Waltz, Op. 64 No. 1 (“Minute”)
Recordings
Historical and comparison recordings, outside the concert’s running order.
- Waltz in D♭ major, Op. 64 No. 1 (“Minute”)Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano (Steinway) · 5 April 19232:01
Rachmaninoff recorded Chopin’s Minute Waltz for Victor in 1923, one composer-pianist playing the music of another. A long melody and an unaccompanied trill interrupt the famous circling notes.
Listening notes
- Opening, right hand alone
At first only the right hand plays, a quick figure circling A♭, marked leggiero. The bass then enters with a single low note followed by two chords, marking the three beats of the bar. The melody continues in running notes over this accompaniment.
- Victor recording, April 1923
On 5 April 1923 Rachmaninoff recorded this waltz for Victor. The same day’s sessions included his recording of a piano arrangement of Strauss’s The Blue Danube.
- Unaccompanied trill, bars 69–77
The accompaniment stops. The right hand plays a long trill alone while the left hand rests. The running quaver figure then returns, still without accompaniment.
- Waltz in D♭ major, Op. 64 No. 1 (“Minute”)Olga Gurevich, piano · c. 20141:47
Chopin’s Waltz in D♭ major, Op. 64 No. 1, known as the Minute Waltz, opens with a figure turning on a few notes before a longer melodic phrase enters. Olga Gurevich recorded it for Musopen’s Set Chopin Free project.
Listening notes
- Opening, right hand alone
The right hand circles A♭, dipping to G♮ and rising to B♭, and plays alone for four bars. The left hand then enters with the waltz accompaniment, a low bass note followed by two chords, while the right-hand figure continues.
- Recording, Musopen’s Set Chopin Free
Olga Gurevich’s performance belongs to Musopen’s Set Chopin Free project. Musopen has released the recording into the public domain, so anyone may copy it, teach with it or pass it on.
- Return of the opening figure
The circling quavers return unaccompanied. The left hand enters forte at bar 78, and three bars later the opening tune rises above the quavers again.
- Waltz in D♭ major, Op. 64 No. 1 (“Minute”)Muriel Nguyen Xuan, piano · 20072:00
Muriel Nguyen Xuan plays Chopin’s Waltz in D♭ major, Op. 64 No. 1, the Minute Waltz, on a Yamaha grand, in a recording made by Stéphane Magnenat in 2007. Between the fast outer sections, a melody marked sostenuto runs over the same three-beat bass.
Listening notes
- Opening, bars 1–12
Molto vivace, very lively; leggiero, lightly. Chopin begins with quavers turning around A♭. The left hand rests for four bars, then plays a bass note and two chords in each bar, and the right hand soon rises into a tune.
- Nguyen Xuan and Magnenat recording, 2007
Nguyen Xuan played a Yamaha grand, and Magnenat recorded her with two AKG microphones and Audacity running on Linux. The recording dates from their collaboration in 2007. They released it under both their names with a licence that allows free sharing.
- Final descent and cadence
The right hand leaps up an octave, then runs down through a group of twenty-four notes. For most of the descent the left hand does not play. The waltz ends on a D♭ in the right hand over a bass chord, closing in D♭ major.