Compare performersFrédéric Chopin
Chopin, Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2: Pachmann and Lévy
Nocturne in D♭ major, Op. 27 No. 2
Pachmann and Lévy each play two voices with one hand.
Recordings in
this comparison
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Vladimir de Pachmann
Pachmann plays his own Baldwin at Hayes, with extra notes in bars 30–32.
Frank Lévy
Lévy’s teachers included Maria Tipo and Leon Fleisher; this nocturne comes from his Musopen Chopin project.
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The first D♭ major melody is a single line above an accompaniment of broken left-hand figures. The right hand soon adds a second voice in thirds and sixths, and the melody is more heavily ornamented at each return.
Tempo map
Time taken compared with Frank Lévy, c. 2014: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.
- Vladimir de Pachmann, 1925
- Frank Lévy, c. 2014 · reference
Passages compared
Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.
- 01
Opening melody
0:05 in the referenceThe melody begins on F above broken chords in D♭ major. The right hand holds long notes over six-note figures in the left hand.
- 02
Melody in thirds
0:42 in the referenceThe right hand plays the melody in thirds as the bass moves towards B♭ minor.
- 03
First return of the melody
1:56 in the referenceF returns above a low D♭. The opening melody returns, with new ornaments on its long notes.
- 04
Third statement of the melody
3:26 in the referenceThe melody returns for the third time; its continuation becomes a long flourish that climbs and falls across the keyboard.
- 05
Coda over a D♭ pedal
4:40 in the referenceThe bass holds D♭ while pairs of notes descend above it, marked dolcissimo — very sweetly.
Length of each recording
- Vladimir de Pachmann, 19254:36
- Frank Lévy, c. 20146:17
These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.
Recording notes
Vladimir de Pachmann, 1925
Pachmann plays his own Baldwin at Hayes, with extra notes in bars 30–32.
Vladimir de Pachmann, piano (his own Baldwin)
26 June 1925, Hayes
Frank Lévy, c. 2014
Lévy’s teachers included Maria Tipo and Leon Fleisher; this nocturne comes from his Musopen Chopin project.
Frank Lévy
c. 2014
Further reading
- Internet Archive — recording item
- Alan Kelly — Gramophone Bb/Cc matrix series
- The Gramophone, December 1925, pp.338–339
- Nigel Nettheim — Pachmann’s 26 June 1925 session, Baldwin and added notes
- Frank Lévy — teachers and Musopen Chopin project
- Lévy — Musopen recording; date approximate
- Mieczysław Tomaszewski — solo melody and answering thirds and sixths
- Chopin — Op. 27 No. 2, Debussy edition (1915), transcribed by Mutopia
How the recordings are matched
The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.
- Vladimir de Pachmann, 1925: match score 0.954. Matched passages available.
Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.