Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital #60 --- General Discussion Room

My first set of comments. I'm skipping around.

04. Ido - Little prelude in D major (BWV 925) Solid performance of this charming prelude. Nice balance between the hands and steady tempo.

05. MarieJ - Gymnopedie No. 1 You captured the melancholy and introspective character of this piece. Well played. My only suggestion would be to not necessarily stress the first beat in the RH and think about the longer melodic line.

06. Peyton - Aria from The Goldberg Variations Very enjoyable performance. I like how you varied the repeats.

07. pianist685 (Constantin) - Waltz A minor B.150 Your performance is very soulful and it’s apparent that you gave much thought to the musical interpretation. It hangs together beautifully. Congrats!

08. Barbaram - Milonga del Angel I listened to your Milonga a few times. While you took some liberties with the rhythm as written in the piano score, I thought the way you played around with the rhythm worked really well, and that you beautifully captured the spirit of the piece. I appreciate you mentioning me in your comments, but I think my interpretation was more literal and perhaps not as musically successful.

09. Serge88 - Your Song Thanks for taking me back to my youth. My all-time favorite Elton John song. Played really well.

I'm glad you liked it,


You're welcome to try it. My scoring is a bit bare bones, lacking in dynamics and phrasing. I've put the score up on box.
https://app.box.com/s/bvm9jp6pxl18l9t9bue9lr1zqte0kfff

Here's a first set of comments.

51. Sam S - Song Without Words op 19-4 No rust on this piece, very tight. I felt a real sense of completeness as you return to the A theme at the end. Your internal commentary is much healthier than mine. I tend to get stuck on "don't think about the red dot."

50. Qwerty53 - Valsette en bleu This is a little gem. Sensitively played. I recognize the name of the composer from an anthology of the baroque period edited by him. I'll need to look at other things he's published. Congrats on the piano.

49. Kevin1116 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major Op. 27 no. 1 Quasi una Fantasia IV. Allegro Vivace Wow! I have a recording of this around somewhere. This sonata is one of my favourites, but well beyond my abilities. More difficult than it sounds? It sounds very difficult. Great stuff.

47. psyche23 Edwin - Arabesque No. 1 If you hadn't told us, I would have thought you'd been toiling on this for months. Very enjoyable.

46. ShiroKuro - Energy Flow You're right this is special piece. Your playing demonstrates its meaning to you. Thank you for sharing.

45. Talao - La Pastorale Op. 100, No. 3 Well played, solid tempo, liked your articulation. I'm not familiar with the piece, but my one suggestion would be to lighten the left hand a little. Break a leg at the recital.

Continuing to skip around. Lots of good performances.

13. Rich D. - Argentinian Dance No. 2 One of my favorite pieces. Beautifully played and love the sound of your Grotrian!

14. AndresVel (Andres) - Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115) Amazing performance for someone who has been playing piano for only 5 months. Nice balance between hands, steady tempo and lovely ornaments.

17. dumka1 - Mazurka op. 6 no. 2 Very enjoyable and confident performance. You captured the spirit of the Mazurka. I feel these gorgeous Chopin pieces are often overlooked and not sure why.

20. JB_PW (Jen) - Prelude No. 3 in C Minor Congratulations on your first recital. Hope we hear more from you in future recitals. Played very confidently.

29. timmyab - Sonata k25 A very enjoyable performance. I love this sonata and I thought you did a great job with the phrasing, tempo and pedaling. My only comment is I didn’t really like the arpeggio you added at the end.

46. ShiroKuro - Energy Flow Very enjoyable performance and confidently played. I like the sound of your Yamaha.

50. Qwerty53 - Valsette en bleu I had the pleasure a couple weeks ago to hear Qwerty give me an in-person performance of this lovely piece on her new, gorgeous Estonia. Thanks for introducing me to a new composer.

My last set of comments for today.

41. KevinM - Songs Without Words 30.6 and 19.4 Nice job bringing out the harmonics and character of these two pieces. My only suggestion is to bring out the melody more and let it sing over the accompaniment.

45. Talao - La Pastorale (Op. 100, No. 3) Nicely and confidently performed. Congrats on your first ABF performance!

47. psyche23 (Edwin) - Arabesque No. 1 Flawless performance. My only comment is that musically it could have some more air and space. I think the overall tempo is fine but perhaps use more rubato. It would give the piece a more floaty feel.

48. Stumbler / Dave - Sentimentale I always enjoy your compositions. Just when I think I know what’s coming next, you toss in interesting harmonic progressions.

49. Kevin1116 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major Op. 27 no. 1 "Quasi una Fantasia" IV. Allegro Vivace I viewed the complete sonata on YouTube. Your playing is superb. Very enjoyable listen.

51. Sam S - Song Without Words op 19-4 Nice performance and especially liked the side notes.

Thank you to all who took the time to listen to my recital piece and provided their feedback and encouragement, especially Qwerty53, AndresVel, stumbler, and pianogrlNW (so far).

AndresVel: Since you brought up Burgmuller, I found this album on Apple Music in which pianist Carl Petersson plays all 25 pieces from Opus 100 and also all 18 pieces from another etude, Opus 109. I think 109 is a bit more advanced than 100 (maybe a good follow-up collection). Listening to this album is a good way to decide which Burgmuller pieces you want to work on. I'd have a hard time believing someome could listen to these 43 short pieces and not think that at least a handful are absolutely gorgeous/delightful/fun. Here's a link to the album (I play this on repeat in the car).

stumbler: I agree 100% with your comment about my LH being a bit too heavy. That was the first thing I thought to myself when I listened to the mp3 recording. This is one of my current technique issues that I'm trying to improve on: playing chords evenly while being both piano and reasonably fast. What happens is that either I play too hard (to achieve more evenness) or I lose evenness/speed to achieve softness. I gotta have a serious conversation with this LH of mine :-)

I got back from my live recital around 7:30pm EST. Still a little overwhelmed by the experience. I'll make a separate post with more details about that, but I'm happy to report I did not make any mistakes and my teacher thought I did very well :-)

Now that the stress is over, I'm looking forward to listening to all of our ABF recital submissions!

Talão, congratulations on your recital performance!

23. PianogrlNW (Ellen) - Deep River
I didn’t realise he wrote that, the things I don’t know about music would fill volumes. It takes courage and musicianship to play a simple, strong melody of deep sentiment convincingly like that in public. It quite affected me actually, which happens very seldom these days at my age, so thanks for that.

01. jazzyprof - Song Without Words, Op.30 no.1 An expressive performance to start a very special Recital - sweet, jazzyprof, definitely no butchering there!

02. QuasiUnaFantasia - Prelude op. 28 no. 6 I admit that I wasn’t familiar with this piece, but I really enjoyed your rendition. The pace and dynamics seemed just right - lovely!

03. wouter79 - celestial voices and vesper song, op.45 no9, 10 Technically challenging for us lesser mortals; you handled that so well.

04. Ido - Little prelude in D major (BWV 925) That prelude could become a favourite of mine too - beautifully played!

05. MarieJ - Gymnopedie No. 1 I know this needs more polishing, but I’ll have a break and revisit it later. So many other tempting works …

48. Stumbler- Very pretty melody. Short and sweet.

47. psyche23- Didn't seem rushed at all. Wonderfully played. There is a small ski area near me that used to play this piece in their ads... "Ski the valley of snow..." so ever since I associate this with snow and skiing.

46.ShiroKiro- - Absolutely lovely playing. And such a pretty piece.

My first batch, working from the end:

43. selfishplayer - (only)Toccata and (no)Fugue in d minor BWV 565 Piano Transcription
Suitably creepy and unnerving sense of foreboding in the toccata. Fantastic energy

44. AssociateX (Liz) - Prelude in F# Major WTC 1 (BWV858)
Beautifully played

45. Talao - La Pastorale (Op. 100, No. 3)
Well done Talao, a very pretty performance. And I was glad to see from your other post that your recital went well too – congratulations!

46. ShiroKuro - Energy Flow
Simply gorgeous

47. psyche23 (Edwin) - Arabesque No. 1
One of my favourite pieces, and I am working on it too. It’s not recital-ready yet for me but maybe in 2021! I enjoyed your performance

48. Stumbler / Dave - Sentimentale
Sweet and lovely

49. Kevin1116 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major Op. 27 no. 1 "Quasi una Fantasia" IV. Allegro Vivace
I listened to the full sonata on youtube, great job

50. Qwerty53 - Valsette en bleu
I’m not sure I’d class it as any of boogie, blues or jazz, but I guess it has a jazzy aspect to the harmony, In any case, it is a lovely piece

51. Sam S - Song Without Words op 19-4
Lovely performance, and I really loved the video, with your annotated music and your comments in the video itself. Fantastic!

Skipping around...

02. QuasiUnaFantasia - Prelude op. 28 no. 6
Well played. Very nice touch.

04. Ido - Little prelude in D major (BWV 925) I enjoyed your performance. Very nicely done!

05. MarieJ - Gymnopedie No. 1
I like to hear stories such as yours of when students revisit pieces that earlier had given them problems. Sure sounds like you’ve overcome the difficulties you apparently had previously. Congratulations on a job well done—and on the progress you’re making!

07. pianist685 (Constantin) - Waltz A minor B.150
Gorgeous! Love your interpretation and phrasing!

08. Barbaram - Milonga del Angel
Nice piece! Enjoyed your performance, too.

11. vte - Andante from Sonatina Op 55 No 4
For only 9 months at the piano, you’ve done a really good job. Keep at it!

14. AndresVel (Andres) - Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115)
Welcome to the recitals! Only 5 months? You, too, are well on your way.

18. Ganddalf - Siciliano Op.128 no.1
I have to admit that generally speaking I don’t care for music utilizing extended tonalities. But this piece was an exception, most likely due to your very nice performance of it. Well done!

20. JB_PW (Jen) - Prelude No. 3 in C Minor
Welcome to the recitals! Yes, a simple piece, but enjoyable nonetheless. Good job!

Just to say I've listened through the recital twice now and some pieces even more than that. Unfortunately I've not had a chance to listen when I can take notes for commenting. Hopefully I'll find the time.

But just letting you know, I think this is an awesome recital. There is so much music here to enjoy. So for now, thank you one and all.

08. Barbaram - Milonga del Angel

We enjoyed listening to your piece yesterday morning. It was a stand out piece in our conversation and we thought it sounded really nice! Oh, and my girlfriend felt that the participants in the recital are NOT adult beginners. Maybe I'll get her to submit something next time

He wrote a number of very nice sounding etudes, highly recommended!


Nice to hear that you like it!

Thanks! Interesting, people seem to prefer the vesper song



Sam thanks! Ah so it's the chords that make the vesper song more interesting.

Thanks Marie, yes this kind of stuff is used a lot in more advanced stuff, where the melody is buried between other notes. So it's a nice piece and also a useful practice

Thank you very much Qwerty53, QuasiunaFantasia, Sam S, PianogrlNW, and SMA55 for the very kind words I found that Minuet really fun to play and to tackle as my first ever full piece.
It has been really fun to participate in the recital. I am already looking forward to the next one.

And thank goodness he is the only one, some would say. I'm better at endings than beginnings but generally I'm a mid-stream man (so to speak !)


I used to play some Liszt in my youth but I've never played any Rach. Pleased to be a positive influence.


The title is a partial quote from Finnegans Wake. The piece is the final one of a set called "Bag of Burst Loveletters". Curiously, I have had a third coffee this morning too instead of my usual two. Synchronicity Jung would be proud of.

Wanted to post some comments from listening to the first half! I'll be back to read and listen to the rest!
jazzyprof - Lovely playing. It was a quite dreamy start to the recital. Not so much butchered as carved into a beautiful performance.
Quasiunafantasia - Very nice prelude, good voicing in the left hand! I really liked your choice of tempo. It’s very difficult to play even slower than that, so I think you made the right choice.
wouter79 - The second piece was very serene. There’s quite a bit of anticipation in the piece, it’s a nice mood for the listener
MarieJ - Very consistent playing! I feel like I hear a lot more rubato than is necessary in other recordings, yours was quite refreshing. This was in the Queen’s Gambit recently, I believe.
pianist685 - Captivating playing! What a lovely rendition, I don’t think I’ve heard it played better!
Tim Adrianson - Very cheerful! Nice playing, you keep it moving; it must be exciting to play!
vte - Congrats on your first submission!
Rich D. - I love the Argentinian Dances. Very nice playing here, you keep it mysterious and intriguing throughout. I would recommend unleashing even more in the second section. Argerich’s recordings (on youtube) provide a nice example of this.
AndresVel - Congrats on your first submission! Very clean playing for only 5 months!
dumka1 - More Chopin! You really got the Mazurka dance feeling down quite properly. Nice playing!
Ganddalf - This piece has quite a bit in it! Impressionistic, strange tonality, but also lovely romanticism. Beautiful playing. There are more than a few bits in the middle where it sounds quite like Chopin’s F major prelude.
JB_PW - Congrats on your first submission! No need to worry about nerves here!
Rachtowven - Congrats on your first submission as well!
Calavera - I really enjoy your FF performances! I do look forward to hearing more FF pieces from you in the future. This was quite jazzy and contemplative.
PianogrlNW Ellen - This was quite a deep piece to listen to. You did it justice.
Jason Lenthe - Solid, dreamy, very nice performance. Have you considered experimenting with microphone placement? There are a couple places where the texture sounded perhaps a bit more dry than you may have intended. Regardless, I would err on the side of using more sustain pedal and remember that the pedal is a continuum — it doesn’t have to be fully depressed for it to change the tone.
Peter Hontaru - Congratulations of your distinction! You do a very nice job of voicing the left hand and right together creating melodic interest in the two separate lines. Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for later grades!
timmyab - I enjoyed listening to this! Yeah Scarlatti is certainly a challenge, everything is extremely open and it’s soooo clear to the audience if you’re playing the piece correctly (or not). Perhaps I’m a purist, but it would be nice to hear with less (or no) pedal.

Thanks for the warm welcome and comments, everyone. It's great to hear so many nice performances. I haven't gotten through all of them yet, but I hope to do so in the next few days. For now, I have some comments.

01. jazzyprof - Song Without Words, Op.30 no.1
Nicely played. You conveyed the emotions of the piece well.

04. Ido - Little prelude in D major (BWV 925)
Enjoyable piece and playing. You’ve got this one down.

05. MarieJ - Gymnopedie No. 1
You’ve really mastered this piece. Great job!

06. Peyton - Aria from The Goldberg Variations
Well done and I found your alterations tasteful.

08. Barbaram - Milonga del Angel
I was previously unfamiliar with this piece, but I like it. Quite well played.

09. Serge88 - Your Song
Just wow! This is perfect!

14. AndresVel (Andres) - Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115)
Very impressive, particularly since you started playing only in June.

15. Mosotti - Arietta
This is great!

16. AlexKi - Of Foreign Lands and Peoples
Very nicely done. You nailed this.

17. dumka1 - Mazurka op. 6 no. 2
Excellent playing in the true mazurka style! For a smartphone recording, the sound turned out well.

18. Ganddalf - Siciliano Op.128 no.1
Nice of you to champion an obscure composer and you certainly do the piece justice! Your excellent playing is a good advertisement for York Bowen’s music.

20. JB_PW (Jen) - Prelude No. 3 in C Minor
Wow! Convincing rendition of a lovely work from a modern composer. Thanks for bringing this piece to our attention.

22. Calavera - You're Not Alone
I’m not familiar with video game music, but this piece has real merit and you gave a fantastic performance. Bravo!

25. Jason Lenthe - Reverie
Great job pulling off a difficult piece. This is really well done.

26. bSharp(C)yclist (Dan) - Prelude in C Major (BWV 846)
Well played! And I concur with your ample use of the pedal. Great sounding piano.

27. Peter Hontaru - The Little Ballerina
Sensitive playing of such a beautiful little piece. Great job!

28. JJHLH - Waltz No. 10 in B minor
Well done on a rather difficult piece for someone who has played less than 2 years.

31. Moo - opus 87 no 7 - A major fugue
Well done for your first fugue. This one doesn’t look easy.

34. facdo - Sonata in Eb Major, K.282
Quite impressive playing, especially for a single take. I also take my hat off to your recording skills. It’s hard to record uprights well.

35. Flygbladet - Nocturne in E minor
Convincing performance of a piece that I hadn’t heard before. Well done!

37. Greta99 - Valse Lente, Op. 33
Nice piece and excellent playing. I had never heard of this composer. Thanks for bringing new music to our ears.

38. JoBert - Erinnerung
Lovely playing of a lovely piece. You captured the underlying mood well.

41. KevinM - Songs Without Words 30.6 and 19.4
Fantastic performances of great music!

42. sandalholme - Intermezzi Op116 Nos 5 and 6
I love Brahms’s mature piano music and really enjoyed this. Exceptional playing!

49. Kevin1116 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major Op. 27 no. 1 "Quasi una Fantasia" IV. Allegro Vivace
You went all out on this difficult piece! Well done.

51. Sam S - Song Without Words op 19-4
Sensitively and accurately played! I liked the annotations also.

18. Ganddalf - Siciliano Op.128 no.1
This piece took my fancy and you play it well. I am very fond of a certain kind of late romantic English music, especially that of Ireland, Bridge, Bax, Finzi and Havergal Brian. Perhaps thanks to you I shall now add York Bowen to the list.