In the Hands
Paul Cantrell’s music
blog & podcast
Piano music old and new from a devoted amateur,
all free to listen to, download, and share.

Chopin Nocturne 15.2

It’s organic, and sounds almost improvised — except that it is impossibly perfect in every detail. Its soundscape is vast, deep, and richly pianistic, but look at the construction and you’ll see the spare elegance of Bach. It has a loving tenderness, and a longing, that’s unlike anything else, yet seems instantly familiar. And it’s gorgeous.

What is it? Chopin, of course!

Nocturne Op 15 No 2 (in F sharp major)

There’s nothing quite like learning to play a piece of music to really get inside it. With this one, like many I’ve shared here, I knew it was excellent music before I started learning it — but once I’m inside it, once I’m feeling through the piece with my own hands and working through its many parts with the microscope of learning, once I really start to “get it” about the music … it’s just staggering how good it is. It just floors me. I don’t know how much of that comes across in my playing — certainly I’m only communicating a small shadow of that experience — but I hope you can share my sense of wonder that we have this music in our world.

In addition to being a masterpiece of music, this is a masterpiece of notation. Thanks to the Sheet Music Archive and the perpetually threatened public domain, there’s a free score for this piece you can download. (It’s not a great engraving, and it has some editorial mangling, but it gives you the idea, at least.) Chopin’s rendering of the ornaments is incredibly nuanced, and the double-stemming in the middle section to create three layers in the right hand is a little touch of genius my fingers are still struggling to realize properly.

Comments

Nicholas Weininger

You made my morning with this one. Keep ‘em coming!

Nicholas Weininger
christina

Sorry, I made a mistake above, accidentally pressed the enter key before writing the message =) I think this piece is absolutely lovely. I’m working on this piece too and I think you have inspired me. It’s melody is so rich although it feels like it is being played in a vast, empty place. I really like how you played the grace notes and the exciting part in the middle. I really really love your blog!

christina
Ahree

It’s so true what you say about playing a piece to really get inside it. That’s one of the biggest things I missed after I stopped playing piano (due to lack of an instrument originally, and now time as well). I was left imagining how it would feel to play a piece when listening to a performance. And, listening to your performance, I think this piece must feel wonderful!

Ahree
Andrew

I just want to say I was plodding through some Chopin pieces and found your site about a year ago. I recently came back around to see if you had done one of the nocturns i was working on and I was DELIGHTED to know that you did..
I find it encouraging that someone thinks the same thing about getting inside pieces when learning to play them. I love it when I get to some phrases and after picking them out and then playing them inline.. you stop and go… Ohh… hmmm… wow. Some pieces are beasts to play, but after the memory kicks in - it’s rich.. endowed. Full of fire and ice. - Anways great job on your blog. It’s always a pleasure to come back and see something new and exciting.

JonLee

You are an awesome pianist bro! Keep up the really good work! And thanks for posting the music for free, I love it.

JonLee
Elvin

I love your website… I have great appreciate for music and art.. even i have decided to dedicate a blog on music. I would love to add your website on my blog roll :) featuring even your music but of course with your permission.

Would love to share the love of music with everyone! Hope to be in touch more.

Hope you will like my website too.

Elvin
Music, The Flower of Culture
http://www.elvinsiew.com

Dustin

You have really inspired me. The amount of feeling you put into this music, it comes out so fluid and natural. This stuff is not just notes on paper when you play it; it comes to life. I look forward to more Chopin! :)

I think maybe I can attempt to play these (with the exception of Nocturne 15 and Ballade 47), although I am pretty much a novice pianist. At least, it seems worth trying.

Thanks for the inspiration~

Dustin
fran

i found this site in a search for chopin..what a wonderful place..ive downloaded all the available pieces..and will put them in my mp3 player for my enjoyment when i walk..
i wanted to take piano as a child but we were to poor..so when i was in my 30’s i bought myself a piano…no, i never took a lesson, and i have no natural talent..but i can read notes..so i have been playing for my own enjoyment for almost 30 years..if you could hear me you would cringe..but i love it above all other instruments..and i love chopin..especially his waltzes.
no i cannot talk of composition and such as others at this site have..all i can say is chopin speaks to my soul..
and should it not…did he not compose from his..

fran
firecrackers

wow nice playing! im working on this piece as well, and I really can’t play the Doppio movimento part. i don’t get the rhythm. like how the left hand fits with the right hand. can you please tell me when to play in the left hand??? plz!!!!! even after listening to your performance, i don’t get it. plz tell me!

firecrackers
Paul

firecrackers: Somtimes the left hand is at the same time as the right, and sometimes it is halfway in between. How do you tell? Well, if you don’t want to work out the math for yourself, just look at how the notes line up on the page. That is precise enough — the rhythm in that section is only approximate. Chopin is not Elliot Carter.

Paul
Kaidt

Hey thanks for the awesome Chopin music!!! It’s good you love Chopin so much. I’m excited because I get to play two Chopin pieces for my grade 7 exam, I’m playing this one and also a Waltz in A minor. Wow I’m excited! :-)

Kaidt
paul

great stuff,thanks

paul
Roberta

My mother is in a nursing home. She has her degree in music, and taught piano for many years. I was showing her the power of the Internet, and she selected to learn about Chopin. YOur wonderful site popped up, and voila, sound files, that took her back. She thought your playing, esp. the Nocturne, was wonderful. The whole floor was alive with your music. Thanks for this free experience. A concert in our own “front room”.

Roberta
Eugene

Great tone!

Eugene
Piano Lessons

Michael Wood

Dear Paul,

This was quite lovely. Your interpretation, performance and recording were extremely enjoyable. THANK YOU for such a beautiful rendition and recording.

I found your recordings because I am about to undertake a large project of recording my just restored 1926 Knabe / Ampico reproducing piano and I’m researching how to best capture this amazing instrument. I enjoy your recording method but the mimally audible mechanical noise from the Ampico machinery will make it impossible to place microphones “ouside of the cabinet” as it were. I’m leaning toward placing the mics over the strings in either a spaced pair or in the ORTF method. A great deal of experimentation is anticipated. But I’ve learned much from listening to your recordings, reading about how you make them, and getting to know your own compositions. Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your marvelous talent.

If you have any suggestions, pointers or comments on how I should launch my project, communication from you would be most welcome.

Wishing you all the best,

Michael Wood

Michael Wood