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Still not totally finished with it, but I think it's an improvement over last time.

I feel like I should point out that it is on a keyboard. I just got it yesterday and this was recorded tonight as a test track to see what it sounds like. It starts out rougher than I would like (I really have not gotten used to playing this thing yet, plus it is EXTREMELY distracting with the notes screaming by on the computer screen as you play--next time I'm turning the screen off) but generally settles in.

Soundcloud:

Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2

Youtube:

That was gorgeous! It's literally dripping with emotion, in a good way.
And the sound from your keyboard is amazing. What kind is it?

I agree that this is an improvement over the previous recording. What troubles me a little is that at so many moments you play the left hand before the right which, because of its frequency, becomes a bit of an affectation. This may be intentional and some may like it, but I find it distracting. At other moments, many of the solid chords are played as slightly broken - or not all notes together - and I'm not referring to points where this is intentional as written in the score.

I think the fact that you are playing on a keyboard may prevent us from hearing voicing that you actually could produce on an acoustic piano. Many times the melody line gets a little lost in the chordal texture. This is particularly evident, although elsewhere as well, in the piu lento section beginning at measure 57. I would like to hear a clearer melody line on top of the right hand chords.

Still, a pleasure to listen to and quite an improvement over the previous rendition.

Thank you for sharing.

Regards,

Thanks, I will go over what you said, especially with the piu lento. I have some trouble with getting my chords coming down evenly and my attempts to even it out usually result in me tensing up which of course, makes it worse.

That, of course, is not intentional asynchronization. Which, I agree, is distracting. I didn't realize how much I was doing it, but once it was recorded, there it was. Partially, I'm trying to overcome the keyboard-y sound, which comes out when things are blocked more, so I think it was me trying, instinctively, to soften that sound, so it wouldn't be so bad on an acoustic. But no doubt, I'm doing it, and probably more than I should. It's appropriate at times, but not that much, and not as a means to get me out of having to have a clean attack, which while not terribly frequent, is sometimes happening as well.

I will try to re-record it better.

I would use my acoustic, but it's slightly out of tune and I'm waiting for a warranty replacement on the whole thing that should be this week or next so I don't feel like spending the money tuning a piano that won't be in my house in a week's time.

I can practice on it fine (it's not THAT out of tune--I'm very good at maintaining it) but when I record it, it's somehow way more obvious.

I actually recorded it last week on a very nice piano that was well-tuned, but it was on my iphone and I turned the thing the wrong way so the speaker is crammed up against the fallboard instead of facing out the other way. Which would have been ok if it didn't keep slightly moving so the sound goes in and out of loud and soft as the thing slightly vibrates with the piano as I play. I was so annoyed! It was a really good, representative rendition.

Very nice. I don't mind the async at all but I've never heard a keyboard sound this nice. Are you hooking into a computer software piano like Ivory or Steinberg? If so, you may want to try a different velocity curve on your controller if it can be adjusted.


(The important thing is; does Louis like it....haha just kidding)

Yup, it's a midi controller. The Kawai VPC1. The piano is running on my MacBook Air and it's Ivory II, American Concert D.

I got it because I want to be able to practice at odd times, but obviously not everything is suitable for it. But there's still a lot I can do that doesn't necessitate an acoustic--the early work on new pieces is simply getting me to the point where I can be reasonably accurate. Or, fingering. Eh, who knows. Lots of stuff. As long as the keyboard is good quality (and it is) it can shoulder some of the burden and frees me up to practice late at night or early in the morning if I want.

Plus, my teacher would like to record another CD of ballet accompaniment music (she has a series of them out), so it's likely to be a project she starts working on this year, and the ability to do it all digitally is really spectacular, as long as the overall sound and playing experience is authentic, which I think it is. The hurdle has been time and production costs, but this way we can do it ourselves; at least most of it. I have the keyboard set up in an extra bedroom with the computer, and once we have the right settings figured out, this way she can just take her time and work when she has the time to do it.

After I listened to the recording the first time I contemplated dedicating it to him.

Anyway, so yeah, I heard it too. I do like a touch of it, but this is a bit too much and borders on getting a bit schmaltzy. And Brahms can absorb a lot of schmaltz before it gets noticeable, too. The beginning is the most obvious. I just have trouble settling into the piece and the first part just eludes me so I just kind of hit the async a little hard.

Too much of it

I like the asynchronization!

Brahms' music includes many works where in my opinion some asycnchronization can work quite well. It was done here to very nice effect.

I might have a look at investing in a copy of this software. It only needs a midi cable from the keyboard to the PC?

There is a need to prepare some demo recordings for a commercial project. The antique Petrof here is great as a salon piano but I am looking at other options. The Roland F-110 protects neighbors at odd hours but has a polyphony limit that cuts into huge masses of sound resonating all strings. The Ivory synthology software run on a PC presumably would not have that limitation.

The demo recordings of the 1951 N.Y. D sound very nice, I think though that very high quality keyboards were used [better than a Roland F-110].

Maybe there are samples floating around out there of darker sounding N.Y. Ds and some N.Y. Ds from the 1960s.

Thanks for sharing the Brahms Op. 118 No. 2 recording.

I recommend it. I picked it because it seems the best fit for what I wanted to use it for: strictly classical, romantic bias. Seemed warm, mellow, and familiar.

Now, I don't know whether or not polyphony limits are midi limitations or software limitations. That is to say, obviously the PC software I'm running has good polyphony limits, but will the Roland pass the keystrikes to the software after a certain number? Or does it top out and then even if the software could handle more, does the keyboard stop responding?

On the other hand, the VPC1, given that it has no internal software of its own, is not a terribly expensive keyboard, despite the fact that it is a full wood keyboard with triple sensors, long, pivoting keys, and even that little notch at the bottom you feel on an acoustic. Add in software and controls of its own, and it's a stage keyboard of a different model and more expensive. Go further and put a digital piano case around it (with speakers) and it gets REALLY expensive.

So this, to me, was the best bang for my buck: put every last dime into the quality of the feel and mechanics of a keyboard--something you can't change later--and treat the rest of it as modular. So then I was left to choose my sound, and find a computer to run it and control it all. I had the computer, so it was just sound that I had to actually purchase.

I'm running Steinberg Cubase for the recording (using the Ivory II VST plugin to pull in the American D samples), but I'm only just getting started with figuring out how to use it. It does feel tempting to go in there and really engineer not just the sound but everything from notes to timing. I could, for example, just....synchronize all the asynchronization. But then you're making a different thing at that point, a kind of a hybrid creation, not a performance, per se. Then the recording would be more an example of how I can create music using more tools than just a piano, not simply how I can create music by playing a piano.

Now I want to learn this piece. I'm sure you've inspired many in the same way. I would say it's an advanced piece. Is that correct? I'm at an intermediate level. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for your replay. The Roland continues to respond, though dense pedal-held sounds and effects can thin out as new layers of sound are introduced.

There is a fairly wide recorded tempo range for this music. If you want it on the quite slow side then I wouldn't think it would be a significant challenge for an intermediate player except in the voicing and getting it all to hold together at that slow of a tempo.

That's very nice of you to say!

As for the level, I actually really don't know. I don't even know what level I am myself other than knowing that I have a lot more to learn. The only thing I can really say is that it seems reasonable for my level (whatever that is) in that I didn't find it remotely easy, but at the same time nor did I find myself spinning my wheels with no progress at any point. I've been working on this piece for about three or four months, I guess, alongside other things, which, to me, seems like a reasonable amount of time. And I suspect I have about a month or so more to go before I can put it aside for some time and pick it back up when I'm a better pianist.

So, whatever level this piece is, I guess so am I.

Where does my tempo, in general, fall here? Would you recommend changing it?

Oh, you also asked about cables. It does have midi-out, but I'm using a USB cable to my computer. You don't need midi and apparently you don't want to use it if you don't have to. Why? I don't know, that's just what I was told.

Sorry to disappoint by not weighing in as I normally do, but my practice sessions have been intense, and then some.

For some un-explicable reason my psoriatic arthritis has decided to start attacking the joints in my fingers. And, at the same time, my overall progress at the piano has been somewhat close to phenomenal.

The Schumann Concerto is in its final polish, and the "L'isle joyeuse" is about 85% there. And, everything else that I play is coming along swimmingly.

As far as this rendering of the Brahms is concerned, for a historic performance beginner, you have done very well.

Once again, to roll every chord is mundane, boring, pointless, and very non-musical. As Dr. Robert Levin of Harvard said to me by email, rolling chords is an expressive device, which has been around from the pre-Baroque period until the post-romantic.

In Neal Perez Da Costa's book (which I often recommend),Czerny complained that some of the pianists of his day were arpeggiating every single chord, which made no sense to him (nor me).

So, in the first section, please follow the logic of utilizing this "expressive device" when and where you want that type of effect. As it is (and I genuinely mean no offense) you sound like an amateur jazz pianist playing Brahms.

After the first section, the playing significantly improves, but there is no sense of song-like rhapsody in your playing. As Busoni taught his students; when in doubt, sing the line in out loud in order to get the shape of the phrase in your ear.

That is pretty much it for now, but, once again, a very solid first effort. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, this piece must be "YOUR" voice and not something to copy or re-create from someone or something else.

I forgot to list this link, in terms of my usual "show and tell," but this is an example of a pianist utilizing arpeggiation in certain instances, and also utilizing the breaking of the hands (asynchrionization) along with it, coupled with a significant rhapsodic interpretation.

Enjoy, and, for the record, I don't even remotely play this piece like this. That is not the point!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JwKDzPlYQs

This performance is really wonderful. I must say that the sound is coming through quite well even though you're just getting started with the software.

My last recording of this was with the Ivory but I think I really ruined it with my settings. Same with the A minor from the same set. I think I will keep them to myself! I quite liked your version. Thanks for sharing.