Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Members Recordings - Pianist Corner Chopin Andante Spianato & Grand Polonaise Brilliante

This is a work that is rather more difficult to play than it seems. I have made a stab at mastering the element and many positives shine, but I am sure a chorus will agree more work is needed for a final polish!

Andante Spianato
https://www.box.com/s/cqjwaom9t83uz3xg40a2

Grand Polonaise Brilliante
https://www.box.com/s/kvmwdnooyexkz8f1wi2w

I'm a little too busy to listen right now, but later today I will post some feedback when I have time to listen carefully.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time listening carefully to BachMach2.

Poly: Before spending time, make sure to check out some of the replies to his prior posts.

Marc_C :

Surely you wouldn't want Polyphonist to approach this listening experience with any pre-conceived notions, would you, based on impressions of previous "performances" from this member? Why not let him come to it open-minded?

I, for one, find myself at a loss for words in this instance, therefore I eagerly await a searching review and detailed critique from one who hesitates not to say what he thinks.

Cheers!

All right. I'm going to be listening to the performance now. I'm just going to do a running commentary as I listen, and then listen once more afterwards while reading through my comments.
Here goes!

...

After listening to about 20 seconds of it, I have one comment: Is this a joke? If it is, it's in very poor taste...and if it's not, well...







...no comment.


Sorry if I disappointed you.

Good job.
You figured it out about a month faster than any of the rest of us did.
And I think some members still aren't sure.

I've been researching some history here...and I have another question: why is this poster not banned yet?

I wondered that a bit too. I think the main answer is that our moderators and admins are very reluctant to take any such actions and have the bar set pretty high. (Or low, depending on how we want to look at it.)
Also we could say that while these posts are (presumably) basically fraudulent, they're harmless. Some people even find them amusing, and some even think they're pretty high humor (and I don't mean stoned, although I could.)
Still, if I were 'staff' (and I'm glad I'm not) I'd at least tell him to cut it out.

Good question !!!

Has he ever come back to respond on any one of his ridiculous threads?

He's probably always been too busy laughing.

I guess not-looks like his "All Posts" list is exactly the same as his "Topics Created" list.

Maybe if we just ignored his posts-he'd stop trolling.

The sad thing is that technically, he's recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas, and we haven't though....hahaaa

Thanks for mentioning that -- I never realized we had such a thing!

I could go right now, sit at the piano, and sight-read through the complete sonatas, and have a better recording than his.

Come to think of it, I could do that for any piece.

Words in parentheses are my own.

As always, BachMach2 delivers a stunning performance! Beautiful piano sound, wonderful recording equipment and techniques, brilliant acoustics, and the playing is of course, just marvelous. Wonderful pauses scattered throughout add to the meditative quality of Chopin's music, while extra notes not written in the score are added for a little extra dissonance where it is artistically useful.

I have extra tickets to the BachMach2 recital at Carnegie Hall next month, and I'll let them go for only $2000 each! Rumor has it there will be a specially selected Belarus (or perhaps it was Brambach; I can't recall) spinet piano with a concert tuning done by yours truly (with a full month of piano tuning experience) in my newly developed proprietary 'awful temperament!'

Sam - your tagline "You can play better than BachMach2." - Mark_C totally cracked me up!

High praise indeed!

Why would he be?

Yes.

No, it's not the same.

Let's hear it!

Hats off gentlemen. A genius i=performance!

Because some people have a sense of humor.

I wonder how they retain it through this poster's 60-odd ridiculous recordings.

The recordings and comments are meant to be ridiculous. That's the whole point.

This is not meant to be a ridiculous forum, so posting ridiculous things on it repeatedly seems quite unacceptable, no? Once, fine. 60 times, not so much.

I'm just waiting for a recording which is played really well....that would totally be the highlight of the year if it happened.

Well, he seems to be prolific so maybe in a "million monkeys on a million typewriters" kind of way it could happen.

Ultimately it just seems like a complete waste of the OP's time.

That wouldn't be necessary. All that would be needed would be for him to play how he can.
As opposed to how he "can."

We don't even know if it's a joke, he may just be the worst pianist on the planet.

Listen closely. There are many tell-tale signs that belie BachMach2's true talent. He is a far better pianist than he is showcasing for us here. Listen for the clues if you dare. Otherwise, simply enjoy the "art." Or not.

Accidents?

Crisper page turns than ever before! Well done!

Forrest

I take umbrage at that statement. I reserve that title for myself!


Yes, absolutely. Being the "worst pianist on the planet", I know when I'm listening to someone who's not. Polyphonist, you may call them "accidents", but if you listen to some of his runs, very fast passages, etc. his playing belies a certain fluidity that someone like myself would be incapable of, whether I was "sight reading" or not. And then when playing some extremely easy passages, like simple chords played slowly, he struggles mightily - misses notes, wrong dynamics, uneven tempo, etc. Makes no sense. Nope, CB's right: There's much more "there" there.


You are exactly right. In fact, I said the same thing in an older thread. The day may come when BM2 slips us a diamond, and he'll laugh his head off waiting to see who, if anyone, will notice.

You're quite a discerning fellow, Old Man.

I'm not the poster who's being talked about here right? Is it really fraudulent? I'm going to be honest here, I had the ideas for about a year before I read these books, and these books were certainly enlightening. And these books were all free, Project Gutenberg(AWESOME). If I remember correctly there's a chapter where the author mentions something about having a teacher who recommended slow practice that destroyed her technique. I feel like the dreg of unfocused slow practice without musical concentration could do that. However, I like my method of slow practice, and was just trying to share it. I really hope I didn't offend anyone with my ideas. I was just excited to join the forum.
All the best!

HAHA

No, you're not the one being talked about. We're discussing BachMach2, the mysterious OP. Listen to the recording if you dare.

Sorry about the misunderstanding.

Good lord where did my mind go o.o

Maybe it was sucked away by the stupidity of this thread.

Leave for a few minutes and you'll recover.

(what does mean and why did I use it?)

Maybe I'm just paranoid. O.O

Well I had a listen and you can really deliver on that melody voice. I think you have a tendency to stop a little too much at the end of a 'phrase', which since being inside the piece of music is never a real end but a new beginning.
You really keep the energy going!! There is crazy potential to get better with conduits that can then better the projection of what you hear in your head when you think about it!
It sounds like you could use some technical work to get those hands in shape and play a ton better!!
So I have an idea about those arpeggio kind of things in the beginning. It sounds like your left hand needs some work to get a softer attack on the keyboard with the crazy motions going on. So you could try practicing, idk, for me I've never played the piece so I'm going to go with a wild guess and say maybe I'd use 5-2-1 then 4-2-1 or something. So I would take the shape of the whole first arpeggio, whatever it is, and see if your hands can play that shape in unison on the keyboard. That could maybe help to develop unison relationships between your fingers. If it is difficult to develop independent finger control for you then maybe you could try pressing down the first note of the arpeggio, trying to control every tiny movement the whole push down, and then finding how much you need to keep pushing to hold it down, and then try to control the complete release of the finger and transfer the weight to a different finger, with the same concentrations on what is going on. The movement is kind of like a low as possible chain of arc movements on the keyboard. It is efficient!
So then if there is a thumb turn, I would practice 5-1-4 or 2-1-4 or 2-1-2, then maybe 52-4, with 5 and 2 going down together, 52-2, then 52-42 if it's possible with help from the wrists. It might help to focus the complete way between every movement to get control of finer actions!

I'm afraid you've wasted your time, sir.

I will not say more.

That's a shame, don't you feel like life's things are worth sharing? You really shot down this BachMach2 kid, and he sounds pretty damn musical. Do you feel that he's not even worth a shot, that his 60-odd recordings are all so bad and having nothing to give, no individuality, that time shouldn't even be spent in an attempt to help him to become better at his hobby, and with the 60-odd recordings, maybe passion?

It's sad you won't say more.

I must say, from the posts I've seen from you, you are quite the character.

P.S. Especially because you could be recording glorious Beethoven sonatas to share with us.
Or could you link me to some? Is it against forum rules to not look myself?

About BachMach2...I think you should take a look at some other opinions on him. I don't think they vary too much. He is obviously trolling and trying to bait us into replying to his stupid recordings.

I am definitely "quite the character" - isn't that a good thing?

I could be recording Beethoven sonatas - but I'm too lazy.

Maybe all he has is a recording device that can't work well. And from the quality of posts I've been seeing on this forum, a lot of nooby bashing. Really nooby bashing. But to be honest I haven't read through this thread yet so I don't know.

If you are a real artist and you say that you are being lazy, then you are just being really selfish.

I think I've interested you into saying more, mr. sillysquares

Quite the character..

Huji: He's a pretty fine pianist who is purposely playing lousy on these stupid recordings.

You're starting to get quite rude now, my friend. Cut it out before I message a moderator.

Sorry, I have a short temper and a terrible allergic reaction that happens sometimes.
Good plan I guess.
Let's stop this flaming thing?
Sorry about the mess.

Let's!

I tried sneakily sifting through your recent posts, but I couldn't find a recording of you. You must be really really good. Could you link us to any of your recordings??
Personally, I would love to hear you! Please?

Why do you think I'm really good?

Omg did I uncover your joke. It is hilarious. Hats off to you. bwahahahaha

So you've come to the realization?

You found out faster than most people did. Unfortunately, I beat you...look back in the thread.

Amazing!
I read through it was like wow.
Let's play hangman!
P_y_h_p_t_

What are you insinuating?

Random word, what are you :,(

I'm insinuating an insinuation.

(What does that mean? )

That you started it :P

How about if you two take this personal back and forth to PM's?

The intention was not to insult each other, we're just having fun. I'll stop now.

Thank you.

I'll stop too.

Maybe because us a few of us (myself and 2 or 3 other twisted souls) find him hilarious? (OK, that's probably not the reason.)

My question to you, Polyphonist, would be: why ban him? He insults no one, yet he receives every form of insult and ridicule imaginable. He costs PW nothing because he seldom writes, and his recordings are stored at Box. He wastes no one's time because his threads, like all other threads, are mouse-selectable. So any time wasted is purely voluntary. So what's the harm?

Some might say that BachMach2 is an acquired taste, but he's not. He's an immediate taste. It only took you 20 seconds of listening to suggest banning him, and you're not alone. The first PW critique of his first recording (by liszt85) was: "The recording sucked as did the playing." Despite the heavy nuance of this comment, I think I caught the drift.

So if his very presence in this hallowed forum offends you, then by all means, seek a ban. Until then, I will continue to enjoy his "shtick". But could you just give me a "heads up", so I can accelerate my listening? I'm only up to Beethoven No. 11.

You've hit the nail on the head !!!!!!

LOL!!! Old Man hit the nail on the head twice in one post, with his own degree of nuance!



And since BachMach2 has said that, given enough time, he will play through everything, we have a lot to look forward to. Go BachMach!!!

Looks like you have a pleasantly blind spot.

It's fraudulent.

For those of us who know what's going on, what you said is true. But people who don't (yet) know what he's doing, which is pretty much anyone who's fairly new here, DO have their time wasted. (Likewise people who aren't new who just don't buy what he's doing, but that's their problem.)


See above.
You're having the the same blind spot.

What in the world is going on with the whole bachmach2 thing. Good lord.

Mark -

Of course !!!!

But once those folks realize what's going on, the time wasted is indeed purely voluntary !!

Indeed! And it doesn't take long to realize what is going on. If people really ignored him he would probably stop, but he keeps getting a lot of attention, so he keeps having fun.

Looks like you enjoy wasting your time.

One might think so but, it took our "brain trust," our entire brain trust (such as there was) working together, utilizing all their brainpower (such as there was), about a month.

What I'm caring about is new members. As we've seen, they usually don't know for a while (how could they?), and waste time meanwhile.

Wow! Someone might waste 5 minutes of their time! Must be some very busy and highly important person. What a tragedy!

The idea that someone's time is so valuable and important that losing a few minutes is a problem is beyond ridiculous and full of self importance.

I didn't bother wasting 5 minutes of my time, but I did waste a whole 20 seconds after turning down the volume on my computer wasn't enough to make it bearable to listen to. Now I want my 20 seconds back (and my sanity). Seriously, this guy can play well enough to mock the music, but I doubt I'll be listening to any more

But it seems, mostly, that you care that they think what you want them to think, as you waste more time in BM2 threads than anyone else.

Mark, I think it may be you who has the blind spot.

Are you saying that among all the many thousands of threads on this forum, only BachMach2's contributions are a waste of time? All the rest are transcendental experiences, posts of great depth and profound insight? Speaking for myself, I've wasted plenty of time perusing threads that I found boring, silly, or simply "above my pay grade", so I could easily make the same claim. But since I control the mouse that sits on my desk, I don't feel that I need a protector.


Fraudulent? Isn't "fraud" a legal term? Wikipedia says fraud is "intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual." What has BachMach "gained", beyond a few chuckles? And what damage has been inflicted upon the rest of us?

Here's a quick summary of BachMach's crimes, as I see it:

1. He posted an introductory essay ("What it 'means' to be a pianist"), an incoherent assemblage of non-sequiturs that I personally found hilarious, despite the fact I didn't understand a word of it.
2. He posts technically poor recordings of equally poor piano playing, which he prefaces with semi-delusional descriptions of their value.
3. He occasionally posts critiques of others' performances, which are also incoherent, but are never rude or strident.

Basically he confines himself to Members Recordings, he never forces himself on us, and his posts are clearly labeled. I think those few newbies who happen upon his threads will survive the experience without significant mental trauma.

A lot of people (a whole lot) have only learned of what's going on because of such posts, and had kept wasting their time on these recordings till then. If you consider this a waste, fine. Because you're wrong.


Not at all for what they are.

Exactly.

The whole idea that wasting a few minutes is something serious is ludicrous. The person who "wasted a few minutes" would have to be incredibly self rightoeus and self important to feel someone had committed some "fraudulunt" act if they fell for BM2's completely obvious and simple joke.

An absurd example of making something out of nothing.

Stupefyingly false.

We all didn't figure it out for a while, and some people even now don't agree that that's what it is.