Chopin's scherzos

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

For the first time ever I have sat down and given my full attention to Chopin's Scherzo no. 2 when it was performed by a pianist friend of mine as the last piece in a recital here before he goes back to NYC. And I was blown away! Whenever I had heard the piece before I typically turned it off or listened to something else or just had my focus elsewhere because I couldn't really understand the funny element in this scherzo.

But this performance captured all the humour a piece with such a title is intended to convey! In his performance it was completely understandable how various short, interruption-like motifs where almost like punchlines in a joke. The imbalance between very muddy low register accompaniment and high pitched descending cascades of notes followed by some very clownish chromatic scales seemed to really evoke an almost slapstick humour in his interpretation....and such a textural imbalance is justified as important by the very final notes heard as well! One of the cleverest things about this composition I find, in terms of its humorous element, is when Chopin sets up one kind of 'mood' only to never resolve whichever section of music is in each 'mood' as a coherent piece within the larger composition. Instead an interruption to this mood occurs. It seems much like a musical equivalent to the punchline of a joke, where through wordplay the teller of the joke can cleverly deviate from the expectations of their audience and elicit laughter through surprise.

I really want some recommendations from you lot of interpretations of Chopin's Scherzos which are considered the best in bringing out the humour in the music.

[Mandryka]

The funniest is very rare, I'll upload it for you if you want, it's by Cortot, just Scherzos 2 and 3 from a concert in Japan in 1952.

I once heard Pogorelich say that he thought that Scherzo 2 is particularly hilarious, see whether his recording makes you laugh. It doesn't me.

[Mahlerian]

Not for its humor, but I've always had a special preference for the First Scherzo.  It's in B minor, no less!  The whole group is really a fine set of pieces, though.

[Jo498]

I like especially 1-3 a lot but I do not find any of them particularly humorous (compared e.g. to the second movement of Beethoven'S op.31/3). The Pogorelich disc is great but I'd say he is overall more on the serious side.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I listened to Pogorelich play the 2nd scherzo and found it particularly jocular in his interpretation. I looked at the scores as well and noticed certain tendencies each of the 4 scherzos have which can definitely be interpreted in a humorous way, especially when phrases suddenly stop after a series of running notes. However I find that only Pogorelich so far has any real success in bringing out these elements in a humorous way in the 2nd scherzo.

I hope not too many people have been playing these as more serious, less joking compositions because I feel that would ruin the phrasing, articulations and textural choices Chopin has made when composing these quirky pieces.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

As a separate point, what I find really interesting is how in film and TV scores, composers use exactly the same kind of techniques that Chopin uses in these compositions to accompany humorous scenes. Setting up a pattern in order to suddenly deviate from it, sudden stops to a phrase, chromatic scales, brief tonicisations for humorous effect especially at the end of a section of music........all which can be especially found in the 2nd Scherzo.

Perhaps one of my favourite uses of 'funny music' which uses all these same techniques is in this scene from a Doctor Who episode from 2010...........

https://www.youtube.com/v/Oo2RKAHu-kI

It would probably be only coincidental that both Chopin and a TV composer (Murray Gold in this case) create humour in music in a similar way, but if these are all common tropes in music which is intended to be funny then I suppose it is all the more reason to interpret Chopin's Scherzos in that way too.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The funniest is very rare, I'll upload it for you if you want, it's by Cortot, just Scherzos 2 and 3 from a concert in Japan in 1952.

I once heard Pogorelich say that he thought that Scherzo 2 is particularly hilarious, see whether his recording makes you laugh. It doesn't me.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! Cortot's performance of the 2nd Scherzo actually did succeed in making me laugh out loud!

https://www.youtube.com/v/0RCfNiP0-GM

[Drasko]

Katsaris perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/v/D04p7zC-imo

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Katsaris perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/v/D04p7zC-imo

This one seems a little bit bland and uninspired to me in its musicality........I am avoiding watching the actual videos of pianists but I did see some of his facial expressions at times and it looked as if he was trying to capture light-heartedness in the music and the almost clownish aspects of it, but it doesn't come across as well when actually hearing the music.