Chopin - "Tristesse" Etude Op.10 No.3 - (Kawai K200)

Chopin wrote two sets of 12 etudes that are notoriously difficult, but also considered the quintessence of romantic piano music. The Op.10 No.3, nicknamed “Tristesse”, is probably my favorite etude and actually one of my favorite pieces of all time. Playing this is the fulfillment of a dream :)

The piece has two very distinct contrasting sections. A slower cantabile ‘A’ section, which is a study on tone quality and voicing a right-hand melody on top of right-hand accompaniment. The ‘B’ middle section is a faster growing climax that starts as a beautiful dream and progressively becomes into a despairing nightmare (also, it feels that way to play it), ending with a furious and confusing cadenza of diminished chords played as pairs of double 6ths, the “con bravura” section. The ‘B’ section is very demanding, being a study on multiple intervals, having thirds, chromatic fourths, and sixths, and also requiring some endurance to arrive at the “con bravura” with energy.

I wasn’t really expecting to be able to play it this soon in my piano journey, so I got surprised when my teacher gave me the green light to learn it. I started this piece in the beginning of May and worked on it relentlessly every day and one month later I had it memorized. It is by far the hardest piece I ever attempted, and I still don’t feel comfortable playing it. But in any case, I wanted to do a recording right after my piano got tuned, because from now own the tuning will start to deteriorate. This recording is actually 3 takes edited together. I try really hard to make a decent single-take recording, but that is beyond my current skills. Every time I had a decent take I would screw up in the “con bravura” section. I tried 34 times until my camera batteries were over. I feel that was a good thing because I was almost to a point of breaking my fingers. I then listened to the hours of recordings and realize I could patch up an almost clean edited take. Two hours of editing later and this is the result.

I will keep this piece in my repertoire and will do a single-take recording of it later. But I wanted to share my progress with this piece now anyway. There are still many issues with my interpretation, but overall, I am pleased with it and proud of myself. I hope you guys enjoy it and feel free to give any kind of feedback in the comments.

As always, this recording was made using a pair of condenser microphones, AKG P170, placed above the top lid of my upright piano, a Kawai K200.