For years, I have wanted to feature Chopin’s “Prelude in E Minor” because it truly is one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the history of the world.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a recording of it that I like. It’s possible (likely) that I’m too picky, but every recorded version of Chopin’s piece feels too fast, or too precious, or too emotionally over-cooked. It’s as if no pianist who tackles the prelude is able to set themselves aside and let the music stand on its own.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no Chopin on this list.
I’ve managed to loophole the Chopin issue a bit by featuring various modern re-interpretations of his work. Jon Batiste brought a nocturne to New Orleans, Òlafur Arnalds saw Chopin through the lens of Icelandic minimalism, and Jim Perkins fed the Prelude in E Minor into a digital shredder just to see what would happen. I love all those tracks. But part of me wanted to keep looking.
So this week, because I never learn, I re-committed myself to finding the perfect recording of Chopin’s “Prelude in E Minor”. I combed the internet, convinced that there was a version out there that I could get behind.
The bad news: I didn’t. The good news: Scott Twynholm.
His newly-released “Prelude in E Minor” feels less like a re-interpretation of Chopin and more like the kind of music he would be making if he were alive today. It’s not a remix or a shoe-horning of one genre into another. It’s a beautiful song in its own right, a song that echoes Chopin, rather than imitating him.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The repeated quarter notes in the left hand at the opening are a simplified reflection of the triads that keep the pace in Chopin’s Prelude.
2. It’s deeply melancholic, but will occasionally flip to the relative major key for a brief glimpse of hope, before slamming the door again.
3. About 70 seconds in, we begin to hear ghostly echoes of a guitar played with an e-bow; a gadget that uses a magnet to make the strings vibrate. Somewhere, I’ll bet Frédéric Chopin is wishing he’d thought of that.
Recommended listening activity:
Using your finger to trace the paths of raindrops as they make their way down a window.