#d-flat major

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Dmitri Shostakovich:  Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in D-flat Major from 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87. Performed on piano by Keith Jarrett, who rose to fame primarily as a jazz pianist.

This prelude and fugue is perhaps one of the most celebrated of the set. The prelude is a brief waltz that resembles the sparse style of Prokofiev's late period waltzes (e.g. Waltz Suite, Op. 110).

The following fugue is a chaotic perpetuum mobile that is just barely held together and kept "tonal" (the subject uses 11 of the 12 tones in the chromatic scale) by the fugal form itself. There is a brief, measure-long quotation from the preceding waltz prelude halfway through the fugue. The voices gradually converge into a syncopated cadence over the forward moving subject in the bass, which makes for an exhilarating, if rather grotesque (in the literary sense), piece of music. 

[polishclassicalcomposer]

Carl Czerny: Etude Op. 299. No. 39. in D-flat major

I'm playing this piece at the moment for my piano teacher, i could record my performance someday.

[schoolofpiano]

Chopin Prelude in D-flat Major, Op. 28, No. 15 "Raindrop"

Someone submitted their recording of Chopin's Raindrop Prelude for some feedback on their interpretation. Thanks for your submission! The link to hear this recording is right here.

For those who do not have a score, you can download the complete Chopin preludes here and scroll down to prelude 15. As with the last post, I recommend the Mikuli edition.

First of all, I'd like to say this recording is great! You are very sensitive in your playing, and you have a lot of great ideas in your interpretation. I think I'll start by giving a bit of my interpretation of the piece itself, and then I'll talk about how yours relates. Some of this may be obvious to you, so please don't think I'm "talking down" to you. I just want to make sure that non-musicians can find this post accessible as well!

The piece is called the "Raindrop Prelude" because of the repeated A-flat throughout the piece:

This repeated note is thought to represent the patter of raindrops. I should mention Chopin did not want to think of his music as being "imitative" of sounds, but rather a musical translation of nature. So this was not meant to sound like actual raindrops, but instead was meant to give the emotion and idea of rain to the listener. This is of course speculative. By all accounts, Chopin was definitely not in this world when he composed. He often entered a trance-like state. I'm not sure if he was on drugs or what, but he was definitely in another place.

The beauty and appeal of this piece, to me, is that it demonstrates the power of our perception. The "rain" continues throughout the piece, but it is really just the background. At first, it is a gentle, peaceful rain. However, Chopin changes the key signature in the middle of the piece, and the repeated A-flat becomes a G-sharp (which is the exact same piano key, just notated differently):

This same note suddenly sounds full of despair and loneliness. So really, the piece isn't about the rain, it's about what's inside the mind and heart of the listener. Everything around the "rain" changes the emotion, and that's what creates the beauty of the piece. The rain is the only thing that doesn't change.

That being said, there is a great deal of importance placed on the melody and phrasing. To give an effective performance of this piece, the phrases must really speak to the listener. What does this mean? Well, just like when you speak English, you shape how you talk. You breathe between sentences, you vary your volume, you may speak faster or slower (depending on what you are conveying), you may enunciate certain important words, etc. In music, even though we're always playing the same notes, we have several expressive things we can do to make our performances come alive.

Okay, back to the recording (now I'm speaking directly to the anonymous musician who submitted it!). I really appreciate how you handle the A-flat/G-sharp throughout the piece. You created a great blend in the background, and also, you kept the rhythm consistent. I hear a lot of people play this prelude who use too much rubato in the "raindrop" aspect (slowing down and speeding up), which I don't think makes sense. As I mention before, I think the constant and unchanging "rain" is what makes this piece effective. Particularly where Chopin slurs the two notes together:

People have a tendency to slow way down on these two notes, and make them into a little melody. They also do this every time it comes back in the piece, which makes it very predictable. You only did this on the last time this motive came back, where Chopin actually tells us to by writing slentando (at least in the Mikuli edition). It was very tasteful and well-executed!

So back to the phrasing. This piece has really long phrases, which makes it difficult to manage. For example, the first phrase spans eight measures! So I would recommend dividing things into subphrases, and going from there. Find a high point in each subphrase, and use some type of expressive tool to highlight the peak. You have a natural sense of the music, and you are already doing some very expressive things. I think you should follow your instincts more, and exaggerate your ideas. Also, if you plan out your phrasing more, you can create a much clearer interpretation.

Some typical ways to highlight the high points of phrases are to vary dynamics (volume), to stretch or compress the timing of notes with rubato (to alter the speed), to accent or articulate notes differently, and to use the pedal expressively. To help better illustrate my point, I'll go through how I would play the first phrase. Keep in mind, this is just my interpretation, and there are many possibilities. There is not one correct answer to how this should be played. Here's the first phrase:

Looking at this long phrase, I would have to find the first subphrase to work with. I hear this as the first subphrase, with the G-flat as the peak of the phrase:

To shape it, I would build the dynamic from the A-flat up to the G-flat. I would play the F and G-flat slightly slower to highlight the peak. Then, I would do a subito piano, and taper off the end of the phrase. Here's a crude representation of what I just said:

The next part of the bigger phrase serves as a transition back to the original theme. I would use it to crescendo back to a louder dynamic. Also, be sure not to rush this septuplet:

You could also slightly slow down the last four notes of this melody, to let the listener know they are about to hear something significant (the main theme again).

As the last subphrase comes to an end, make sure to taper off the ending. This allows the listener to know the phrase has ended, and prepares the start of a new idea. Otherwise, it creates the musical equivalent of a run-on sentence:

When starting the new phrase, you can start with a new, louder dynamic. Just make sure that it's not just the first note that is louder, or it will stick out. Also, make it somewhat subtle...don't go from pp to ff. When I write "take a 'breath' here," I mean you can pause slightly to let the phrase end naturally. Try singing or humming this theme, and breathing right after the phrase, before beginning the next one. That is the effect that should be created.

Listen to Horowitz's recording here and pay close attention to how he handles the phrases. Follow along with a score. His phrasing is incredibly clear.

One last thing about phrasing is that you can use the harmonies to determine when you should change the "color" of your sound. For example, in measures 10 to 11, the harmony changes from Major to minor. You already highlight this slightly in your recording, but I think you can exaggerate it even more! It can create a really nice effect, even if just by changing the dynamics (as Horowitz does):

The point of this is just to demonstrate the process of finding the phrases, the peaks, and shaping them accordingly. I would encourage you to try it out, and come up with your own unique phrases, your own way of highlighting the important parts, etc. As I said before, you are very sensitive in your playing, and naturally have a lot of good musical things going on. If you focus your attention on the phrases even more, I'm sure you will create a variety of beautiful interpretations. Keep up the good work, and feel free to submit more recordings!

If I didn't explain something well, just let me know. I'm happy to go into more detail, or try explaining ideas in a different way.