While the subject is of necessity
foreshortened, he says some practical things about the use of the
pedals in Chopin's music. He speaks of this very study in F minor
and the enchanting way Rubinstein and Essipowa ended it--the echo-
like effects on the four C's, the pedal floating the tone. The
pedals are half the battle in Chopin playing. ONE CAN NEVER PLAY
CHOPIN BEAUTIFULLY ENOUGH. Realistic treatment dissipates his
dream palaces, shatters his aerial architecture. He may be played
broadly, fervently, dramatically but coarsely, never. I deprecate
the rose-leaf sentimentalism in which he is swathed by nearly all
pianists. "Chopin is a sigh, with something pleasing in it,"
wrote some one, and it is precisely this notion which has created
such havoc among his interpreters. But if excess in feeling is
objectionable, so too is the "healthy" reading accorded his works
by pianists with more brawn than brain. The real Chopin player is
born and can never be a product of the schools.
Schumann thinks the third study in F less novel in character,
although "here the master showed his admirable bravura powers.
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