Chopin for Classical Guitar

**Marinero** · 12-10-2021, 10:15 AM

O.K., boys and girls . . . can we take a break from picks, steel strings, and bottlenecks and focus on mainstream Classical Guitar????? Here's Slovenian guitarist Uros Baric--a fine Eastern European CG(what the hell are they feeding them over there?) who is performing his own transcription of Chopin's "Nocturne No. 9 Opus 2" where "the strings are tuned a half-tone lower to match the original tonality of Eb." (see notes). The challenge for those rewriting Chopin on CG is the ability to transfer the piano's the full, lush, sound as it relates to the melody WITHOUT the melody becoming diminished or worse, yet . . . lost in its harmonic complement. I hope you enjoy this beautiful moment in time from a fine, talented young guitarist.
Play live . . . Marinero

**kris** · 12-10-2021, 12:08 PM

Thanks Marinero for the great link.

Exelent player!

**EastwoodMike** · 12-10-2021, 04:30 PM

Awesome.

**ronjazz** · 12-10-2021, 06:42 PM

Don't miss Philip Hii's CD of Chopin Nocturnes on guitar either, beautifully done as well.

**BWV** · 12-10-2021, 08:16 PM

Does not work for me, Chopin is too idiomatic to the piano, its not lead sheet music - cannot be rearranged without losing what made it great to begin with

also pointless to detune the guitar for authenticity as Eb in Chopin’s day pitch was not standardized and could have been plus or minus a half step from contemporary A=440

good playing though

**Michael Neverisky** · 12-10-2021, 08:39 PM

A contemporary of Segovia, Louise Walker was a monster player who I doubt is known much beyond the circles of the most ardent classical guitar enthusiasts.

**Marinero** · 12-11-2021, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by BWV

Does not work for me, Chopin is too idiomatic to the piano, its not lead sheet music - cannot be rearranged without losing what made it great to begin with

also pointless to detune the guitar for authenticity as Eb in Chopin’s day pitch was not standardized and could have been plus or minus a half step from contemporary A=440

good playing though

So, B,
Are you ,also, opposed to drop D tuning in Jazz and Classical ,which in the case of CG, is a standard technique for a wealth of CG literature in transcription? And, if not, what's the difference detuning to D or Eb as a matter of practice? Are you ,also, opposed to saxophonists/clarinetists who have the ability to play "altissimo notes" beyond the natural register of the instruments? And, you say these piano transcriptions " cannot be rearranged without losing what made it great to begin with(BWV)? Then, you have certainly not played Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart, Schubert, Mertz, Llobet, Chopin, etc. in transcription on CG and arranged by brilliant composer/musicians and could only be considered an incomplete and very limited, if at all, CG. Your above statement is truly empty to any serious, classically-trained CG.
Play live . . . Marinero

P.S. Look, B. You belong to a dedicated cadre of Marinero haters on this site. And, I'm o.k. with that since my entire former professional life, after music, consisted of high-level argumentation of issues. So, these dedicated attacks, honestly, have no effect on me but do detract from the serious discussion of music especially when, for instance, your above remarks are so patently absurd and disconnected from reality. I'm sure you're probably a fine person in other aspects of your life. However, remarks of this kind lend nothing positive to the discussion at hand and are only intended, in the basest sense, to be inflammatory and intended to derail a serious discussion. M.

**BWV** · 12-11-2021, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

So, B,
Are you ,also, opposed to drop D tuning in Jazz and Classical ,which in the case of CG, is a standard technique for a wealth of CG literature in transcription? And, if not, what's the difference detuning to D or Eb as a matter of practice? Are you ,also, opposed to saxophonists/clarinetists who have the ability to play "altissimo notes" beyond the natural register of the instruments? And, you say these piano transcriptions " cannot be rearranged without losing what made it great to begin with(BWV)? Then, you have certainly not played Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart, Schubert, Mertz, Llobet, Chopin, etc. in transcription on CG and arranged by brilliant composer/musicians and could only be considered an incomplete and very limited, if at all, CG. Your above statement is truly empty to any serious, classically-trained CG.
Play live . . . Marinero

P.S. Look, B. You belong to a dedicated cadre of Marinero haters on this site. And, I'm o.k. with that since my entire former professional life, after music, consisted of high-level argumentation of issues. So, these dedicated attacks, honestly, have no effect on me but do detract from the serious discussion of music especially when, for instance, your above remarks are so patently absurd and disconnected from reality. I'm sure you're probably a fine person in other aspects of your life. However, remarks of this kind lend nothing positive to the discussion at hand and are only intended, in the basest sense, to be inflammatory and intended to derail a serious discussion. M.

not sure why you feel attacked, I certainly am not a ‘hater’, just stating my opinion. Have arranged piano music myself, one of the first things I posted on YouTube was this Schumann arrangement I made, which I dont play particularly well, but the texture works OK on guitar:

but for me, Chopin is a different beast, its too idiomatic to piano to transport to other instruments

and he can play in whatever key works best (the piece above was transposed from F# to G with drop D), but you cant compare the sounding pitch of keys today vs the early / mid 19th century so playing it Eb on a detuned guitar my sound nice, but is not any more authentic relative to the unknown tuning of Chopin’s piano which may have been anywhere from a half step flat to a half step sharp compared to modern A=440

**BigDee62** · 12-11-2021, 07:17 PM

First, I have a degree in music. From North Texas. On … piano (I’m really just a wannabe guitarist). So … I have an opinion here.

I understand the point about pitches not being standardized back then, but they are now. Many pianists who actually record Chopin pieces have perfect pitch and will know and feel the difference.

But I also think there’s a strong argument for “it doesn’t matter.” Any piano variations on a Paganini theme is going to sound dramatically different than what Paganini himself ever imagined- and that’s totally ok.

Back to the Chopin transcriptions … respect it as a separate piece of music rather than as an attempt to perfectly reproduce the piano experience. I cannot imagine that the arrangers intended to reproduce the piano.

So I agree with both of you, and … I disagree with both of you.

Enjoy the music!

**BWV** · 12-11-2021, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by BigDee62

First, I have a degree in music. From North Texas. On … piano (I’m really just a wannabe guitarist). So … I have an opinion here.

Enjoy the music!

cool, when were you there? Graduated from UNT w/ composition degree in 95

**BigDee62** · 12-11-2021, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by BWV

cool, when were you there? Graduated from UNT w/ composition degree in 95

Very cool! I was there 88-91. Studied theory with Kevin Korsyn. Took jazz piano master class with Dan Haerle. I also took comp but I can’t remember my prof’s name - tall guy and at the time he was a new member of faculty.

**BWV** · 12-11-2021, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by BigDee62

Very cool! I was there 88-91. Studied theory with Kevin Korsyn. Took jazz piano master class with Dan Haerle. I also took comp but I can’t remember my prof’s name - tall guy and at the time he was a new member of faculty.

Dan Hearle was awesome, took his jazz theory class.