Chopin/Godowsky Etudes played by David Saperton

Описание: The Studies on Chopin's Études are a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études by Leopold Godowsky, composed between 1894 and 1914. They are renowned for their technical difficulty: critic Harold C. Schonberg called them "the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano." Several of the studies (for example, the study "Ignis Fatuus" on Chopin's Étude in A minor, Op. 10, No. 2) put the original right-hand part into the left hand; several others are for the left hand alone (for example, the study on the "Revolutionary" Étude, transposed to C♯ minor). Two of the studies even combine two études; the better known of these, called "Badinage," combines both the G♭ (the "Black Key" Étude of Op. 10 and the "Butterfly" étude of Op. 25).

The number of studies is often given as 54, with Op. 25, No. 2 having one study written as a considerably different ossia of another; a similar ossia also exists for one of the studies on Op. 25, No. 3, so the total number of studies can be taken to be 55. In contrast, Godowsky's original numbering scheme runs only to 48.


Special thanks to ‪@gullivior‬ for uploading the audio video! (   • David Saperton plays Chopin-Godowsky Etudes  )


Recorded in 1952:

00:00 - No. 4, A Minor (Ignis Fatuus), On Op. 10 No. 2
01:56 - No. 13, E Flat Minor, On Op. 10 No. 6
05:23 - No. 14, C Major, On Op.10 No. 7
07:08 - No. 15, G Flat Major , On Op. 10 No. 7
10:50 - No. 25, A Flat Major, On Op. 25 No. 1
13:29 - No. 25, F Minor , On Op. 25 No. 2
15:03 - No.33, E Minor, On Op. 25 No. 5
19:32 - No. 36, G Sharp Minor, On Op. 25 No. 6
21:48 - No. 47, G Flat Major, (Badinage), On Op.10 No.5 and Op. 25 No. 9
23:14 - No. 48, F Major, On Op. 10 No. 11 and Op. 25 No. 3
26:37 - No. 45, E Major, On Trois Nouvelles No.2


Recorded in 1940:

31:13 - No. 15 (on Etude, op. 10, no. 7)
34:40 - No. 47 (“Badinage,” Etudes op. 10, no. 5 and op. 25, no. 9 combined)