Pianist

Questionab­le fingering

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I have been studying the fingering of Streabbog’s Whirlwind inside issue 119 and wonder why 1-3-1-3 keeps appearing rather than, say, 1-2-3-4. I appreciate that 1-2-3 are the stronger fingers, but Chopin wrote his similar chromatic-scale étude for the top three fingers (3-4-5) whilst preventing 1-2 helping them by having them come in at every beat below the other fingers. In his Rhapsodie espagnole, Liszt even has scales with fingerings of 1-2-3-4-5, presumably for greater velocity and less change of position. I would think something similar is needed in Brahms’s Concerto No 2 in the semi-arpeggio figuration­s (first movement) and then later with the rapid scales in thirds in the last movement. Perhaps an item on such ‘unusual’ fingerings could be included?

John Greenaway, Earley

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