 |
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums
Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments.
Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
|
|
42 members (bwv543, Andre Fadel, Animisha, alexcomoda, benkeys, Burkhard, 20/20 Vision, 10 invisible),
1,172
guests, and
282
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD! USE THE DISCUSSION THREAD! I am delighted to introduce our 43rd quarterly AB Forum “Beginners and Beyond†Recital!  So, pull up a chair and have a listen. I would like to take this opportunity to ask the audience to please refrain from commentary in this recital room. A separate room has been provided for the purposes of intermezzo discussion. Please take any and all comments to the General Discussion Room. Thank you! In addition to the zip files linked below, mahlzeit has added a feature to his program that creates an online streaming player. Just click on the link to hear all the recital pieces without having to download the zip files: Online Streaming Player A template has been created for those who wish to provide individualized feedback: Recital #43 Response Template For the convenience of forum members, mahlzeit's program has normalized the files for consistent volume and standardized the ID3 tags in a collection of zip files. This makes it easier to create personal CDs and playlists. These zip files have been posted at the following URLs: Recital 43 Zip 1Recital 43 Zip 2 Recital 43 Zip 3 Recital 43 Zip 4Recital 43 Zip 5 Recital 43 Zip 6 Recital 43 Zip 7 Recital 43 Zip 8 And here's the link to Sam S.'s terrific ABF recital index, that allows you to browse through and search for pieces in all of our past recitals: AB Forum Recital Index Let me express my greatest thanks to some very special people: Mr Super-Hunky for coming up with the idea of our online recitals, which have proven to be more successful than any of us ever dreamed; LaValse for hosting the recitals for so long and then devoting hours of programming trouble-shooting making the transition to Frank's servers; Frank for agreeing to host the recital now that it's gotten so big; Copper for trouble-shooting help and the Order of the Red Dot; Sam S. for his terrific AB Forum Recital Index and also devoting hours to programming trouble-shooting; and last but not least, mahlzeit for writing the absolutely fantastic web-based recital program that we are using. THANK YOU MAHLZEIT!!! 
AGAIN: DO NOT REPLY OR POST ON THIS THREAD!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 01 | | | Performer's name: | UnderConstruction | | From: | Perth, Australia | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | Returning adult after 24 years of absence. 2.5 years as a child with lessons, 20 months as an adult | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iXk2Ea3-M0 | | Title of piece: | Venetianisches Gondellied (Op.19 No.6) | | Composer: | Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy | | Duration: | 02:50 | | Source of music: | sheet music | | Instrument used: | 2007 Yamaha GC1 | | Recording method: | iPad + Tascam | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | My piano needs a tune. Having left over soup for lunch. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 02 | | | Performer's name: | wouter79 | | Experience: | 6.5 years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | 25 Etudes, for proving the sense of rhythm and expression, op.47 n. 5,10 | | Composer: | Stephen Heller | | Duration: | 03:30 | | Source of music: | sheet music, mostly memorized | | Instrument used: | Grotrian-Steinweg 189 | | Recording method: | DPA4060, EMU0404, Jecklin Disk, Macbook Pro | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Here just two etudes that I like. Heller wrote these in 1849 when he was 35. It's said that Op.47 was written as an introduction to op.46, which is a bit surprising as that are also etudes.
Heller started playing piano at 5 and already at 9 he gave concerts. He had no money to study with the masters of the time. Robert Schumann helped him to publish a number of pieces, which probably boosted his fame as well. At 35 he had become a well known concert pianist. He had some stable income from his book "L'art de phraser".
Unfortunately for him, the publishers never got much interest in anything but his etudes, which is what he is known for today. Later in his life he played very little in public anymoredsa |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 03 | | | Performer's name: | MarieJ | | From: | Brisbane, Australia | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | A couple of brief dabbles half a century apart before discovering Einaudi in December 2011, and deciding that this was the music I wanted to learn to play. Self taught since. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | The Snow Prelude No.3 in C-Major | | Composer: | Ludovico Einaudi | | Duration: | 01:50 | | Source of music: | I found the score at musicnotes.com | | Instrument used: | Yamaha P95, Pianoteq 5.7 | | Recording method: | WAV file recorded by Pianoteq, converted to MP3 with Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | 'The Snow Prelude No.3' hasn't previously been submitted to an ABF Recital. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. The piano score was used in insurance company Nationwide's 'Carousel' television advert (which is worth a look via YouTube, too). The music was offered by Nationwide as a free download in 2011.
Like most of Einaudi's compositions, this very short and very sweet piece was not as easy as it looked at first. Clearly my triplets are works in progress, but they are the best I have managed so far. Practised on my C3, but recorded with Pianoteq - is this the best of both worlds? |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 04 | | | Performer's name: | Barbaram | | From: | Ireland | | Experience: | 4 years as a teen, back at it 3 years, occasional dabbling in between | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Danza de la Moza Donosa | | Composer: | Ginastera | | Duration: | 04:02 | | Source of music: | Sheet music | | Instrument used: | My new Kawai CS8, hurray
Using the EX ConcertGrand with "Small Hall" reverb setting | | Recording method: | Digital to tablet with Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I really love this piece, which is just as well as it represents quite a stretch for me and I've been working on it for 7 months! I had never come across it before my teacher suggested I try it, but in that way that sometimes happens, now it seems to be *everywhere*. I exaggerate, but dynamobt played it in our last ABF recital, and one of the Cliburn competitors included it in his competition program, so I'm clearly in good company liking this piece.
I love the contrasts, the sweetness and the dissonance. I worked a lot with my teacher this year on trying to "play more beautifully". Admittedly, when it comes to the big loud chord section here I still have to concentrate a lot on hitting the right notes and not panicking, with not much attention left for the beautiful details. And of course if I make it to the end of that section more or less in one piece, I can find I have nothing left in the tank and make some silly error at the start of the much easier next section. In fact, I realised I was holding my breath! So what got me through this take was remembering to breathe
It's not perfect by any means, but overall I'm very happy with this and the progress I think I've made in my playing while working on it with my teacher. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 05 | | | Performer's name: | Jazztpt | | From: | UK | | Experience: | 41 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Something in C | | Composer: | Jazztpt | | Duration: | 02:16 | | Source of music: | Original | | Instrument used: | Roland HP507 | | Recording method: | Direct to Piano then converted to MP3 in Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I haven't contributed since last August and I have actually missed having the deadline to work to which always made me work/practice. I only decided to submit yesterday but this is something I have been working on recently. Needs more work (as ever) and it hasn't even got a title, so for now it is "Something In C". Thanks for listening. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 06 | | | Performer's name: | Peyton | | From: | Maine | | Experience: | many years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdV510AJv1M | | Home page link: | http://www.peytonart.com | | Title of piece: | message From Space- Mixed Signals | | Composer: | Peyton Higgison | | Duration: | 06:04 | | Instrument used: | Young Chang Pramberger | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is my fifth installment of my "Message From space" series. I guess I could say I'm very influenced by modern composers leaning to the ambient. Philip Glass, Tiersen, Einaudi, Nevue.... I've had my usual problems recording it, no matter how many times I try I make mistakes. Pretty frustrating. Anyway, I think this is my favorite of the series so far. I always have fun trying to think of a new way to do the video so I have two recordings (and two separate set of mistakes). The sun was on my keys as I recorded so I used that (hopefully) to the works advantage. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 07 | | | Performer's name: | AZ_Astro | | From: | Tempe | | Experience: | 4 years 8 months | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR3Lh0YHboY | | Title of piece: | Pavane de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Dance to a Sleeping Beauty) | | Composer: | Maurice Ravel | | Duration: | 01:19 | | Source of music: | Sheet music from the free on-line IMSLP library. | | Instrument used: | Korg SP-250 digital keyboard as midi input to PC-based Garritan CFX software piano | | Recording method: | Built in recording capability with Ivory II Cantabile software package | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | AnneH played this piece a few recitals back and I adored it. It is a short but tricky little piece with lots of character. In fact, there are four voices! Emphasizing the voicing, some sneaky fingering, and playing chords simultaneously turned out to be challenges for me but thankfully I never tired of playing it. I really enjoyed learning and polishing this one. It's a wonderful introduction to Ravel... This Pavane is the first piece from Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 08 | | | Performer's name: | Riddler (Ed) | | From: | Florida | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | Two or three years of lessons as a kid; three years of jazz lessons as an adult; and a lifetime of noodling and playing by ear. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Home page link: | http://edsjazzpianopage.blogspot.com/ | | Title of piece: | Night and Day | | Composer: | Cole Porter | | Duration: | 04:12 | | Source of music: | Lead sheet | | Instrument used: | Yamaha P-120 | | Recording method: | Pianoteq/Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is one of Cole Porter's best known obsession songs, from the 1932 musical "The Gay Divorce", and the movie "The Gay Divorcee". (In those days, gay just meant happy. The movie title was changed from the musical title to satisfy the censors, the logic being that divorce cannot be gay, though a divorcee can be.) It has been recorded by many vocalists and instrumentalist, and is considered to be a jazz standard. This is my arrangement, starting from a lead sheet. The embellishment with three chromatic chords, at the beginning of the first chorus, is stolen from Duke Ellington's song Reflections in D, which I played for an earlier recital. I stole the idea of stealing it from an Italian pianist named Tancredo. I just figured that stealing is a negative thing, so double stealing must be...oh... never mind. There is a very short solo, and I must warn you, I threw in a couple of my best reharmonizations. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 10 | | | Performer's name: | MeganR | | From: | California in the middle of nowhere Sierra Foothills | | Experience: | 18 months | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Home page link: | http://www.prayinghorse.com | | Title of piece: | Chorale in E Minor, BWV 512 | | Composer: | JS Bach I think. It's hard to tell with some of the Anna Magdalena pieces | | Duration: | 01:03 | | Source of music: | Sheet music | | Instrument used: | Everett spinet, built somewhere around 1955 | | Recording method: | Zoom H4N | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is the second piece I've worked on from Anna Magdalena's notebook. (I'm now working on a March). This chorale seems to be attributed to JS himself, or the melody at least, or at least according to this list I found on wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...Magdalena_Bach_.28BWV_508.E2.80.93518.29
When I started learning this chorale, I wanted to learn it not just in the "play all the notes on the page in the right order" manner, but rather more as a keyboard version of the sung chorale/hymn.
https://youtu.be/VXaHA4TWyPs
I aimed to make the piece sing - to the best of my ability. I don't know if I succeeded really but that was my hope. I did a recording several weeks ago, but for this recital I re-did it as I've been playing this chorale pretty much every day even though I've moved on to learning other pieces. At only a minute long, three times a day isn't much of a drag on the practice time
I also explored the meaning of the text, using the translation I found in the back of my book.
Be content and silent
In the God of your life
In Him rests the fullness of joy,
Without him your works are in vain
He is thy fountain and thy sun,
Shining brightly each day for your delight.
Be content, be content
I'm not much of a believer in the sense that a church-goer would recognize, but I pondered what these words could mean in the context of my values and world view. As I sat with my thoughts, I found a place, resting somewhere in my heart, where contentment could be found. It's the spot where ego falls away (even if only momentarily) and a small human becomes one with the natural world. Or: another take on this - it's like sitting on the front porch shelling a big batch of fresh peas, thinking loving thoughts about your family. There's a hint of "I really hope everything is OK" worry but mostly there's just fresh air and ease. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 11 | | | Performer's name: | blackjack1777 | | From: | California | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | It took me 3 months to learn this piece. At the time I started learning this piece I had approximately 19 months of piano lessons. In general I spend approximately 2 hours per day of practice time on average. (Using Alfred's All in One courses with a Piano Teacher weekly). | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Home page link: | https://soundcloud.com/blackjack1777/ | | Title of piece: | Prelude E minor Op. 28 #4 | | Composer: | Chopin | | Duration: | 02:17 | | Source of music: | This piece was memorized for the recital from Alfred's Masterworks sheet music which included Four Preludes, Op. 28, Nos. 4, 6, 7, 20 (Alfred Masterwork Edition). There is wonderful guidance on pedal and editors' remarks for various measures where recommended playing instructions and technique is suggested. It is very helpful for a beginner. | | Instrument used: | 2014 Wm. Knabe & Co. 48" Acadamy Series Upright Acoustic Piano (Model WMV 121) | | Recording method: | Tascam DR-05 and Audacity Software | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | For this recital I chose to learn Chopin's Prelude in E Minor (Op. 28 No. 4). This is my first "real" classical piece that I've ever learned!
Until this point, I have only been learning using my Alfred's Method Books, Dozen A Day Technique Books, and some Henry Mancini arrangements. I also work on pieces from Alfred's Masterworks Level 1-2 but those pieces
are very short and relatively within my level of ability.
This piece is special to me because my teacher assigned it to me on the morning that my father passed away in car accident. So I would like to dedicate this performance and all of the long work that went into learning this piece to my father.
I started working on this at the beginning of April and I completed it in early July so it took me a very solid 3 months of daily, continuous, very slow and persistent, sometimes agonizing work to get to this point.
I also have to thank my teacher for sticking by me while I attempted this piece, although she was not hesitant to let me work on it, she did warn me that it was a pretty significant jump in difficulty compared to the previous pieces I had learned including the Mancini arrangements
which we had considered to be my hardest pieces to that point in time, and that she would expect that I play it with all of the rubato and special phrasing that it should be played with.
I think the most challenging part of this piece are the initial opening measures where I really tried to keep the left hand chords as smooth and as light and as possible. These measures really set the tone for the sadness of this piece.
My teacher added a tremendous amount of various phrasing and changes in tempo at different places in the music, I would have never have known to do this and it added a lot of difficulty to learning the piece but it also made it very beautiful.
I hope that you enjoy my first attempt at learning a "real" classical piece. I think that it has motivated me to attempt another Chopin piece in the future.
I wish my father could have heard me play this but since he cannot I will share it with the internet and hope that it brings some joy to those who are able to hear it.
Notes about this particular piece from various internet sources:
Prelude in E minor is one of Chopin's 24 preludes (one in each key signature) that were commissioned by Pleyel the piano maker and publisher. The preludes were released in 1839.
The entire set of preludes is dedicated to his friend Joseph Kessler who also dedicated a set of preludes to Chopin.
These preludes were considered revolutionary at the time however many music commentators of the day wrote very critically of them at the time due to a perceived lack of form and brevity. In modern times they have become
heralded as some of the greatest piano works of all time and it is said by some critics today that Chopin's legacy would have been secured with the preludes alone.
Today, it is not uncommon for all 24 preludes to be played together at a recital.
The Prelude in E Minor is a particularly sad piece, it was called "suffocation" by Hans van Bulow and it is believed that Chopin's companion George Sand named this piece "What tears [are shed] from the depths of the damp monastery?"
The piece was played, at Chopin's request, at his funeral along with Mozart's Requiem. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 12 | | | Performer's name: | peterws | | From: | N of England | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | Too many . . | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOdGN0EvjKE | | Home page link: | https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U | | Title of piece: | Romance op28 2 | | Composer: | Schumann | | Duration: | 03:08 | | Source of music: | Sheet | | Instrument used: | FP50 and Pianoteq K2 | | Recording method: | Headphone connection to computer line in | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Loved this piece since I first heard it. It was Schummnabs wifes favourite, she had it played as she was dying. Nice . . . now this took months to enable me to handle just the first few bars. Like, to get my heads round three staves. I rewrote it into two, whereupon I realized it was easier to play the three . . .which is why it was thus written.
Anyway, there are the usual mistakes etc, but I liked the peaceful sound of pianoteq, after much fiddling to get it to resemble a gloomy acoustic a la Moonlight Sonata.
The vid was a Creative Commons, and depicts the country lanes around Coniston which I rode round on my bike hundreds of times.
And I fed the ducks, but possibly not those in evidence here! |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 13 | | | Performer's name: | Khopin | | From: | Uruguay | | Experience: | Re started to play a couple of years ago. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Prelude Op.28 No.15 Raindrop | | Composer: | F. Chopin | | Duration: | 05:06 | | Source of music: | Sheet Music | | Instrument used: | Kawai CA 65 Digital Piano | | Recording method: | Internal MIDI to MP3 conversion | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I started listening Chopin Preludes some month ago and realized how good they are, then I wanted to try some of them. Currently I working on this and No 13. Although I started practicing just one month ago, I believe it is at least at the minimum level to share in the recital. It doesn't have many technical challenges but the last part could be quite difficult to play, mainly if you don't want you bypass any sheet indication like maintain the thirds while plying the octaves, etc.
I continue sending the most famous (some time too much) pieces, but I hope you enjoy it. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 14 | | | Performer's name: | chopinoholic (Paul de Koning) | | From: | The Netherlands | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | Long time | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Nocturne op.9 no 1 B flat minor | | Composer: | Chopin, Frederic | | Duration: | 06:00 | | Source of music: | Henle Urtext edition | | Instrument used: | Pleyel 205 grand from 1977 | | Recording method: | Zoom H4n with Superlux s502 mic | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I played this Nocturne a loooong time ago and decided to try and record it for this recital. Couple of ghost notes here and there. Also in the last few chords. It has been submitted a couple of times already in the past recitals and I hope that you still enjoy it nevertheless.
Have fun! |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 15 | | | Performer's name: | Richard (zrtf90) | | From: | Ireland | | Experience: | It's hard to think about and harder to see it written down but it's over fifty years since I first started playing the piano and my teeth are now nearly as long as the keys. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Largo e mesto | | Composer: | Beethoven | | Duration: | 09:50 | | Instrument used: | Kawai CA95 + Pianoteq | | Recording method: | In increasing order, Pianoteq, Audacity, trial and error. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Sonata in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3
Largo e mesto (D Minor)
This is my second successive Beethoven entry and it's been one of my favourites since I first heard it over thirty years ago. I'm not so far now from finishing the whole sonata, either. The recording of it by Alfred Brendel alongside the Moonlight, which my teacher had just deposited in my lap, and the little Op. 79, was my first exposure to Beethoven's piano sonatas.
This is a landmark work on the road of Beethoven's troubled slow movements looking tragically back at the listener like the vivid and revealing gaze of a Rembrandt self-portrait.
________________________________
My thanks go yet again to the organisers of these recitals. The incentive to make music out of the printed page just wouldn't be the same without the need to record to a deadline for an appreciative and gentle audience. It focuses my attention like nothing else at the piano.
________________________________
Technical and personal notes for those that like to read something during the longer recordings...
The marking of this movement is fastidious, which makes memorising the details of the movement a bit daunting and I've still some way to go in realising it. I find it hard to keep up the dynamic range when I'm struggling to remember what comes next so it's currently not as satisfying to me as a whole movement as it is in smaller sections. I was quite chuffed with this performance as soon as I finished it but listening to it after a night's sleep I can see all the places where I haven't really succeeded. The piece as a whole isn't really saying much; the emotional depth is missing. It is, however, in a state where I can earnestly begin the long and winding road of real practise that will allow the piece to take shape the way it was intended.
There aren't many mechanical difficulties in this work but the technical details are quite exhausting. The problems Beethoven introduces are not pianistic but musical. He tends to toss keyboard technique aside and satisfies the musical demands in spite of the keyboard where Chopin or Scarlatti take advantage of it.
Voicing the chords has been a major difficulty for me and there's still much to do here. The reprise (4:49) is probably the hardest section for me. The first part changes slightly from the opening bars and the LH chords are quite challenging to bring out the voicing with the inner fingers. The second part (5:24) was really hard to get right. In the end I took the inner melody notes with the LH thumb to get a better balance and keep the upper B flat under control.
The timing has been exacerbating; Beethoven doesn't really do rubato. The florid passages are not meant to sound like Chopin's fioriture but each segment worked out in correct rhythm. The number of notes here and the ornaments means a metronome is not worth using. It takes careful counting to seduce the rhythm from its shell in short extracts and only when each section has been understood can they be strung together. The florid sections of the Pathetique's Adagio were much the same thing.
Also on timing, the enchanting melody on gossamer threads (3:53) is so absorbing to play that it's only hearing the recording that I realise how much extra time I'm giving to the LH graced chords compared to the finale section (7:59). Oops!
The pedal has been really annoying - much thanks to Forrest Halford for bringing his powerful ear to bear on the shortcomings of my pedalling technique: stamp on, jump off or snap rapidly for a quick change. The noise from the feet is soft and the internal woodwork non-existent. My digital has graded pedal but unlike an acoustic piano there's no way to feel in the pedal what the woodwork is doing, there's no change in key weight and my brain is too busy with other things to be able set aside mental space to pay attention to half-pedalling techniques.
I've been using Kawai's Virtual Technician settings to make poor pedal technique more obvious and bring it forward in the sonic picture. This has helped enormously to highlight the problems. Listening to the recordings, after the event, has helped bring out my failings and point the way to some of the difficulties ahead. In time I hope to be able to listen more acutely for these nuances while I play. Alas, it still isn't feasible just yet. I need to learn to listen while I'm playing to hear where the dampers are instead of feeling them in foot and finger.
Pianoteq has helped; it makes use of different keyboard velocities without affecting the overall volume but it's not as pleasant or complete to listen to, while playing, compared to the Kawai's soundboard so I'm still listening to the Kawai while recording the Pianoteq output and the lack of dynamic range is partly from that. There is a distinct difference in the way these two instruments implement the pianoforte and I've been a bit slow to recognise it. I now know why my recordings have not sounded quite right to me but I'm not yet ready to capitalise on it.
Despite an acoustic being easier to listen to while playing and to feel physically what it's doing I still prefer the extra control afforded by a high quality digital keyboard and more distinct clarity of the notes afforded by good quality headphones making it easier to hear what's happening in finer detail and a distinct lack of the usual annoyance of having to listen and play around the foibles of an imperfectly constructed instrument. I forget I'm playing a digital with this Kawai but I'm always reminded of an acoustic's imperfections when I'm playing one.
I have recently gained access to a small grand every now and then (at the expense of an attentive, if not too well informed or welcome, audience) and I'm finding it easier to transfer skills back and forth as I progress on my piano journey but it's ever clearer that while an acoustic instrument will always be the foundation of my playing, it no longer merits a place in my future.
________________________________
I missed the last recital due to a climactic period in my health story. I suffered a heart attack at the end of 2010 and was declared diabetic before I left hospital. I have studied diet, medicine and exercise avidly since then and finally found the truth beneath the lies, weaned myself off all the medication, reversed my diabetes, lost over two stone, broke personal records in my lifting and have just recently been discharged from the Cardiology clinic as my ejection fraction has risen back to normal. I am a slimmer, stronger, fitter and healthier version of my younger self. In the process I seem to have recovered from tinnitus, arthritis and brittle nails. Life is good.
________________________________
Lunch? I've been on one meal a day for over two years. I just don't do lunch. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 16 | | | Performer's name: | Newbert | | From: | Upstate New York | | Experience: | About 3 Years as a child. Now about 3 years as an adult. About 45 lost years in between. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | All In Love Is Fair | | Composer: | Stevie Wonder | | Duration: | 03:32 | | Source of music: | Sheet Music - "Stevie Wonder - Easy Piano Anthology" | | Instrument used: | Kawai VPC1 | | Recording method: | Ravenscroft VST Software in Reaper. Conversion to mp3 using Audacity software. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Though not a big fan of Stevie Wonder, I came across this piece while searching for another. It is quite easy to learn, but is still fun to play and still sounds good, IMO.
I played straight from the sheet music, except for minor rearranging the second time through and at the end. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 17 | | | Performer's name: | Pathbreaker (Tarik) | | From: | Massachusetts | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | 16 years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://app.box.com/s/ogjhyn8hsv1mpadbqdeflsgvmjc1shlm | | Title of piece: | Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21-1 | | Composer: | Brahms | | Duration: | 19:55 | | Source of music: | sheet music | | Instrument used: | Roland RP301 / Synthogy Ivory II ACD | | Recording method: | Cantabile, Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This piece was originally learned for the theme and variations recital but I was never happy with it. I'll probably never be happy but I made a lot of progress so now I'm finally sharing it.
I think this piece is very personal to Brahms and was a major turning point in his composing style. During this time Brahms was deeply obsessed with late Beethoven. You can sense the inspiration from the variation movements in Beethoven's Op. 109 and 111. I listened to this a lot over the past year as companion pieces. I also discovered a lot of other early Brahms along the way.
This seems to be the only set of variations by Brahms where he uses his own theme. In this piece there is a sense that Brahms is discovering or expanding his developing variation technique throughout the piece. It seems that the piece had great importance to Brahms even if it is not as well known as some of his other work. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 18 | | | Performer's name: | Ganddalf | | From: | Norway | | Experience: | Half a century | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Rondo D-major, K485 | | Composer: | Mozart | | Duration: | 04:54 | | Source of music: | Schott edition | | Instrument used: | Yamaha AvantGrand N1 | | Recording method: | Zoom H1 | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | In addition to several sonata and concerto movements in rondo form Mozart wrote two separate rondos, the a-minor, K511 and the D-major, K485. Some ABF recitals ago I played the a-minor rondo and now I decided to present the D-major. I checked the recital index to see if anyone has played this piece before, and I was a bit surprised to find that it didn't appear on the list. In earlier days it was quite often played, and I thought it was a piece that "everybody" had on their repertoire.
I think that both the a-minor and D-major rondos are great compositions. The main theme of the D-major may seem very simple and perhaps a bit childish, but Mozart develops the theme and creates something that actually is much more complex than the traditional ABACA... rondo form, more like a sonata.
Technically this rondo is harder than it sounds. Like all Mozart it is very transparent, and even small flaws are revealed without mercy. The temptation to try concealing inaccuracies with the pedal is hard to resist, but unless pedal is used very sparsely everything becomes mud.
I just returned from a months vacation away from the piano. During this time I have mainly been doing rough work with chain saws, axes and sledgehammers, and my hands and fingers are a bit stiffer than normal. Moreover I don't have the possibility to wait until the deadline date, because I'm going away again. So in this case my main motivation is to present the piece and not to display my own capabilities. Maybe I'll be able to make a better performance on a later occasion. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 19 | | | Performer's name: | CASINITALY (Cheryl) | | From: | Italy | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | about 6.5 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Sonatina in G major - 3 movements | | Composer: | Diabelli | | Duration: | 05:36 | | Source of music: | sheet music | | Instrument used: | Yamaha P112N (Silent feature used) | | Recording method: | audacity to PC | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Well, getting a presentable recording of this was torture. Multiple tries over a few days, then today I said, ok... this is it! And I did them all in one take each. I played them one right after the other, but in separate recordings and them put them together, cutting out the dead air.
This is the first sonatina for which I have recorded all the movements. I've been working on it for months, and attempted to play it at the EPP. My recordings today I think are better than when I played with a live audience. (Notwithstanding their wonderful support and encouragement!)
As usual, there are some flubs. I suppose some day I will get an error free recording, but let's not hold our breath on that one!
It's a good example of what I can do on average.
I plan to keep this in my repertoire, and get both the first and third movements up to a faster tempo.
Although the third movement is significantly slower than it should be, I think (I hope) I have managed to capture some of its cheerful cheeky flavour.
Lunch was linguine with a lobster and salmon cream sauce, courtesy of Mr. Casinitaly. |
|
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,384
Posts3,349,173
Members111,631
| |
Most Online15,252
Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
