What happened to Chopin.interserver.net?

[Dynaphyrun]

Is this the same website that changed to http://www.chopinmusic.net ?

I'm not sure, cause i dont see the interesting little tidbits in the étude section.

I remember it mentioned a pianist (who is this?) who played the op 10 no 12 etude w/ octaves in the left hand in tempo and Liszt replied by playing the op 25 no 3 w/ octaves in the right hand.

[Goldberg]

Alexander Dreyschock was the one who played 10-12 in the left hand. He was one of the finest technicians of his time and, I believe, was generally regarded as one of the three best living pianists of the later Romantic period, along with Liszt and Alkan--however, I suspect that he was only interesting to listen to, at the time, for his extraordinary technique, and was probably otherwise a rather dull performer (his left hand was probably truly masterful, though). He played the 10-12 like that a few years after Brahms predicted that given the advancements in piano technique (he might have even been listening to Dreyschock), it wouldn't be long before a pianist would become so good as to be able to play that etude in octaves--Dreyschock took the somewhat facetious remark to heart and spent between four and six weeks of practicing 12 hours a day in order to fulfill the prophesy.

Dreyschock toured Italy, which was Liszt territory at the time, and threatened to steal the stage from the great Hungarian. For several weeks, Dreyschock turned audiences into excited riots with his furious technical ability, and van Bulow, also touring "with" Liszt at the time, left Italy, unable to cope with Dreyschock's success. Liszt, however, wasn't daunted for long, and at one recital, he played op. 25 no. 2 as an encore, starting it as usual but as fast as he possibly could play it--after he finished, amidst the already-enthusiastic applause, he returned to the keyboard and started the etude again, this time with octaves in the right hand, speeding up gradually through the opening measures and quickly achieving the same speed as he had just played before. At the end of it, the audience went crazy and Liszt's reputation was secured once again.

Cool little story...anyway, I have no idea about the website stuff...

[tony]

I love the way you just said that!!

[PianistSk8er]

No, this is not the same site as chopinfiles.com nor chopin.interserver.com (the same - old ChopinFiles - URLs).

This is another website of "veterans", if you will, from that former site's original forum. We are among the three forums which "derived" from it (among SDC and PianoSociety).

Hope this clears it up,
PS

[Dynaphyrun]

those links dont work

goldberg, are u sure its op 25 no 2? wats ur source

[PianistSk8er]

those links dont work

Because the site is no longer running.

http://www.chopinfiles.com

This will lead you to the official Warsaw Chopin society website.

PS

[elvenpianist]

those links dont work

Because the site is no longer running.

http://www.chopinfiles.com

This will lead you to the official Warsaw Chopin society website.

PS

wow, so chopinfiles is indeed down..
a pity it degenerated the way it did.
Leave it to people, heh.

[Brewtality]

those links dont work

goldberg, are u sure its op 25 no 2? wats ur source

It was, check Schonberg's the Great Pianists.

[Brewtality]

those links dont work

Because the site is no longer running.

http://www.chopinfiles.com

This will lead you to the official Warsaw Chopin society website.

PS

wow, so chopinfiles is indeed down..
a pity it degenerated the way it did.
Leave it to people, heh.

Degeneration brought about through neglect by the owner.

[Dynaphyrun]

[trouillards]

Alexander Dreyschock was the one who played 10-12 in the left hand.

Has anybody ever done it since?

[Goldberg]

I know people have tried, or at least have said they have tried, and I'm sure that in this day and age of technical obsession (which Dreyschock tended to take to levels not even attempted by Liszt: Liszt is noted, in his middle and later years, at least, as being a musician whose technical perfection served the musical benefits of the piece instead of the opposite, whereas Dreyschock was recorded as being a technician above all else), someone has probably done it, or is able to do it, probably within a shorter time that Dreyschock learned how to do it.

Besides, Godowsky's book of etudes contains a version of 25-2 which is very close to the one Liszt played (i.e., the right hand is all in octaves), and since there are obviously pianists who can play that (and the rest of the Godowsky etudes for that matter), 10-12 in octaves probably isn't as inconceivable today as it was in Brahms' time...don't think I could do it, though! I also thought it would be an extreme challenge to try and learn the 10-12 with thirds (or, even worse, some other interval) in the left hand...

[Brewtality]

Dreyschock's compositions were rubbished by critics in his day. There is an extract in Schonberg's the Great Pianists which deals with this; hilariously cutting stuff. Dreyschock did a fantasie for the LH on God Save the Queen, seems reasonably interesting. Btw, I'd rather try 10/12 in octaves than left hand thirds, that would be bloody difficult!

[Goldberg]

Yeah, I've seen those God Save the Queen "Variations" (there's only the theme, and one variation, as I recall) and even tried to learn the piece once. It wasn't SO bad, but at the same time it wasn't anything great either; the single variation just consisted of the theme played with overlapping arpeggios up and down the keyboard. It was a great arpeggio etude for LHO, but at the same time it was amazingly boring. The best piece I found by his--I'm not sure if I still have it--is an original (I think) theme and variations in A major for LHO. I never tried to learn it, but reading through it made me think about it. But heck, I'd rather learn Moszkowski's, Saint-Saens', or even Czerny's LHO pieces than Dreyschock's. I also found a two-hand piece by him on GFF that was entitled "La Clochette Impromptu" which didn't even look interesting enough for me to play, and it seems like there was also an etude by him that seemed a little more tolerable...both were two-hand pieces.

[Brewtality]

Yeah, I've seen those God Save the Queen "Variations" (there's only the theme, and one variation, as I recall) and even tried to learn the piece once. It wasn't SO bad, but at the same time it wasn't anything great either; the single variation just consisted of the theme played with overlapping arpeggios up and down the keyboard. It was a great arpeggio etude for LHO, but at the same time it was amazingly boring. The best piece I found by his--I'm not sure if I still have it--is an original (I think) theme and variations in A major for LHO. I never tried to learn it, but reading through it made me think about it. But heck, I'd rather learn Moszkowski's, Saint-Saens', or even Czerny's LHO pieces than Dreyschock's. I also found a two-hand piece by him on GFF that was entitled "La Clochette Impromptu" which didn't even look interesting enough for me to play, and it seems like there was also an etude by him that seemed a little more tolerable...both were two-hand pieces.

Yeah, I've thought about trying those Variations, the theme is pretty pleasing to the ears but in the end I just couldn't be bothered to play all those huge arpeggiated chords.