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I am making these midi files (The Complete Nocturnes of Chopin) available now(rather than later) because I have reached a point of diminishing returns in theirediting. That is, theoretically the pieces can always come closer still to the way Ithink they ought to be interpreted--but not by so much that it justifies my spending

all that much more effort on it. Although it was fun while it lasted, it's timeto workon something else now.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright (P) 1999 Mr. S. D. Rodrian

Although any transcription of Chopin's music is by definition in thePublic Domain, these 'interpretations' ARE copyrighted as performances:This music may not be reproduced by any means without the expressed writtenpermission of S. D. Rodrian... with the one exception that these Midi files maybefreely distributed through the WWW as long as they are not modified in any way.

As a point of departure you must understand that I use the SoundBlasterAWE32 card (on a P.120 PC): This card comes with digitally sampledinstruments. [I use Master Tracks Pro.]

On other software (provided the hardware is capable of digitally-sampledinstruments), if you don't know how to avoid the FM banks of computer-generatedinstruments try the Midi Mapper (which might have been properly programmedwith your card's wave table instruments).

These files are set to a minimum 'stereo' pan. The following set of 'controls'instructions are for the AWE32 card, but users of other cards may deduce theeffect I'm after from them...

for the CREATIVE MIXER: set the Treble, Bass, and MIDI Volumes totheir loudest possible settings. Then set MAIN VOLUME to play at your ownpaticular comfort level. NOTE that the note 'velocities' in these files are setto theloudest possible setting (whenever and wherever possible).Set all right/left 'balances' as close as possible to the center.

for the AWE32 CONTROL PANEL: Use the Qsound (not Reverb andChorus).

for the BOB (break-out box): Make sure all the controller 'boxes' (under the M's

)are unchecked... Save this setting to the default.bob file if need be: When anybox is 'checked' it interferes with the controller information sent by the midifiles forproper playback....

* * *

There is the Chopin of the music boxes and the Chopin of the dreamy-eyedRomantic, all very sweet and lovely... and then there is the serious composerof some of the world's greatest works for the piano. Unfortunately, theplaying tradition for Chopin is, for the most part, introspection almost to thepoint where oftentimes an interpreter will plays the music inside his/her own

head and only allow his/her fingers to give an audience hints of the piecehe/she is playing. (Yes, I've even heard Bach played this way, but it's usuallyChopin who is the victim most victimized.)

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And so, as a departure, these particular interpretations of mine are as musicalas I know how to make them ('musical' in the sense that my interpretationsare always intended to make the music as easily understood by the audienceas I can manage it). A major component of this is to eliminate as many of theinterpreter's peculiar eccentricities as possible so that the music alone comesthrough.

This approach is like giving the audience itself access to the score (as opposedto forcing them to try to figure out exactly what it is the interpreter wantsthem to see in the music).

I myself have always preferred to be given the chance to figure out the'meaning' of a piece of music on my own--If you like, you can read (below)some of these 'poetical meanings' which have crossed my mind... or you cansimply skip those and just sit back, listen, and find all sorts of meanings ofyour own in the infinitely meaningful treasury that is the music of Chopin.

PLEASE NOTE: When I was preparing these pieces on my computer I used aspecial group of setting and one commercial sound card in particular: The AWE64card.

These are the settings I used (if you wish to recreate the sound I was hearing whilepreparing these piano sonatas):

Windows 98 audio controls (open the little speaker icon in the tray): Click on thelever you wish to work on--The following values will make the settings moreexactly like mine:

MIDI BALANCE:Push the lever all the way down then PAGE-UP 3 times

VOLUME CONTROL:Push the lever all the way down then PAGE-UP 2 times

followed by 16 DOWN ARROWs

Then, click on the ADVANCED button:

BASS: PAGE-DOWN to "high" followed by 2 PAGE-UPs

TREBLE: PAGE-DOWN to the highest setting

For the ADVANCED AUDIO PROPERTIES (under PERFORMANCE):

Choose FULL AND BEST for WAVE IN

For The AWE CONTROL:

REVERBERATION: PLATE (or ROOM 3 is also acceptable)

CHORUSING: SHORT DELAY

EFFECT: TREBLE = +12dB

BASS = +8dB

NOTE that these settings are for the piano font only... Other instrument fonts

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will sound weird with these settings and it's best to avoid ANY Reverberationand Chorusing with them.Search:Classical Music Books Popular Music Video

Enter keywords...

Nocturne No. 1 E minor Op. 72, 1 (posth.) (Br. 19 composed 1827)R-C-NO01.MID

It's truly amazing to realize Chopin was only 17 when he came up with thismarvelous musical idea. The drama here is of almost operatic proportions;and, in fact, few moment in opera are its equal. But every last little bit ofsong by this composer always seems to be spectacularly gorgeous.

Nocturne No. 2 in C sharp minor "Lento con gran espressione"R-C-NO02.MID

One looks at a piece of music through one's personality, and my personalityrides a perennial high-horse which to despair dismounts its rider seldomly... Ialways pick myself up quickly enough when afoot. So this passionate song

has always struck me as quite filled with almost delicious youth and joy.

Nocturne No. 3 in B flat minor Op. 9, 1 (Br. 54 composed 1830-31/spring)R-C-NO03.MID

Probably the most evocative of night of all the nocturnes, one can sense herethe unstoppable sweep of some all-conquering force of Nature (although noless the overwhelming seas as the advancing night, or evening/dawn)... And soit's all too easy to overlook how full of human passion this piece really is.Too many interpreters overlook the fact that there is already enough of thenight in this music and that consequently it may not be at all helpful if theythemselves also add their bit of it.

Nocturne No. 4 in E Flat Major Op. 9, 2 (Br. 54 composed 1830-31/spring)R-C-NO04.MID

Easily the most popular piece in the cycle, unfortunately it is also too oftenplayed (on the piano) as if it were a work for the violin, elongating itsbittersweetness, yes, but also denuding it of much of its thrilling shimmer.This is a very delicately-drawn aria forever bursting forth with very personalemotions.

Nocturne No. 5 in B Major Op. 9, 3 (Br. 54 composed 1830-31/spring)R-C-NO05.MID

We have, in this nocturne, almost a carrousel spinning the world out of sight:For a moment we forget everything, lost in this sweet ride. There is a sectionfilled with troubled thoughts, perhaps, as if the carrousel had momentarilyspun out of control--But it's momentary... soon enough the sweet ride takesup where it left off... ending in a (successful?) slow reach for the brass ring.

Nocturne No. 6 in F Major Op. 15, 1 (Br. 55 composed 1830-31)R-C-NO06.MID

The 6th nocturne is a kind of a mini force of Nature: Threads of clouds, asudden storm, followed by everything clearing away before we've even hadthe time to reflect on exactly what it was that hit us.

Nocturne No. 7 in F Sharp Major Op. 15, 2 (Br. 55 composed 1830-31/spring)R-C-NO07.MID

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This work is as pensive as one of those solitary walks where the walker ishardly ever aware of the world around him--and suddenly the flight of hismind takes him so high above the reality around him that it wakes him. Andhe discovers he's God-knows where... from where he must find his way home.

Nocturne No. 8 in G minor Op. 15, 3 (Br. 79 composed 1833)R-C-NO08.MID

This is an oddly monolithic piece: filled with stark Greek islands under ascorching Sun... and contrasting cool marble statuary.

Nocturne No. 9 in C sharp minor Op. 27, 1 (Br. 91 composed 1835)R-C-NO09.MID

The 9th nocturne is at once so tender and passionate, at once so delicate andassertive that I can never touch upon this piece without feeling that I'vesomehow intruded upon Chopin's privacy.

Nocturne No. 10 in D Flat Major Op. 27, 2 (Br. 96 composed 1835/autumn)

R-C-NO10.MID

On the other hand, the 10th nocturne is a wonderful dance as only the best ofthe impressionist painters could conceive of one.

Nocturne No. 11 in B Major Op. 32, 1 (Br. 106 composed 1836-37)R-C-NO11.MID

Joy and humor fill the 11th nocturne, which is almost a coy chase betweenlovers through some delightful private garden. It has a shockingly darkconclusion, though; as if it were Chopin's commentary on the short-livednature of human happiness.

Nocturne No. 12 in A Flat Major Op. 32, 2 (Br. 106 composed 1836-37)R-C-NO12.MID

This work is a wild and exhilarating ride on some impossibly wondrousstallion. It seems to start and conclude on the musical equivalent of thewell-known equestrian rearing up on the animal's hind legs... perhapsaccentuating the fact that the thrilling ride really leads nowhere but rightback to where it all took off from.

Nocturne No. 13 in C minor (Br. 108 composed 1837)R-C-NO13.MID

This is the most dispassionate work in the cycle. An (unpublished) work thatgoes along for the ride like a child skipping through the morning on her wayto some delight or other to be had at the end of her journey.

Nocturne No. 14 in G minor Op. 37, 1 (Br. 119) composed 1838R-C-NO14.MID

The 14th nocturne is more obviously overwhelmed with some unspokendarkness which the composer seems to be trying to break through... amelancholy journey which in the end seems almost to swallow itself.

Nocturne No. 15 in G Major Op. 37, 2 (Br. 127 composed 1839/7/2)R-C-NO15.MID

And so it is most fitting that the very next nocturne should be a joyous affairalternating between dances and episodes of sheer, unadulterated fun.

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Nocturne No. 16 in C minor Op. 48, 1 (Br. 142 composed 1841/10)R-C-NO16.MID

The 16th nocturne is nothing short of majestic: An almost Napoleonic call toarms which quickly becomes carried away with dizzying heights ofmegalomania until we march away to what Waterloo?

Nocturne No. 17 in F sharp minor Op. 48, 2 (Br. 142 composed 1841/10)R-C-NO17.MID

This great lyrical piece sweeps on as involved and involving as the rushingcurrents of a stream (with a middle section full of white water and rockyoutcrops)... back to the hasty, almost unstoppable rush it sought from thestart, and, apparently, ever seeks down to its rushing conclusion.

Nocturne No. 18 in F minor Op. 55, 1 (Br. 152 composed 1843)R-C-NO18.MID

This is undeniably the familiar stroll of the window shopper... a going fromone casual object to the other with (surely) no real intent to commit oneselfto anything in particular (in spite of the fact that there is a section giving thematter some serious thought)... until, maybe tired out, in the end we simplyhead back home.

Nocturne No. 19 in E Flat Major Op. 55, 2 (Br. 152 composed 1843)R-C-NO19.MID

A dizzyingly Romantic episode whose only fault is its briefness, the 19thnocturne teases us with breathtaking sweeps of some runaway love thatsomehow could never be destined to die.

Nocturne No. 20 in B Major Op. 62, 1 (Br. 161 composed 1846)R-C-NO20.MID

Easily the greatest of the nocturnes (I would have no qualms saying this greatmusical thought is the equal of any of the greatest works by Beethoven), thispiece is as profoundly human as anything else ever written for the piano.There is a tinge of the snowy Winter here, but it strikes one as oddly distantas if we were staring at the falling snow across a window pane all the wayfrom within somewhere warm inside us.

Nocturne No. 21 in E Major Op. 62, 2 (Br. 161 composed 1846)R-C-NO21.MID

A fitting conclusion to this cycle, this great work never fails to evoke in me asense of what might have been... had this great musical genius not died at theso relatively young age of 39. It has that same nostalgic quality alsofound in the fifth fugue of the WTC Book I by Bach; and I always prefer anextended moment of silence immediately after its conclusion.

S D Rodrian