By Lucy Parham

CHOPIN

GRANDE VALSE BRILLANTE

OP 18

 

Advanced

 

Key E flat major

Tempo Vivo

Style Romantic

 

Will improve your

Repeated-note playing

Phrasing

Waltz style

 

LEARNING TIP

The repeated-note episodes are the trickiest parts to this waltz. They occur several times so it is worth learning them first.

 

Chopin’s Waltz No 1, the Grande valse brillante Op 18, is surely one of his most popular piano pieces. Alongside the much more concise ‘Minute’ Waltz Op 64 No 1, it is certainly one of his most famous waltzes. As an aside, if you wanted to choose a slower, more contrasting piece to go with it, I would recommend the Nocturne in E flat Op 9. I think they make a perfect pair!

 

Vivo is the tempo marking, so it needs to be lively and bright. It’s worth mentioning that Chopin’s waltzes were not written to be danced to – something to be remembered when you choose your final tempo.

 

The piece opens with a trumpet-style fanfare. We are called into the ballroom, the repeated Bb adding tension as it progresses. Begin forte, but not too loudly, because you need room to crescendo in the following bars. Note the hemiola in bars 3 and 4. Here you’ll have to subdivide from three to two.

 

Take the time to practise the LH alone. Not only in these opening bars, but throughout the whole piece. Your LH needs to have grip as well as poise and every note must sound, so I suggest you begin by learning your LH on its own.

 

Once you have played the first beat fifth-finger bass note, move quickly off it and arrive at the chord. Speed is of the essence and you need to travel fast. You are essentially using the first note of each bar to propel you to the second and third notes.

 

Grade the RH in the first few bars. Ensure that you arrive at the diminished chord in bar 8 with a quality sf, nothing too violent. Follow the alto line in the RH from bars 10 to 12 and try to ensure that the last beat of each RH bar is staccato. Shorter pedals will help you; release the pedal on third beat. Whilst talking about pedalling, I’d say that as a general rule it is better to have less pedal than more: clarity is everything. In the RH, from bars 17 to 20, trace the descending thumb line as well as the fourth and fifth fingers.

 

 

Watch Valentina Lisitsa perform the Grande valse brillante: 

 

 

When you arrive at the leggiermente  (bar 21) you need a different, lighter touch. You will notice alternate bars require six staccato notes followed by six legato notes. It is important to differentiate between these two touches. For the staccatos, ‘scratch’ the notes without moving your hand. Just use your fingertips and pull each note towards you as if you are flicking a piece of dust off the key! It would of course have been much easier to play this on Chopin’s lighter piano than on today’s modern instrument. The following bar needs to be much more legato, so sink into the key bed and try to make it more espressivo.

 

In bar 26 you can take some time to reach the top of the phrase. This top RH F must ring and resonate like a bell. Allow yourself a little breathing space before you begin the repeated notes again at bar 29. 

 

Notice the trill in bar 36. It has an accent on it. Give yourself time and ease into it as you have a bit of breathing space. I always find it useful to think slowly at the beginning of a trill, especially when the piece is fast, otherwise it is all too easy to become stuck and jammed.

 

Bar 69 brings a change of mood. Try to think of a more lyrical style and be a little less energetic than the previous section. Imagine two violins playing the RH part. Both are equally important in their duet.

 

In order to achieve this duet style, I would recommend practising the RH in two parts. Play the lower part with your LH and the upper part with your RH and try to balance them perfectly, paying attention to all the dynamics. Then return to playing as written and see if you can recreate what you achieved with two hands. The key has also modulated and we are now in D flat major. This is a much warmer key, so try to match your tone accordingly.

 

The hemiola returns in bar 84 (second time bar). Chopin is making us dart between twos and threes and consequently the rhythm needs to be very tight. You don’t need any pedal in these two bars or very little) but you can return to normal pedalling in bar 87 when the melody returns.

 

Take your time at bar 99. Chopin writes dolce – and combined with the following ritardando it gives you a real chance to ease back into the a tempo in bar 101. 

 

There’s a real opportunity to ‘play’ with the rhythm from bars 113 to 115. Have some flexibility here and tease the notes out of the piano. Follow the RH descending melodic line at the same time.

 

 Con anima at bar 117 brings another change of spirit. Project your tone with boldness and strength. There are many different accents in this passage so try to vary them. When you travel up the octave in bar 125 I would suggest a different dynamic. Maybe softer, as if an echo from afar. Fade away and tail off beautifully as you want to begin quietly in bar 133.

 

This next passage is technically challenging with all its grace notes. I think it’s a good idea to learn it first without the grace notes. Once you have done that, slightly under tempo at this point, add them back again, but play them without separating them – that is, almost as if you are depressing both notes at the same time. Notice each hand position and how it changes between each beat. Now return to the tempo and try to articulate each note separately. Notice the accents in bar 148 and take your time in this bar. You need a real swing from bar 149 onwards (when repeated) as this is the last time this episode is heard.

 

There is an improvisatory quality at bar 165. The dolce marking gives you scope to take a little bit more time and enjoy the melody before the B flat trumpet fanfare arrives at bar 183. It is bringing us to the return of the piece, but this time it is much more insistent because the first note of each bar is no longer a single note but an octave. Try to show this insistent octave with increasing strength. Feel the accumulation of passion and energy as the piece begins to drive towards the end. Make sure the LH is not stuck – it needs to bounce. Think over the bar line, always aiming towards the next bar.

 

Watch an excerpt of Lucy Parham's 'Words and Music' show about the life of Chopin: 

 

 

 

Once you reach bar 239 you are on the home straight. These bars form a coda as the waltz now picks up tempo. Notice how two of the different themes are now combined: the ‘grace notes theme’ and the ‘repeated notes theme’ from earlier on in the work. They are vying for importance – but it is the main theme that finally triumphs in bar 259.

 

The top of the phrase at bar 283 needs to be brilliant, strong and clear. Then you have a long accelerando to the end. Drive forward as much as you can whilst keeping up the tone until the smorzando in the final few bars.

 

The end should be one huge flourish. Lift the pedal and whip your hands off the keys at the same time as you dazzle your audience with your brilliance!