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the finish on your Petrof upright is pretty doggone amazing !!!!
Thanks! That's the main reason I wanted to record a video- with the music ledge up- instead of just an audio, so everyone could see its beautiful color. In person it has a rich, red mahogany finish.
I was a bit worried that I might not be able to record on it, though, since I'm really sensitive to tuning. We had a serious cold/dry snap in mid November in my neck of the woods, and my piano, formerly perfectly tuned, went into a bit of a tizzy and detuned itself from "classical grand piano"-sounding to "honky tonk" within a span of about 5 days. Already hearing the unisons going out, I rushed to get the piece recorded in mid de-tune. The recording was made about half way to "honky-tonk".
If things go as they did last year, some time in late March everything will snap back in place.
Having lived for a time in a neighboring state (Indiana) I know all about "de-tuning" syndrome. I thought the Petrof sounded just fine - certainly better than the instrument Chopin probably composed the Mazurka on !! I agree that the Petrof will probably re-tune itself !!
Mazurka in A minor, Opus 17 No 4 Performed by Valencia This beautiful piece is dedicated to my mum, who is currently unwell, but will hopefully see brighter days very soon. https://app.box.com/s/aqkcg1vc2puq8n3u1rk1
Cinnamonbear..my you are accomplished, andPeterws7 what rhythmic excitement! Congratulations. The Op. 17 no.4 HAS to be one of the all time most gorgeous of pieces..and SO beautifully played!!
Hearing these performances really brings the music to life for me and I can listen with more care somehow. Thank you everyone - and congratulations on a great job.
What a perfect pre-Xmas treat this is, full of wonderful music from my familiar friends in ABF and some superlative playing from the pianists in PCF I’ve never heard before. A joy to listen and to be involved. Keep them coming, but not too quickly – it’ll be over all too soon.
Jeffreyjones - my goodness you can play incredibly well. Santa did a superb job as well. What a nice gift. Valencia - I have never heard the piece before and now I love it. What a sweet piece. You played very well. Perfect gift for your mom. Hope she gets better soon.
Listening to the first three Mazurka opuses was a real treat for me. Having focused mainly on later Mazurkas most of the early ones were completely new to me, and I regret that I haven’t paid any attention to them before. All the Mazurkas seem to have their individual character. The folkloristic inspiration is obvious in most cases and some of the harmonics are pretty peculiar. Just browsing the scores of the mazurkas may give the impression that this is just triviality, but listening to the contributions made me understand how great music this actually is.
I have developed a habit of commenting to each individual performance of such e-citals, and I’ll try to do so in this case too. Some of the performances will get more extensive comments than the others. This doesn’t mean that the contributions getting longer comments are better than the others, but in some cases it is just difficult to say so much.
Op.6/1 played by Sam S: The first I noticed when listening to your performance was your consciousness about the dynamics. Clearly this mazurka is technically difficult, but you managed well, and gave me a good listening experience.
Op.6/2 played by SwissMS: Beautiful dancing character. You manage to make your grand piano sing. It is interesting for me to notice some similarity between Chopin and Grieg in this piece. Maybe not a big surprise, since both were inspired by folk music, and there are some similarities between Polish and Norwegian folk tunes.
Op.6/3 played by AZNpiano: Excellent performance. This was professional level. And what a beautiful piece!
Op.6/4 played by Roland the beagle: The character of this mazurka greatly contrasts with the previous one. You bring out the special mood of the piece and I enjoyed listening to it.
Op.7/1 played by Rubinstein: No comments to the performance, but this is also a great composition with very interesting harmonies.
Op.7/2 played by Brad Hoehne: Fine ornaments! You beautifully bring out the changing moods of this piece. Very nicely done.
Op.7/3-4 played by Cinnamonbear: Obviously you are a very skilled pianist. I enjoyed the way you made out the folkloristic character of the first piece (7/3) and I was impressed by your lower voice figures. The second piece (7/4) was extremely interesting. I don’t think I have heard anything similar anywhere. You played it very beautifully.
Op.7/5 played by peterws: Another small peculiar piece. Although the piece is very short it doesn’t mean that it is simple. Nice playing of the ornaments and beautiful sound. Maybe you should have played it all over again some 8 – 10 times???
Op.17/1 played by jeffreyjones: You beautifully express the joyful character of the main part and the contrast with the middle theme. Fine playing.
Op.17/2 played by Dipsy: Excellent video! And very fine playing! I think that the Chopin Mazurkas require some liberty in the rhythm and tempo. You definitely have a deep understanding of this music.
Op.17/3 played by jefferyjones: This is a very complex piece with rapidly changing moods. The performance shows that you are a very skilled pianist. Listening to it was a real treat.
Op.17/4 played by Valencia: Indeed I’m very impressed by your performance. You manage to bring out the beautiful character of this mazurka. Especially I noticed the very relaxed performance of the complex ornaments in the melody. Very well done.
Mazurka in F# minor, Opus 6 No 1, Performed by Sam S: You play with such energy - I really enjoyed listening to this quirky piece!
Mazurka in C# minor, Opus 6 No 2, Performed by SwissMS: You play this beautifully, I was entranced during the whole thing and will definitely remember this piece in the future.
Mazurka in E major, Opus 6 No 3, Performed by AZNpiano: How great to hear you play! This is a top-notch performance - Bravo!
Mazurka in Eb minor, Opus 6 No 4, Performed by Roland the Beagle (or should I call you "CowOnCrack"? LOL): This piece seems to be very circular in its form. You did a great job adding such a melancholy feel to this piece. Thanks for playing!
Mazurka in Bb major, Opus 7 No 1, Performed by sandalholme: I really loved the trills on this- they are so light and whimsical! A fine performance with good contrast between the sections.
Mazurka in A minor, Opus 7 No 2, Performed by Brad Hoehne: You play with a lot of clarity, and I love how this sounds on your Petrof, as if it's meant to be played on this instrument. Love the excitement you add toward the faster ending section!
Mazurka in F minor, Opus 7 No 3, Performed by Cinnamonbear: I love the mysterious beginning! You have a great feel for the style of this piece and a great choice of rubato - I wish I could play this nicely!
Mazurka in Ab major, Opus 7 No 4, Performed by Cinnamonbear: What a delightful piece! Another fine performance.
Mazurka in C major, Opus 7 No 5, Performed by peterws: I was really surprised by the ending. Great work in playing this fun, quirky piece! Is this the same set up that you used for the Grieg recital as well?
Mazurka in Bb major, Opus 17 No 1, Performed by jeffreyjones: Wow, you play with such excitement it makes me want to get up and cheer (but of course, that would be silly and it would freak out hubby and the cats).
Mazurka in E minor, Opus 17 No 2, Performed by Dipsy: I love how you played this, and looking like Santa's little helper too! Merry Christmas to you!
Mazurka in Ab major, Opus 17 No 3, Performed by jeffreyjones: This mazurka has a sort of pastoral feel to it with the pedal tone and the melody I could totally hear that being played on the oboe. Thanks for playing this so wonderfully!
Mazurka in A minor, Opus 17 No 4, Performed by Valencia: A lovely piece to dedicate to your mother. I hope she is well soon. Have you played this for her? Great job on the fioritura!
Wow, people! I'm really warmed to the core by the kind words. I do not consider myself to be an "accomplished" pianist at all. As many of you know, I was one of those "lapsed pianists." Over the last three years, though, and especially since finding Piano World, I have been working hard to make up for lost time and to "get good." But there are many holes in my education and deficits in my pianism. These Mazurkas were such a hole. As to education and deficits, Pogerelich and Minnesota Marty are especially keen on them, and I am indebted to them for their unvarnished critiques and helps over time, such as can be done over the Internet by means of judicious typed words. So, since Poly would not permit me to write a "sufficient" (imho) introductory explanation for my submissions, I present them to you here :
When Poly blew onto the scene with this particular e-cital idea, and he said, "Have them on my desk in one month," I thought, "Oh, for cry eye! Are you kidding me? One month?!? It takes me *at least* a year to get anything to the point where I'm ready to share it." But I was up for the challenge. Then, wonder of wonders, he relented, giving me the precious gift of time.
So, what to do? "What is this thing called 'Mazurka'?" So, of course I went to two other of my closest PW friends, ChopinAddict and Carey, and said, "What should I play?" ChopinAddict, that dear librarian-hearted resource person, thought to ask the "second" question (reference librarians will know what I mean by that... ) "What do you want? Major or minor? Happy or sad? Fast or slow?" Gosh. "I think I want simple." LOL! Actually, I think I asked for happy, so she sent me off with a few ideas. Then, Carey, who always gently pushes and pulls me to challenge myself and NOT take foolish interpretive liberties, sent me some ideas.
I pulled a couple of sheets off of IMSLP and read through them and that's when the fireworks of epiphanation went off inside of me. When I was young, my dad and I would play together the Dvorak Slavic Dances, four hands, and we had such fun! I miss playing those. When I heard the sound of "Mazurka," it took me back to that time. It dawned on me that, for *me*, anyway, in the way I was hearing them in my mind's ear, these were like "solo Slavic dances." I love the sound of them. And so now, thanks to Polyphonist, I have a new mania.
So, I eventually landed on the four (two more to come later in the recital). And I worked really hard at them. My wife goes to work at 6:30 a.m., and by 6:35 I was on the piano bench. Except for a few times when I had other musical deadlines to meet, I played through all four every day, multiple times, sometimes multiple times a day. I'd take one and chew on it and practice hands separately, I'd practice very slowly and deliberately hands together, drill some sections, then try some expression practice and try them against the metronome at speed and crash and burn. Behind the scenes, I'd complain to Carey, saying there was NO WAY I could play 7-4 at speed, and besides "Presto, ma non troppo" means fast, but not too fast, so despite the m.m., I was taking Chopin at his direction. So, when Carey says:
Originally Posted by carey
[...] Andy - These have come a LONG way since your first readings - [...]
...he means he heard practice recordings at about mid-point, and that I was playing a D nat. in the opening section of 7-3, instead of Db! And stuff like that! And also, I want to thank Carey, because when I asked some deeper, more pointed questions about this thing called "Mazurka," he sent me a link to this paper:
...which *really* started illuminating things for me. So, anyway, over the course of the months, suffice it to say that I had many cognitive leaps of the kind that come when you focus on something really hard, and then put it aside to rest for a minute or a night or a week, then pick it back up and go at it again. I mean, about two weeks ago, as I was getting ready to think about recording, and, because I am a *reader* and not a *memorizer*, and because I was trying to keep track of pedaling and articulations and dynamics and such, the words that came out of my mouth were, "Honey? Don't we have different colored highlighters somewhere in the house?" (They were in a desk in the basement.)
So, I recorded and edited my submission on Sunday. "EDITED?!?," I hear you ask. Yes, edited. I have discussed my philosophy about this rather thoroughly at other times in other threads both on the main boards and in Member Recordings, and if anyone is interested, I'll dig up a link. In the past, between my first and second mid-life crises, I worked with a musician/producer for a while, editing tracks, and it is such a part of me that I almost can't not do it, now. But when I post "finished" recordings, I want them to be something that 1) sounds good, and 2) will bear repeated listenings. But, I always edit lightly, meaning that I use whole chunks of three or four takes in order to keep the musical line and flow of it sane and cogent, and I strive to leave in enough wobbles, fluffs, and burbles to keep it honest. After all, I am *not* an accomplished pianist, though I love to play piano very much and I play piano A LOT! When I edit my recordings, I work very deliberately to not over-edit, and to arrive at a track that would be something that would come from me in performance on a good day. And I *do* have good days where I play this stuff for real people in real performances. That is what also keeps me honest and grounded about my abilities and those areas that I need to work on.
You will really see what I mean about fluffs and wobbles when you hear Op. 67, No. 1, the playing of which is Hugely Big Fudge in many places because it was *Not Ready For Prime Time* and in which I missed and skipped whole trills until such time as I can get them to come out from under my fingers (I need more than three months for that one! And even then, I am not sure what the trick is to playing them at speed. But I am sure Carey will push and pull me to it. ).
So, that is my story, just so you know. And my wife, God love her, on Sunday morning before vacating the house so I could record, and after enduring an evening of frantic and pointed rehearsal Saturday night, said that she had Mazurkas going through her head all night long. My true love. Surely we are one.
I, too, have been enjoying these performances tremendously!!! I love the passion, humor, thought, feeling and care that have gone into these offerings! Like gandalff, I would like to comment on each one, and hope to do so. Very, very wonderful work, everyone! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I have discussed my philosophy about this rather thoroughly at other times in other threads both on the main boards and in Member Recordings, and if anyone is interested, I'll dig up a link. In the past, between my first and second mid-life crises, I worked with a musician/producer for a while, editing tracks, and it is such a part of me that I almost can't not do it, now. But when I post "finished" recordings, I want them to be something that 1) sounds good, and 2) will bear repeated listenings. But, I always edit lightly, meaning that I use whole chunks of three or four takes in order to keep the musical line and flow sane and cogent, and I strive to leave in enough wobbles, fluffs, and burbles to keep it honest. After all, I am *not* an accomplished pianist, though I love to play piano very much and I play piano A LOT! When I edit my recordings, I work very deliberately to not over-edit, and to arrive at a track that would be something that would come from me in performance on a good day. And I *do* have good days where I play this stuff for real people in real performances. That is what also keeps me honest and grounded about my abilities and those areas that I need to work on.
I appreciate hearing this - makes me feel a bit better for having to do that this recital as well. If I had the kind of time I need to dedicate to piano to play the way I want to play and the way I know I can play, then it wouldn't be necessary to edit. But I'm just not able to be at that level, unfortunately.
I have discussed my philosophy about this rather thoroughly at other times in other threads both on the main boards and in Member Recordings, and if anyone is interested, I'll dig up a link. In the past, between my first and second mid-life crises, I worked with a musician/producer for a while, editing tracks, and it is such a part of me that I almost can't not do it, now. But when I post "finished" recordings, I want them to be something that 1) sounds good, and 2) will bear repeated listenings. But, I always edit lightly, meaning that I use whole chunks of three or four takes in order to keep the musical line and flow sane and cogent, and I strive to leave in enough wobbles, fluffs, and burbles to keep it honest. After all, I am *not* an accomplished pianist, though I love to play piano very much and I play piano A LOT! When I edit my recordings, I work very deliberately to not over-edit, and to arrive at a track that would be something that would come from me in performance on a good day. And I *do* have good days where I play this stuff for real people in real performances. That is what also keeps me honest and grounded about my abilities and those areas that I need to work on.
I appreciate hearing this - makes me feel a bit better for having to do that this recital as well. If I had the kind of time I need to dedicate to piano to play the way I want to play and the way I know I can play, then it wouldn't be necessary to edit. But I'm just not able to be at that level, unfortunately.
Life is too short! What I have discovered is that in allowing myself to eventually edit my recorded tracks, I fear mistakes less, and have learned to play *through* them, so that when they *do* happen in live performances, I don't get rattled about it, anymore! For me, giving myself that kind of permission (permission to avoid perfection in one take) turned out to be a kind of therapy that has actually caused me to calm down at the keyboard, and has improved my playing at those times when I *have* to play it once as best as possible. It's called, "Taking the long view." (That is *not* to say that, when I do each take, I *do not* strive for perfection, because I *do*, but I have tried to right-size my expectations about what really happens! ) I have also learned to develop a more nuanced definition of "perfection."
Last edited by Cinnamonbear; 12/18/1312:09 PM. Reason: added a thought
Life is too short! What I have discovered is that in allowing myself to eventually edit my recorded tracks, I fear mistakes less, and have learned to play *through* them, so that when they *do* happen in live performances, I don't get rattled about it, anymore! For me, giving myself that kind of permission (permission to avoid perfection in one take) turned out to be a kind of therapy that has actually caused me to calm down at the keyboard, and has improved my playing at those times when I *have* to play it once as best as possible. It's called, "Taking the long view." (That is *not* to say that, when I do each take, I *do not* strive for perfection, because I *do*, but I have tried to right-size my expectations about what really happens! ) I have also learned to develop a more nuanced definition of "perfection."
You know, that is very true about feeling better in recording. I wasn't having any issues this time around whereas for some of the Grieg pieces I really got flustered in the recording process and it kept getting worse because I was making more mistakes! But I knew I would have to do several takes and edit/splice them together, so I wasn't nervous at all.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/gallery/42/thumbs/2529.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://forum.pianoworld.com//gallery/42/medium/9342.png)
And stuff like that! 
And also, I want to thank Carey, because when I asked some deeper, more pointed questions about this thing called "Mazurka," he sent me a link to this paper:![[Linked Image]](http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd411/AndyCinnamonbear/Scores/ChopinMazurka7-3Illustration.jpg)