Leopold Godowsky's "transcriptions" of Chopin's etudes are notorious for being technically difficult beyond the originals and, therefore, are rarely played, much less recorded, unless the pianist is a super-virtuoso like Marc-André Hamelin. Boris Berezovsky is another who has proven himself up to the task of successfully performing the fiendish studies. For this recital recording (the only indication of its live recording is the applause at the beginning and end), Berezovsky selected 11 of Godowsky's studies, and for all ...
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Leopold Godowsky's "transcriptions" of Chopin's etudes are notorious for being technically difficult beyond the originals and, therefore, are rarely played, much less recorded, unless the pianist is a super-virtuoso like Marc-André Hamelin. Boris Berezovsky is another who has proven himself up to the task of successfully performing the fiendish studies. For this recital recording (the only indication of its live recording is the applause at the beginning and end), Berezovsky selected 11 of Godowsky's studies, and for all but two of them, he first played Chopin's etude before Godowsky's arrangement. This makes it much easier for the listener to understand the changes Godowsky made and the difficulties of their performance. It's obvious that he's inverted the arpeggios of Chopin's Op. 10/1 and that he's moved the running figures of Chopin's Op. 10/2 from the right hand to the left in his "Ignus Fatuus." Godowsky gave the Op. 25/1 a similar treatment, but gave the accompaniment even more filigree than...
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