Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Listen/Critique my Rachmaninoff Prelude

Hi! I am new to this forum, so hello everyone! Just a little background, I am 14 and have been playing piano for about nine years. I am highly interested and pretty much have my mind set on piano for life as a career.
I recently went to a summer academy at IU, and participated in Student Recital IV. Click the link to hear/critique my Prelude in c sharp minor (Rachmaninoff). I ordered the CD of my recital and transfered the piece to my computer, and onto this link to share, so I hope you enjoy it!

http://fileshare.variousstuff.net/0000004607/

There seems to be a problem with the link.

On the whole, I would say that this is quite a dynamic performance. There is no question that it is well within your grasp; you handle the technical challenges quite well.

My only nitpicking would be the following :

A couple of times on the first page, your chords aren't always quite together, but it's a minor instance, it only occurs twice, as I recall.

In bars 7-8, you tend to increase the tempo considerably. I know it's convention to pick up the tempo slightly here - although no such indication is in the score - but it seems to me that you rush it here.

The last section in my score is marked Tempo Primo but your rendition takes the last section considerably faster than the first section. I think more of the grandeur (pomposity?) of this section would be evident if you observed the Tempo Primo indication.

Given your youth and that this was from a live performance, I'd say that you did a fantastic job.

Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Link works fine for me. Be sure to click "Download/View This File" on the page.

The prelude is excellent. Very well voiced beginning, and the middle section I thought carried the line well. The end I felt was too fast and didn't sound as well controlled as the rest of the performance. Also, some people would quibble with the amount and number of tempo changes, preferring a more measured rubato. It didn't really bother me much except at the end. Great work overall, thanks for posting!

I think it was just wonderful. Here and there a few minor things needed adjusting, as has already been pointed out. But you really did a fantastic job. Certainly technically it is within your grasp, and you display a very mature understanding of the composition. Thanks for sharing. Gaby Tu

Thanks to everyone who replied. I am familiar with the concept of keeping the tempo in the first section and when the theme comes back in a grander form, and also the concept of rubato. Interesting about my chords not being together twice (wow, great ear!). I should listen for that more.....

appassionata9 :

Now that I have your attention : May I ask you NOT to revive old threads that have long since "died". Today, alone, you have revived three threads from 2002. I don't see any point in doing so, since the topics were pretty well exhausted when they were new.

Thanks.

I'll second that. Please don't revise threads from 2002.

I enjoyed your playing. I like your sound. A bit too free with the tempo though.

Oh ok, sorry, I'll check the dates.

I really don't understand why people are miffed at reviving old threads unless someone is doing it for no other reason than to annoy. Am I missing something here?

It's disconcerting because people often reply to posters who haven't been around for years. Also, lots of the old threads that get bumped - like the Rach 3 one - are on topics that are discussed all the time.

While it's certainly not against "forum rules," it's should be a best practice that you should have a good reason for bumping old threads.

Lots of new members - like appassionata9 - may not realize they are bumping really old threads, and may not really want to. Nothing wrong with a gentle reminder.

When I hear this piece, I like to hear a bit more 'soul' - that is hard to define, but I think it is a very sad, tortured piece.

The way to accomplish that, is by (as Kreisler said) a more controlled rubato, focusing entirely on the melody.

It helps if you can sing the melody, and then try to convey that feeling to the piano.

I think of Russian piano music as painting with a very broad brush; I'm reminded of Russian ballet - very emotional, bigger than life. But I digress...

I like the middle section a lot slower, and the end should be very broadly, expansively played - as if you had an entire symphony orchestra under your fingers!

If you play the recapitulation slower, it will help with accuracy.

This is entirely MY opinion, about how I personally like to hear this piece. Take it for what it's worth...

PS: "Controlled rubato" - to me, that means that the length of each note in the phrase relates directly to the notes immediately before, and after. That would make the pulse beneath the melody feel less random.

PPS: Welcome to the forum!

Really nice job! I don't have much else to add that hasn't been said. Keep up the good work.