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John Bayless' transcription of White Christmas(see link at bottom):
http://www.amazon.com/White-Christmas/dp/B000VA1TDQ

and a transcription of this song by Libera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNgd-kue_Fc

Almost impossible to practice; getting the house ready for visiting family, plus I still have some Christmas party jazz gigs to play. But occasionally I'll sneak in snippets of the last movement of Schubert's D.959 and the first movement of Mozart's K310. Ah, sanity.

OT: My Xmas music of choice this year is Juan Diego Florez's "Santos" disc. Absolutely wonderful.............

Lee Luvisi says about this concerto something along the lines of if you can really play the opening few measures of this concerto, you can play the entire thing.

There was a video of many pianists playing the opening of Beethoven 4, kind of like the 16 pianists doing the Tchaikovsky 1st concerto 3rd movement octaves, but I don't know if it's still up on YouTube or not...

I'm basically self-taught and that is not the best path to success. I am trying to polish some of the more pop-oriented Christmas carols like "Merry Christmas, Darling" by the Carpenters, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Christmas Time is Here" from the Charlie Brown Christmas, etc. I also keep trying to add a little jazz flavor to a lot of my favorites from the great American songbooks and play the easier Chopin waltzes, nocturnes, and mazurkas, as well as sections of some of my favorites that are still out of reach like the Fantasy and the Berceuse. I keep trying to stretch myself to play some of the wonderful Busoni transcriptions of Bach as well. I guess I am an optimist in the pieces I work on. I probably never will play well. My apologies to the composers I injure. Merry Christmas to everyone here on Piano World.

Since early November I've been working on Beethoven's "Tempest" sonata, Op 31 #2 for the first time.

I have been working on various "chunks" of the piece, trying to get them musical and up to speed. My piano teacher advises a lot of metronome practice, and working on my articulation. Overall, I've set a challenge to myself to use as little pedal as possible (particularly in Mov 1 and 3).

Progress is slow for me, but I feel, given how I'm able to play certain passages (the last 40 measures or so of Mov 1, for instance, and the "arpeggiated section" of Mov 2) that I'll eventually be able to manage the whole thing in such a way that doesn't send the dogs in my neighborhood cowering under porches.


Here's where I've run up against some challenges so far:

In Movement 1: For me the fortissimo tremolos- two notes/one note- at the start of the development are very tough to pull off cleanly. The transition to the triplet tremolos right at the exposition of the section theme is also very difficult- I have to borrow a little time to pull it off.

The "fantasia-like" section (triplets again) at the end of the development was pretty tough for me, especially because it features "triplet sixteenths"- the fastest notes in the piece. But then, on the advise of members of this forum, I split up the workload of the hands differently and it got considerably easier.

Overall this movement is not as tough as I imagined it would be. It's very fun to play.

In movement 2: Most the hand crossovers are tricky, especially when in the sections where one is playing those quick little tremolo octaves twice- once low, once high. Mentally, it's tough to keep the beat when making the crossover. Moreover, it's hard to play those tremolos pianissimo and still sound all the notes. The arpeggiated section takes a while to learn, but it flows nicely. Overall it's hard to play much of this movement quietly when called for especially in those awkward sections where the one has to perform a lot of finger swaps to maintain legato.

Interpretation of the whole movement is a challenge- as the tempo is quite slow and the emotional arc has to be held very carefully to be maintained.

In movement 3: The overall tempo is quite tough. (I'm shooting for ~80 bpm per measure) The leaps in the left hand are often hard to pull off without borrowing a tiny bit of time. Thinking of the measures with these leaps as syncopated, which they clearly are (as the notes are held) makes it a bit easier.

I find the octave sections (especially that early one on the C-chord and its transposed companion later on) challenging. The trills also go by quite quickly; I find I have to "mash" them to get them at tempo.

The movement is quite long and the development is very homogeneous, making it difficult to interpret and to memorize.

I've referred to this movement several times as "Fur Elise on Steroids" because of the way it feels under the hands.

Wow. I'd watch that. I've always enjoyed programs of contemporary classical music that I've never heard before.

Have you tried this section blocking the 2+1 notes together, so that you play 4 chords per measure? It should make it much cleaner if you pay attention that your fingers land directly on the keys, and focus on where the chord changes. When this is solid, use mostly rotation to get your ff tremolo.



Funny, I had most of my problems on the two-note slurs on the first page, and you didn't mention that at all.

I'll give that a try. The thing I have most trouble with in those tremolos is getting the two note "chords" to play together when I'm rolling the tremolo. The 5 finger has more distance to cover than 3 when I roll my forearm. If I am, for instance playing the chord with fingers 3,5 and the single note with 1, I tend pivot on my 3 finger a bit and simply play 1-5-1-5-1 instead of 1-35-1-35-1 etc,.




Sitting down with it for the first time, I too had thought that it would be the most problematic part, but, ironically, it's fallen under my hand without too much trouble. Perhaps this is because I had, earlier in the year, played the (much easier) Chopin waltz Op 62 #2, and practiced some of the runs in this same slurred fashion.

What am I practicing?
- Schumann Kreisleriana
- Rachmaninoff "Spring Waters" (vocal accompaniment)
- Menotti Trio (piano, clarinet, violin)
- orchestra reduction of Grieg concerto

My teacher nixed my ambitious plan to play Liebermann Gargoyles or a Carl Vine sonata, and suggested instead Rzewski's "Down by the Riverside", or a Terry Riley set. (sigh) That's not at all the same kind of piece, so maybe I'll try for the Vine Bagatelles.

Ah, I see. Then I would also advise practicing the tremolo, but skip the 5th finger until the 1-3 part is working well. If the paired notes aren't coming together, look for a slightly different curve of the fingers so that it is easier to play together.

Brad, you might find my blog helpful as I'm working on the tempest too. Check it out: http://pianisticdevelopment.blogspot.com/

Apparently Scriabin 2 just got added to the list. Not sure about the Medtner anymore...

Btw we don't just practice all day, haha - you have to take into account performances - concerts, recitals etc, rehearsals (whether for work or non-paid ones), coachings, class, gigs, masterclasses, teaching, your own lessons. And, well, sometimes you do mind not having vacations - but then again, there will always be enough gin in the world =)

Why not, instead of listening to a recording, just open up the score and read it/play it in your head?

Good idea!

At least, its all music, so really it is practice in some form or the other! I'm not really complaining though, I like what I'm doing. Its just that my path is probably toward becoming a jack of all trades and master of none (I don't think its necessarily bad being Jack).

Oh, wait... I know you! We met at the Clintonville school. I was the guy that botched up the 3rd movement of the Pathetique. (It's come together since then.)

To confess: You're the reason I started working on the Tempest! I remembered after your (and Hector's) performance of it that enjoyed it! (In other words, you've created a monster.)

And, yes, the blog is interesting and helpful.

Interesting notes about the 3rd movement. I might try your 5-1-3-2 fingering for the A chord at the beginning. Right now, I've been playing 5-4-2-1 for both the D and the A with a little skip and a bit of emphasis on the second sixteenth note in each measure.

I'm still trying to settle articulation of each four note figure in the right hand. I've heard some pianists play the first the stacatto note as a distinct marcato- a bit louder. Some I've heard play it as a "dying" lift off. Others pedal the thing and/or hold it down. Some play the second note of the figure as the loudest.

I'm far from having notes down as well as you- though, in my defense, I am tackling all three movements at the same time. And I did start about a week after Hector's masterclass.

Awesome. I mean, the name was so very familiar..I should have guessed it was you! Well, its nice to meet you here on the forums!

Barenboim seems to use 5-5-2-1 for the D minor and 5-4-2-1 (as you've been doing) for the A major.

Try out different fingerings and decide what sounds/feels the best. My teacher pedals the whole thing down but I've decided not to do that. Good luck!

I don't have anything to say here, I just wanted to see how many levels deep the "quote nesting" could go before things descend into chaos.

Yeah, Hector, as I recall, suggested minimal pedaling. I tend to agree, since a lot of the musicality of the movement seems to be tied up in, well, the ties - or, should I say, the contrast between "tied chords" and plain arpeggiation. I think Beethoven is making contrasting sections by choosing to tie certain arpeggiated chords, and not tie others. Too much pedal blurs this distinction. (At least that's my justification...)

I watch the Barenboim videos as well- and they're great for fingering/technique pointers since the image is so clear when focused on his hands.

I've noted that Barenboim seems to do a lot of things that I don't think I'll be able to pull off- like playing the "fantasia-like" measures at the end of the development in time without breaking the arpeggios into two hands. Too bad the Kempf videos only show his face... I'd like to see how he does it.