Chopin is Polish when he made an attempt to prove that Chopin did not believe in God. Maybe the breakout of the Ukrainian Conflict with Russia will open the eyes of the West to the atrocities of Russia. Chopin's piano was destroyed by the Muscovites after he left Poland.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you for these important words. Yes I made this series of all Chopin's music also for that. To fight with misinformation and to tell the truth!!!

[@keegansimyh]

I think it is interesting that this is the only piece published non-posthumously by Chopin in D minor. I wonder if he just didn't like it or there is some other reason why it was reserved for this piece?

[@gregniemczuk]

Definitely very interesting!! Indeed he seemed not to like this key. Nobody knows why.

[@miposar2784]

das Wollen ist da, nur das Können fehlt ..

[@jamesbearbear]

This piece ... I can't help thinking of Ukraine. History is always repeating itself. That's the feeling of ... homeland is on fire. 🙁

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes...... When I was recording this, the world was different.....

[@wendywong3871]

What a sad Prelude to analyse Maestro. Must be even harder because you are Polish. The Nationalistic pain can be felt.

[@gregniemczuk]

Yes indeed!

[@MsTwiggy28]

Oh my god you're so good 😍 thank you for taking the time to do this