Just a short two-pager with no repeats. Hope you like it.

John Fields Nocturne No. 15

It's about time someone records Field. Some (in fact most) say that his nocturnes have no emotion or fall short when compared to Chopin's. I disagree. Field's nocturnes are very impressive. So when will you start on his Sonata and Concertos? Sadly I do not have the sheet music. (Not that I would comment on notes and rhytm if I did).

from memory. John field is an Irish compomser is the originator of nocturne. and Chopin was his friend and Chopin mastered the nocturne. First few op9s work by chopin is "copy' of John fields or I should said heavily influenced by John.

Good work Moni.

Great that we finally pay the inventor of the Nocturne genre some attention. Despite the fact that John Field invented the genre “Nocturnes”, it was Chopin who refined the concept of a singing melody over broken left hand chords to the state of an accepted master music form. And according to my personal view, no composer has been able to steal his crown. Chopin's Nocturnes are still unsurpassed.

Would John Fields been as famous as he is today if it was not for Chopin? I doubt it. Still he composed some nice Nocturnes and this is one of them and you play it well Monica.

Were they really friends? I am not sure they even met as I cannot remember anything from that in the biographies of Chopin (Chopin's teacher (Joseph Elsner) at the conservatory introduced Chopin to Field's Nocturnes) I have read. But I remember that Field was not that happy about Chopin's way of composing Nocturnes. He did a remark, calling Chopin "A sickroom talent". Not that nice...

Wow, I never heard that, before. I don't think I like John Field, anymore.

Well, I googled a bit about this and found very confusing facts. Just read this thread (claims it was Chopin who said it was Field who had the "sickroom talent".
http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.ph ... 0.msg47222

The article it refers to is the most hostile article about Chopin I have ever read!
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/200 ... Wright.htm

It must be a joke right?


Some more here which says it was Field who said "sickroom talent" to Chopin:
http://www.amazon.ca/Nocturnes-Comp-Fry ... B000001GPN


But please don't judge Field from my post! It could be totally wrong.

Very well played indeed. I can't offer detailed critique s I have never heard this piece but it does not sound as trite as some others I have heard, and it actually has some interesting harmonic twists. It would be good to have some more Field Nocturnes to populate a Field page (if you still like him enough to do that...).

I know you are all lightning fast to defend your beloved Chopin, but keep in mind that many composers could be acerbic or even hostile about collegues. That should be no reason to like their music any less. Chopin himself could be a bit of a bastard too, but we don't hold that against him.

Having said that, of course these Nocturnes don't hold a candle to Chopin's. Indeed it may be he was never surpassed in the genre, though I believe Fauré was a worthy successor and came close in his best moments. I'm working on two of his Nocturnes for the next recording session.

Again, very well played, and I did not hear any wrong notes (but you play wrong notes seldom anyway )

You're right, Robert. That article is unbelievable. I have never read about Chopin being so 'girl crazy' before. In a weird way, I'm kind of glad to read that though because I never liked reading that Chopin may be homosexual. That ruins my fantasies about him.

And yes, I have read some of the acerbic comments Chopin himself has said about others. Maybe he wasn't the perfect gentleman all the time, but I like to believe that everything he said was true.

Chris, maybe I'll do one more Field piece.

That article is a tendentious piece of crap if ever I saw one - unworthy of any scholarly writer (Dr. Wright ?). Very strange that a distinguished pianist like Peter Katin, who recorded a lot of Chopin, for example all the Waltzes, should have given his blessing. While there is plenty of fact, it is riddled with nonsense statements ("But Polish women were far more beautiful", "too much of it is salon music monotonously in three time", etc.....) aimed solely to put Chopin in a preconceived bad light. Of course he had his bad sides, like near everybody, but to blow them up is ridiculous - as if large parts of the population have not been rabid antisemites for centuries. And to start an article by saying he was not a great composer and very limited... as as if genius does not often go hand in hand with limitation. Pah. I feel better now


Well yes, of course one believes what one wants yo believe


Yes please, a page with one recording is so bare. There must be one of two more that are nice. I think I tried the first three once and got so bored that I ditched the book. The one you recorded is not one of these and actually quite nice.

Monica, if you want to do one more piece or not even now or later. Could you do the very first one. Its very similar to chopins op9/1.
I want to hear it in comparsion.

Thank You.

I'll think about it, John. But I've already started the No. 5 nocturne.

thats your NEXT projoect no.1