Contrapunctus

Compare performersFrédéric Chopin

Chopin, Étude Op. 25 No. 6: Neeman and Paderewski

Étude in G♯ minor, Op. 25 No. 6

Neeman and Paderewski play the right hand’s fast thirds, marked sotto voce, above the slower melody in the left hand.

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Recordings in
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2014Reference recording

Edward Neeman

Neeman developed a modification to the sostenuto mechanism that allowed the piano’s sostenuto and damper pedals to be combined in new ways.

2:10
1923Performance 02

Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Four years after serving as Poland’s prime minister, Paderewski recorded this étude in Camden, New Jersey, on 4 May 1923.

2:10
Selected recordingEdward Neeman, c. 2014
0:00 / 2:10

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The comparison

The right hand begins with a trill in thirds, two notes sounding together at every turn. The pairs soon race up and down while the left hand carries a slower melody. Chopin writes sotto voce above the notes, so Paderewski and Neeman have to play this fast finger-work in an undertone.

Tempo

Tempo map

Time taken compared with Edward Neeman, c. 2014: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.

Time taken compared with the reference recordingEach gold line follows a performer. Above 1×, the recording takes longer over the same music. Numbered lines mark the passages below.0.5×0.75×1×1.25×1.5×1.75×0:000:301:001:302:001. Thirds above a slower voice · 0:1212. Left-hand melody beneath thirds · 0:4423. Scales in pairs · 1:253Edward Neeman, c. 2014 (reference)Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1923
The reference recording’s clock runs left to right. Each line is smoothed over about eight seconds; pauses can create peaks. Numbers mark the passages below.
  • Edward Neeman, c. 2014 · reference
  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1923
Passages

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.

  1. 01

    Thirds above a slower voice

    0:12 in the reference

    The right hand plays paired notes above the slower left-hand line.

  2. 02

    Left-hand melody beneath thirds

    0:44 in the reference

    The left hand plays a broad melody while the right continues its closely spaced pairs.

  3. 03

    Scales in pairs

    1:25 in the reference

    The right hand plays thirds up and down the keyboard while the left hand continues its phrase underneath.

Durations

Length of each recording

  1. Edward Neeman, c. 20142:10
  2. Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 19232:10

These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.

Performers and sessions

Recording notes

Sources & method

Further reading

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.

  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1923: match score 0.875. Matched passages available.

Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.