Frederic Chopin - Nocturne no. 13 in C Minor, Opus 48 No. 1 (reupload)
952 views · Published 11 September 2009 · 6:25 · Indexed 20 September 2026
This is a video from the first solo piano recital I've ever given...naturally I was a bit nervous. This is Chopin's Nocturne in C Minor, Opus 48, No. 1. This nocturne, sometimes called Chopin's 5th Ballade, has more of a funeral-march feel than any other I've heard. I've always loved this piece. This piece has always struck me as one of the most epically tragic pieces Chopin has ever written - even the false hopes built up by the middle section doesn't overturn the awful turmoil of the second half and the loneliness of the very ending. I was really enthusiastic about picking it up and learning it - without realizing just how difficult it actually is. I don't know if I'll ever master the barrage of triplet-against-16th note chords in the second half. The last time I performed this piece (which I've also uploaded) was several months ago, and it was a really rushed memory job. I was really nervous and took the piece too quickly, and the second half was really sloppy. For this recital, I wanted badly to perform this piece, but was really unsure about whether to play with the score or not...I eventually decided it was more important to simply give a better performance and play better music, so I played it with the score. I do feel this is a much better performance of this piece than my last, but the ending still isn't very clean. Oh well, hope you like it anyway. It's a wonderful piece and I hope one day to be able to give it the respect it deserves.
