Étude Op. 10, No. 2, in A minor, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin for the piano. It was preceded by a relative major key. Composed in 1829, it was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England. This étude is an exercise in developing the independence of the weaker fingers of the right hand by playing rapid chromatic scale figures with the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of the right hand. Meanwhile, the first two fingers of the right and the left hand play an accompaniment of short intervals and single notes. Chopin indicated the fingering himself note by note for almost 800 notes.
The technical novelty of this étude is the chromatic scale to be played by the three outer fingers of the right hand together with short semiquaver notes to be played by the first and second fingers of the same hand and the difficulty is to do this evenly in piano and legato at the required tempo of M.M. 144. Other piano composers before Chopin, such as Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870) in his Études Op. 70, have introduced chromatic scales with accompanying notes to be played by the same hand. But the chromatic scale is never given to the "weak" fingers. Leichtentritt believes that Chopin in this étude revives an old fingering habit (that of not using the thumb) from the pre-Bach clavichord time of the 17th century which had already long been regarded as obsolete. The technical significance of this étude for Chopin is proved by the extensiveness of his fingerings, an effort he did not apply to any other piece. An analysis of Chopin's fingering reveals that, like in the "standard" chromatic scale fingering, the middle finger plays the black keys, the index finger, which "normally" plays C and F, is replaced by the little finger. The thumb, usually playing all other white keys, is replaced by the ring finger. While it is fairly easy to cross the long middle finger over the short thumb, acrobatic dexterity is required to cross the middle finger over the ring finger. An obvious way to proceed is straightening the middle while bending the ring and little fingers.
Cortot (1877–1962) states that the first difficulty to overcome is the "crossings of the 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers" and the "strain resulting from the continuous action of the said fingers". Preparatory exercises introduced by Cortot, Gottfried Galston and Casella always commence with the chromatic scale (top voice) alone without the filling voice. Cortot divides the hand into an "active element" and an "accompanying element". He first insists on practicing chromatic scales with the three outer fingers in all permutations. Galston recommends to hold and press a little object with the thumb and index finger while playing the chromatic semiquavers with the other fingers. Cortot recommends the "pizzicato" notes to be "plucked rather than struck" and Casella wittily compares the three outer fingers to a "motorcycle dragging along its own sidecar [the first two fingers]". Australian pianist Alan Kogosowski (born 1952) recommends keeping 1 and 2 completely relaxed while playing the top voice alone: The "little two-note chords on each beat in the right hand" should be released "as soon as they've been played". The thumb should not be operated vertically to avoid strain and "play its notes extremely lightly –becoming as light as a feather, almost as if it is hardly there at all". Von Bülow orders "the middle harmonies to be played throughout distinctly, and yet transiently [flüchtig]". Galston suggests to accentuate all the upper notes of the two-note chords (played by the 2nd finger) while practicing the right hand.
It is a particular physical and psychological challenge to perform this étude in public and especially after the Op. 10, No. 1 with its enormous stretches. Kogosowski reports that even "the imposingly powerful Sviatoslav Richter, who possessed the most awesome technical equipment of any pianist in the world, would quake before this tiny piece. When performing the twelve Études Op. 10 as a set, he'd hesitate and sometimes skip over the quiet but treacherous second Étude. And Richter was certainly not the only pianist to feel this way about this little Étude." Gottfried Galston believes that "he who wants to perform at Chopin's tempo (MM 144) has to be able to control it at home at MM 152, or MM 160".
Below is a recording of this etude by Chopin performed by Edward Neeman.
https://youtu.be/JbbAv-3wHuQ
https://preview.redd.it/1tomtz5suih71.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25b5dfd7766d25b2ad3e84db9b658884f10e271b
Submitted August 15, 2021 at 10:14AM by Sergej-Strelchenko https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/p4t78i/f_chopin_etude_op_10_no_2_in_a_minor_chromatique/?utm_source=ifttt