The speed, the dotting, the descending LH octaves, the dense texture of staccato 16th’s, the triumphant harmonies--all that makes #10 a powerful piece of music. At Czerny’s tempo it’s a little too frenetic for my tastes, but with the quarter around 100 it’s quite exciting. Slowed down a bit and projected lightly #10 can be very good frappe music, and taking the obvious shortcut of eliminating the long notes you can get it quickly into your repertory. But by eliminating Czerny’s long-notes material I’m making the accompaniment (the 16ths) what the piece is about, something quite different from what Czerny had in mind.
Czerny’s A section repeats, so for the simplest ternary structure you only need 8 measures of his B section, and then a repeat of his A section that ends in the tonic.
Op 335 #10, 1st Version: quick, sharply accented 2/4, 16 sets of 8-count phrases
This is a performance of my ternary form shortcut arrangement, using only 16 measures of Czerny’s study, but expanded with repeats. I supply a score. At Czerny’s first repeat I switch hands--RH takes the 8va melody, LH takes the chords. This gives me 4 sets of 8 counts, which is now my A section. I decided to use Czerny’s mm 17-24 for my B section--it starts in the dominant of G (a nice change of color from the A section’s cadence in F) and conveniently ends in the dominant of Bb, getting me back to my A section. For the recapitulation I only need 8 measures of my A section. I chose mm 1-8 and rewrote the last four measures to cadence on the tonic. It will be noticed in my performance that I don’t play Czerny’s octave melody consistently in 16ths, but lengthen some of them for melodic interest.
A number of triple-time arrangements can be easily made of my 2/4 arrangement. An obvious and very simple procedure is to make each of Czerny’s measures a 6/8, dropping the third and seventh 16ths (notes in RH, rests in LH) and then recasting the six remaining 16ths (notes and rests) as 8ths.
Op 335 #10, 2nd Version: quick, light 6/8, 16 sets of 8-count phrases
This is my performance of my 1st Version recast in 6/8 by the process suggested above, and I provide a score. The melody and harmonic changes are now very quick, and I’ve further changed the character of Czerny’s study by eliminating the octaves and playing the melody with single notes. This makes the piece very light and elfin, and of course easier to manage at quick tempos. Incidentally, I introduced some “long note” material of my own in the bass of the B section to soften the texture a little, and, as with my 2/4 arrangement, I play ad libitum through the rests in the melody line.