Cortot Editions Of Chopin Etudes

Hi I have the both the Cortot editions of op10 /25 etudes. All the suggestions of excersises as preliminary to each study seem favour the finger action school. I have tried a couple of the excersises (op10.no1/no2) of which there are many. I did so reluctantly as I tend to try to solve my own problems with physical organisation etc. The most useful piece of information thats helped me with those studies has been the thumb as a stabiliser which I've learnt from this forum and the dvd/books. Has anyone found the Cortot editions useful? I'd love to hear what other people's experiences have been with Cortot editions. Many thanks Sharon

Hi I used those editions in my teens and I made a lot of progress with them. Those editions forces you to really study the difficulties and analyze them and rythmizise and all that so it's beneficiary for the mind. The risk in my view is that they alone will not give you speed an accuracy-on the contrary- especially with les études you need to use all the technical creativity you have. Back then everybody was going around with these editions and now they are forgotten at the same time the average technical skill has improved tremendously so... Used to play Isodor Philipp "Exercices de tenues", an older colleage of Cortot, these are probably totally forbidden nowadays and can cause great injury, but I liked them and many of Isodors pupils became really good pianists I beleive around 1920. If I had read Alans books back then I would have used those editions completely different from what I did more as means to exercise tahi-chi-walking, standing up, legato, tone-differentiation etc. Eric

This hits the nail on the head. Cortot was a genius but his greatness is not really well-communicated in the exercises he gives. They are but a faint reflection of the gold that I've received from Phil Cohen (a Cortot 'grandson'). But they can be useful if you use them as a springboard, an opportunity to try out all sorts of ways of using the hand. Done pedantically, they can cramp the hand, increasing tension instead of dissipating it. Thanks for the question Sharon which is actually very difficult to answer well. AFF