Eric Himy: Got a minute? Great, here is some Chopin!

Chopin / Michalowski-Rosenthal (arr. Himy) Waltz opus 64 (minute waltz) - Eric Himy., piano This delightful bonbon has been captivating pianists and audiences ever since Chopin composed the piece back in 1847. It is also famous for its misleading title “The Minute Waltz” which suggests that it should be played in a ‘minute’. Any attempt to play this waltz in a minute or under results in something Chopin would have most probably hated! It has been said that while Chopin was composing this piece, a little white dog named Marquis was running around the house playfully chasing its tail. Chopin actually wrote about the dog in several letters to the dog’s owner, George Sand. He seemingly pays tribute to the dog in the middle section, where we hear a few bell-like sounds with the A-flat grace notes in the right hand. Apparently, they represented the bell he had around his neck. Chopin’s health was rapidly failing at the time of composing. Like the beautiful Barcarolle, he included this piece in his last ever concert in Paris in 1848, the year before he passed away. The Art of Transcription The art of transcription can sometimes shed new light on already familiar music. The art of transcription--of recasting music, more or less literally, from one performance medium into another--has been a common practice for a long time. A good transcription (or a paraphrase) tests the abilities and the imagination of the transcriber as much as the creation of an original composition. Trying to maintain the distinct characteristics of a given work, while meeting the demands of a new medium, is not always easily achieved. It seems that with all the fast-pace changes and problems that we face in the world today, one wonders if in this serious atmosphere whether we haven’t forgotten the general enjoyment of music. Often the pursuit of stylistic authenticity has become the performance ideal of our era and thus transcriptions and paraphrases have often been frowned upon by purists as tamperings or sacrilegious alterations with the purity of the composer’s original. By the late 19th century, concert transcriptions were very popular and many other great virtuoso performers and composers continued this tradition: Busoni, Godowsky, Rachmaninov, and Horowitz to name but a few. The performance of transcriptions and transcription-making was indeed admired and encouraged as an important development in becoming a complete pianist. Apparently, there are thirteen transcriptions for piano of Chopin’s Minute Waltz!! Giuseppe Ferrata, Joe Furst, Rafael Joseffy, Max Laistner, Maurits Leefson, Aleksander Michałowski, Moritz Moszkowski, Isidor Philipp, Max Reger, Moriz Rosenthal, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Michael von Zadora. One of the strangest and exotic versions is this one by recluse Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji who holds the Guinness World Record for longest piano solo composition ever written 4.5 hours!    • 3 Pastiches for Piano, KSS 31: No. 3, Waltz   https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/8... I combined two of my favorites for a unique Chopin cocktail!