Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Members Recordings - Pianist Corner Re: Rachmaninoff, Prelude Op. 23, No. 10 NEW RECORDING

In response to the critics, in this newer recording I tried to better distinguish foreground melody from background accompaniment for better clarity of line. Hopefully it will resolve the issue.

LINK:

http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=49184.msg535413#msg535413

Simply click on the second (lower) music file to hear it.

Thanks.

David

Hi, David! Well, I listened to the old and the new recording back-to-back, just to make sure I was properly "grounded" -- and I think that there's no question that the new recording is far superior to the first. Here I can hear the singing line (really lines) throughout, and the shaping and phrasing is far more natural to my ear. I still have a couple of general suggestions -- I think you're accelerating somewhat too much in measures 19 - 29: I hear continued "singing" throughout that section, in an operatic sense, and while there is indeed an increased urgency towards the "ff" climax, I think it needs to give the "singers" time to achieve the "big moment". My other cavil is I don't hear enough of the left hand melody in the restatement of the original material, relative to the right hand -- to me, BOTH melodies need to be heard with equivalent power, although you voiced the soprano line just beautifully.

In addition, I'd like to hear more "softs", more whispers -- but, like you say, I don't think you have the piano to do that.
Overall, a really nice improvement, and thanks for sharing this!

Hi Tim,

Yes, in the restatement it's almost contrapuntal duet there, and the LH melody has equal rights to its melody being at a like volume to the RH. Whereas the objective was to thin the texture and separate foreground from background, I probably was more biased toward the RH part. I appreciate your revisiting this, and am glad that you found this rendition generally superior and more to your liking than the earlier one. Thanks!

The piano tuner worked on the key dip and let-offs. So I'm still adjusting to that touch change now, as was the case in doing the newer recording. It should improve the ability to get a broader range of dynamics.

David

Every time I have significant work done on my piano, I feel like I have a "new" piano. Did your tech put teflon powder on the jack knuckles? That can seriously effect the speed and sensitivity of touch, too!

The second link is by far the better of the two. I am curious, though. Why does that link say "april"?

Hi Cinnamonbear,

Thanks for that compliment on my playing.

I haul out the action and brush teflon powder, using a small artist brush, on the knuckles myself once a year. While the action is out, I then slightly adjust the leveling of the hammers down or up as necessary, and then tighten the action screws for all 88 keys.

April is my last name. I also post at Piano Society. (You can find my musical bio there on the Artist page.) They have strict rules on tagging recordings including the file name format. Their convention is also to use consistently Rachmaninov rather than Rachmaninoff. Piano Street has no such rules, so I simply used the same file name that I had previously used to post at Piano Society. Once posted there, I certainly could have changed the file name again before putting it on Piano Street, but forgot to do so. Usually I do change it though to just composer, opus and number.

David April

LOL! Thank you, David! That certainly helps me put the timeline back in order! I was about to give you a compliment for a prescient performance in your archives--one that predicted the comments in the other thread.

Anyway, kudos, again, for honing a new performance. Steel sharpens steel.

--Andy Strong

Hi Andy,

I don't plan on a third recording of this prelude, but am glad that you enjoyed the second one. It's drawn some really good comments, and I'm glad of that. It did get you to wondering about the file name though ha-ha!

David