If, for those of us who secretly believe that even two hands are often not enough, the Godowsky-Chopin Etudes represent Dante's Inferno, the Etudes Godowsky transcribed for the left hand alone would certainly require a tenth circle of Hell all their own.
Often referred to as "The Pianists' Pianist", Leopold Godowsky was, according to his peers, the most amazingly gifted pianist of them all. Of his technique, Artur Rubinstein wrote, "It would take me 500 years to get a mechanism like Godowsky's." Józef Hofmann is known to have said to a friend after hearing Godowsky play at home, "Never forget what you heard tonight; never lose the memory of that sound. There is nothing like it in the world. It is tragic that the world has never heard Popsy as only he can play."
Alas, Popsy, as he was known to his intimates, suffered terribly from stage fright and, as incredible as it may seem to those who are familiar with his recordings, he was never able to play in public, or even in a recording studio, as beautifully and brilliantly as he did at home.
I have not yet been able to discover with any degree of authenticity the why behind his Studies on Chopin Etudes. The mastery of the Etudes in their original form is daunting to the most accomplshed pianist. I can only surmise that he made the transcriptions because he was capable of playing them. A technique as formidable as his would needs be perpetually on the lookout for a challenge, and as no composer would have dared write anything so difficult to play with any hope of its ever being played, he did so himself.
But Godowsky the composer must also have been tantalized by the myriad possibilities presented by the Chopin Etudes. In some cases, the transcriptions represent a level of abstract conception worthy of his friendship with Albert Einstein.
The Godowsky-Chopin Etudes for the left hand alone are presented here played by Marc-André Hamelin (b.1961), a French-Canadian pianist of considerable technical accomplishment and musical sensitivity.
Sincere thanks are due to FranzFerencLiszt, for posting these performances on YouTube with the scores, without which the sublime difficulty of these studies might not be apparent. And while these are good performances, try, while listening, to imagine what they would have been like at the left hand of Leopold Godowsky.
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.1 2nd version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.2 1st version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.3 for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.4 for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.5 7th version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.7 3rd version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.8 2nd version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.9 3rd version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.10 2nd version, for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.11 for the left hand alone
Chopin/Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.12 for the left hand alone
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