Classical Music | Piano Music

Leopold Godowsky

Six Etudes of Chopin, transcribed for the left hand alone  Play

Ivan Ilić Piano

Recorded on 04/18/2010, uploaded on 12/12/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes
No. 5 in D-flat Major, "Tristesse"; No. 44 in f minor; No. 13 in e-flat minor; No. 41 in b minor; No.  2 in D-flat Major; No. 22 in c-sharp minor, "Revolutionary"

Leopold Godowsky's transcriptions of the Op. 10, Op. 25, and Trois Nouvelles Etudes of Chopin are considered by many to be his crowning achievement. Chopin's etudes are inverted, laid on top of one another, or made into variations. Nowhere is Godowsky's ingenuity more apparent. The resulting pieces are among the most clever, and most difficult, ever written for the piano. They possess a rich polyphony with each voice requiring its own shape.

There are a total of 54 studies which Godowsky adapted. They can be divided into seven categories: 1. Strict transcriptions (a one-hand version of the etude); 2. Free transcriptions; 3. Inversions; 4. Free variations; 5. Combinations of multiple etudes; 6. Cantus firmus (the left hand plays the part of the original's right, while the right hand accompanies); and 7. Metamorphoses (everything is changed except the structure)

Even the 22 studies arranged for the left hand alone (six of which will be performed today) get harmonic and textural facelifts, emerging as more than just single-handed reductions. For instance, in the e-flat minor étude (the third in today's set), Chopin's murmuring accompaniment underneath the lyrical melody is replaced by runs that quietly dart up and down the keyboard.

This free treatment incurred abuse from those who believed Godowsky was trying to improve Chopin's etudes or make them into a virtuosic display. Godowsky himself emphasized that his work constituted a tribute to Chopin, and that by studying it, one might come to a better appreciation of the beauties in the original.

Ivan Ilić