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Is it alright if I start off this month? I've been working on John Cage's 4:33 for a while now. The work, for those unfamiliar with it, is in three movements:

I - Tacet
II - Tacet
III - Tacet

My best effort at recording it is here: 4:33 .

As you can hear, I seem to be having some trouble getting it up to speed. This recording comes in at about 4:48. I'm pretty sure the second movement is tripping me up, but even with slow deliberate practice I can't seem to increase the tempo beyond what is in the recording. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Ted

Nicely done Ted.
I think You captured the essence of Cage's intent; I agree the second movement is probably a bit slow but I wouldn't worry; as you play it, with time, it will settle in.

Thanks for sharing and starting april's piano bar.

BTW, any Sangria here ?

God Ted!!! That is SO INSPIRING!!! I think it's the best thing I've ever heard here on the forum. Cage was such a genius and you really captured the essence of what he was trying to say. Bravo!

Ted, I had to dig into my archives to find this but I think you will appreciate it. It's also a Cage work but I'm not sure of the title. I spilled tequila all over the manuscript and the title smeared. It's either "Launch the Sparrow", Lynch the Sparrow" or "Lunch at Sparrows". Or it could be "Look...a Sparrow!" Or if the word's not "sparrow" it could be "Look...I'm Shallow!" Either way it's a really tough piece to play (but not as challenging as yours). Maybe we should start a Cage study group?

It's a movie and as you can see I'm looking exceptionally musical.

http://www.telemarkeast.com/images/cage.MPG

hello
i'm learning the stream ...
this recording sounds a bit 'robotic'
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iuijAwkNec0&feature=user
however, i'm still making progress

SideShow - nice easy execution of the "stream" piece - sounded pretty good - like the Rachmaninoff quote too.

ted.stanion - I know Cage's 4:33 and (from what I could hear) that was not it (there's a resemblance, but only faint) - the real 4:33 doesn't have the extraneous backgroud accompaniment (footsteps, chatter, slamming doors, etc.) heard here in your version - instead it always has the random sounds of restless seat squirmming and nervous coughing.

Cage would not be proud of what you've done with his most minimal of the minimalist genre.

Regards,

JF

Ted, I hope I'm not the only one who kept turning his speakers up so that he could hear the music. Great April fool's joke!

Peyton, your April 1 joke was funny as well. Umm . . that was a joke, wasn't it?

SideShow, nice job on Streams. It sounds good to me.

I'm glad people generally liked my rendition of 4:33 . Thanks to John for pointing out that I need to work on my dynamics a little. I'll tell the girls to stop slamming their doors. At least the dog wasn't barking his fool head off like he usually does. Peyton's Cage technique, however, clearly outclasses mine.

On a serious note, I have been working on Grieg's Notturno for a couple of months. Here is a recording I made a week or so ago. I'm thinking of submitting this for the next recital, so I really would like comments on how to improve it.

Ted

Ted - very nice Grieg - never heard it before (but liked it) so I can't make any recommendations on how you could improve it (if, in fact, any are necessary). Why is it that I've always seemed to like everything by Grieg I've ever heard?

Sorry for the harsh critique of the Cage 4:33 - it's just that I've always been so fond of it and I know the real thing when I hear it (so to speak) and I wasn't hearing it here (so to speak).

Regards,

JF

Most pianists use a stop watch when they play 4:33.

But that usually leads to rushing the last few measures.

It's a little like trying to play the Minute Waltz in a minute.


Ted,

Your Grieg is beautifully played.

Very expressive and dynamic.

I think it's ready for Recital 10 now, but you could ask our resident Grieg expert, Ragnhild for some guidance.


Mel

Hi All,

A wee Scriabin ditty for the bar: his op 2 prelude, written in 1889 when he was still a teenager...

recording | the dots

It's played at all sorts of tempos (it's not marked with one), lasting from about forty seconds to over a minute. Mine's fairly slow because there is some tricky change-over fingering in the middle and I don't actually have much choice at the moment; I can only do it slow but I have a lesson on it soon...

I like Michie Koyama's interpretation:-

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jkW4VMDDP8M

Gotta love her smile at the long diminuendo...

Even though it's very early Scriabin and seamlessly romantic via Chopin et al, it still has hints of the things to come...

Here's my contribution to the April Piano bar. It's an easy, fun piece which was written by Willard A. Palmer, one of the 3 compilers of the Alfred's Adult All-In-One series of methods popular with a number of people here in the ABF.

This is from the Level 2 book and has a tempo indication of "Moderate Blues Tempo".

From the discussion in several threads here in the Forums this piece seems to be fairly well liked by the students of this series.

I've "embellished" my version somewhat. I sometimes play this to warm up or to regain some confidence after struggling with a more difficult work.

Hope you enjoy.

Light and Blue

Wow, LaValse your playing is absolutely lovely.

I certainly wouldn't want it any faster.

The piece should be luxuriated over, just the way you do.

Thanks for posting your wonderful recording.


Mel

I was digging through my piano's onboard "library" and found this piece that seems to be the most "polyphonous". It's a monstrous ragtime medley. I posted it on youtube for fun.

Enjoy.

FABULOUS RAGS MEDLEY

Ted,

I don't know that Grieg piece, but it surely sounds ready for the recital to me. It has to be pretty challenging to play, and you put feeling and expression into it. Great job.

LaValse, I think you did a terrific job on that little prelude. It's a beautiful little piece, and I really like it at the slightly slower tempo that you took.

JohnFrank,

That piece sounds familiar for some reason. I'll bet it's really fun to play around with. Sometimes I like to take really simple pieces and see what I can do to ruin them ... er ... embellish them.

I am quite enjoying these recordings!