Lenny Tinturin recorded several pieces long ago for the International Recording Competitions, where everyone had to submit a direct-to-disc (vinyl) recording to the judges, without any filters or edits. Therefore, some of these recordings are scratchy and not touched up. Lenny won three gold medals in these competitions, one for each division! In fact, Lenny played in, and won first place, in over 37 national and international competitions. Here, you will hear the Chopin Etude Opus 25 Number 12 in C minor “Ocean”, also known as Chopin’s Ocean Etude, and also known as Chopin’s most difficult, not just due to the number of notes, but the speed required and to play it musically and artistically as Chopin would have wanted it. Lenny certainly accomplishes this. Frederic Chopin (1810–1849); French in full Frédéric François Chopin, Polish Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen, (born March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw [now in Poland]—died October 17, 1849, Paris, France) The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of études (solo studies) for the piano published during the 1830s. There are twenty-seven compositions overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Op. 10 and Op. 25, and a set of three without opus number. Chopin’s Études formed the foundation for what was then a revolutionary playing style for the piano. They are some of the most challenging and evocative pieces of all the works in concert piano repertoire. Because of this, the music remains popular and is often performed on both concert and private stages. Some are so popular they have been given nicknames; among the most popular is Op. 10, No. 3, sometimes identified by the names Tristesse (“Sadness”) or “Farewell” (L’ Adieu), as well as the “Revolutionary Étude” (Op. 10, No. 12), “Black Keys” (Op. 10, No. 5), “Winter Wind” (Op. 25, No. 11), and “Ocean” (Op. 25, No. 12). No nicknames are of Chopin’s original creation. All twenty-seven études were published during Chopin’s lifetime; Op. 10, the first group of twelve, were composed between 1829 and 1832 and were published in 1833, in France, Germany, and England. The twelve études of Op. 25 were composed at various times between 1832 and 1835 and were published in the same countries in 1837.