F. Chopin, arranged by Michael D. Knopf
Bergmann Edition: 4 pages (score only)
Having always said that Chopin does work successfully on guitars, no matter how many parts there are, I have now just been proved wrong, because I forgot about this particular small Prelude in Em.The fact that is does indeed work is that it is one of the very few pieces by Chopin that don’t have a mobile left hand part going up and down the full length of the keyboard the whole time, which of course, is impossible on our guitar.
This little work has a left hand part (and therefore guitar 2 here) that is simply a chord and nothing else whilst the melody is nearly all single notes (there are a very small number of exceptions) and so is equally manageable for a guitar and so is here on guitar 1.
Therefore everything works really well and is carefully and nicely fingered so that the best can be achieved with this piece by following them. It is a short work, only 26 bars, but I think it is a fine arrangement that a less talented duo would get some pleasure from. Incidentally the cover has that only known photograph of Chopin which is almost worth getting for that reason alone!
Chris Dumigan
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