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At the near-behest of some unnamed forum members, I'm going to post my recording of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz. A brief introduction to the recording (because without it, you'll all be disappointed):

I haven't worked on the piece since June-early July. But, after six months with my new teacher, I wanted to see if it was any easier to play some of the old pieces I used to play (terribly). I was inspired by that one person's thread on the Mephisto, so I decided that's the one I'd record. (Nothing like starting with "Fur Elise", eh? :p )

I played through the piece a few times with the score to make sure I remembered it, sat down and tried to work out some technical issues for about an hour, maybe two, and then recorded it. (I don't want to dedicate time to truly working out the piece because I'm not supposed to touch it...)

This is a one-shot recording, and there are a lot of mistakes, slips, errors, I think a pause or two. And at one point, you can even hear my sister ask me a question. But over all, I don't think it's totally worthless, so I'm allowing myself to be open to public ridicule.

I suppose that's enough ado....

Mephisto Waltz

Ridicule away.


And if you haven't heard my Rachmaninoff...feel free to check out that recording, too. (Might as well get all the ridicule out of the way in one shot. :p )

To My Rach Recording Thread We Go!

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That's not very nice....

Hey, i gave you mine, do you want me to post it?

*laughs* Ah, yes! I did get yours in a private message! (Oh, and I fixed my sound card so I can now speak more specifically on the exact things you heard.)

Sure, post it... then I can comment in here, too and I stay at the top of the list longer. :p

Well Derulux, this is the first time i listen to this piece of repertoire so don't mind my comment that much and excuse my ignorance
Maybe you should listen to a comment of someone who knows the piece

Anyway i would not dare without leaving a comment, i am a great reviewer as you know

You are lucky i don't know the piece, i can't detect all your wrong notes, although they are obvious

But what lacked in this recording is the overall sense of the piece (i don't know if this is because i am not familiar with it or what) but i didn't feel it holding together

Is it the wrong notes, or because you just played the piece the first time after many years?

And too much stacatto (what is liszt up to?)

Very nice glissandos and double notes by the way fabulous

Also i wonder - you did not show inner voices at all (i think the piece is full of those) - i think that this is just because you didn't play it for a long time (or it is just me hallucinating)

Also i wonder if there are pianissimos in the piece!!

i can say that from 2:43 to 4:50 was sensational and truly touching (beware that this happened and i am still not familiar with the piece indicating your high ability to transfer emotions) - reminds me of that part of the rach where you were tearing from inside .. remember

I also compliment you on your endurance for such a mammoth of a piece

OMG, Again: 8:30 to 9:00 is just fabulous, both musically and technically, it captures the ear

Sorry for any harsh comments, but you asked for it

I enjoyed it! While I can't say I know how to play this song, I have listened to it many, many times, and I am fairly confident that I know the way it sounds inside and out. I don't want to sound like a pompous jackoff, so take my critique for what its worth, and remember you are far better than me.

It was quite a rough start, though I will say you executed the fast ascending scale flawlessly. Your execution seemed to get more and more accurate as time went on. I will say that your style of playing such a piece is not my preference, but we all have different tastes. I think the end was a bit too fast, but it nevertheless was played with vigor.

If you haven't already, listen to Leslie Howard's recording, it is astounding. Actually, I'd recommend looking at all of Leslie Howard's work. His technique is as close to flawless as they come. Also, check out the mephisto waltz no. 2, I think it's exceptional.

I didn't listen to the Mephisto Waltz because I haven't familiarized myself with how it normally sounds when played by "recording contract" pianists, but I certainly gave a shot at the Rach 2 since I love that first movement so much.

I think you did a really wonderful job, from the quicker portions to the *tear* 3:10 and on cry-a-thon. There are a few notes here and there that don't sound the way I remember them, mostly because I've basically been weened on a single recording of it; it could very well be your interpretation. The "climax" at around 6:00 is not as mean as I like it to be, but to be honest, it was brilliantly emotional. I found myself feeling heart-wrenched (and not because of bad playing!) To be honest, I think that's the way a listener should feel for that part, and your interpretation certainly gets it across better than the mean way I prefer. The "Russian Dance," as I like to call it, afterward was nice as well.

I'm very interested in learning the piece myself. How long have you been playing and how long did it take for you to learn the entire first movement (including memorization and getting the tempo up)?

Do you have any tips for me? I've been playing for 10 years (though I feel a lot of it was squandered by my lack of interest in about 6-8 of those years) and have recently started learning some Rachmaninoff preludes (C# minor and G minor). I know that there's a big jump in difficulty between Prelude and Piano concerto, but helpful advice would still be appreciated; I'm not planning on starting to learn it quite yet anyway.

Edit: Sorry, I realized just now that I should have probably posted in your Rach thread instead.

Reaper-
I don't want to sound like a pompous jackoff, so take my critique for what its worth,
*laughs* You certainly did not come off as such. (It's tough to come off as one when you start with, "I enjoyed it!" :p Ah, and thank you. )

It was quite a rough start, though I will say you executed the fast ascending scale flawlessly. Your execution seemed to get more and more accurate as time went on. I will say that your style of playing such a piece is not my preference, but we all have different tastes. I think the end was a bit too fast, but it nevertheless was played with vigor.

Yeah, the last thing I was working on six months ago was the ending, to get it "better"...so it was more comfortable to me than the beginning, because I hadn't actively worked on the first seven minutes or so since November-December of 2004. As for playing the end too fast...I've actually never really heard a slower recording. I'll have to look into Mr. Howard's. I, for one, like it to be intense and vigorous because it is a diabolical piece...the title alone indicates that! (And if you've ever read "Faust", this particular waltz was supposedly played by the Devil on a fiddle...at least, that's the scene Liszt was writing for.)

PingPong-
The "climax" at around 6:00 is not as mean as I like it to be, but to be honest, it was brilliantly emotional. I found myself feeling heart-wrenched (and not because of bad playing!) To be honest, I think that's the way a listener should feel for that part, and your interpretation certainly gets it across better than the mean way I prefer. The "Russian Dance," as I like to call it, afterward was nice as well.

I'm not quite sure what you meant when you said "mean", but I imagine "more intense"/"louder". Naturally, I had to fit the sound of the string ensemble, so I couldn't go "all-out", but I do believe that passage was roughly how I interpret it, just with slightly increased dynamics under "normal" circumstances. :p And thank you for the compliment.

I'm very interested in learning the piece myself. How long have you been playing and how long did it take for you to learn the entire first movement (including memorization and getting the tempo up)?

It's a very fun piece! I highly recommend it! Let's see, it took me about 3-3.5 weeks to memorize the notes. (I memorize rather quickly.) But I didn't get it up to speed for about 2.5 months. And, because my technique was so bad, it took another 2 months to "polish it" to what you heard in the recording. And the recording was made about 5.5 months after first touching the piece.

Do you have any tips for me?
YES! Learn it slower than I did. Much slower. *laughs* (because I think I ran out of smilies to use) Some of the technical problems I had were developed because I was trying to learn it as quickly as possible and brushed off some things I shouldn't have brushed off while memorizing it those first few weeks.

I've been playing for 10 years (though I feel a lot of it was squandered by my lack of interest in about 6-8 of those years) and have recently started learning some Rachmaninoff preludes (C# minor and G minor).
*laughs* Yep...this concert marked my return to the piano after a 5-6 year absence. (Well, actually, my return started with learning the Mephisto in November 2004, but really didn't take off until I started the Rachmaninoff in January 2005.) But this was the first time I was on stage since high school...and was my first experience on piano with a string ensemble/orchestra...and I'm itching for more! MORE!

As for the preludes, I'm not one of those people who believes that music is, at some magical point, difficult. So, I don't separate the preludes from the concertos from the etudes from the fantasies, etc. It's all music. If you have good technique and understand music, it won't matter. (Hope I had room for that smiley!)

I know that there's a big jump in difficulty between Prelude and Piano concerto, but helpful advice would still be appreciated; I'm not planning on starting to learn it quite yet anyway.
See what I said above. But, I will add that the only real difficulty in the first movement of the 2nd concerto is how awkward it is for the fingers. The stretches are unnatural in some places, and if you don't concentrate on learning how to PROPERLY move between the jumps from the very start, you'll be in the hole as you try to bring it up to speed. (This was my biggest problem.) The only other real challenge is rhythm...some beats get 6 notes, some get 9, some get 8, some get 7, another gets 6, then it's back to 9.... That's fun...emphasize the beat, and keep the downbeat even, and you probably won't have a problem with it.

Edit: Sorry, I realized just now that I should have probably posted in your Rach thread instead.
*laughs* I was wondering the same thing! I suppose now you'll have to listen to the Mephisto to make up for it. :p (Dang...please be room for the smiley!) I don't mind...it's all the same to me. *winks*

Wow, thanks for all the advice!

Yeah, I was looking at beginning (right after the big chords) and I couldn't help but notice that it goes 9 eighth notes instead of 8 or something like that. I wasn't quite sure how that all worked out into the measure...

Would you happen to know where I could obtain some sheet music for the piece online?
I'm looking for something arranged into 2 pianos (or even one piano) instead of having the full orchestral score. I can't imagine the paper waste and constraint on learning with only one line of piano per page.

You could try the Sheet Music Archive . I've loaded it to the Rachmaninoff page. I'm not sure if that's the full orchestral or the solo/reduction. You can also obviously buy it... I have the Carl Fisher. It cost $10.50 plus tax. (And the reduction is 60-some pages, I think...so yes, the orchestral would be huge...100+ probably.)

The eighths in the beginning break down into beats based on the lowest note. (It always gets the beat.)

Yeah, I've looked on SMA--all it has is the full score for both the Rach 2 and 3 (sadly).

I think I may have to buy the real thing! *Shucks*

Thanks anyway.

By the way, is the quote on your sig Horowitz's? It sounds sort of familiar, but I'm not sure.

Actually, it is my own. I made it up when I found that I wanted a sig line. I feel a lot better, though, knowing that people assume it's Horowitz. (That's being in good company!)

Re Mephisto Waltz - what happened to the little cadenza at 9:00?

I don't like it.

First to say this piece is quite difficult. Here are a few things that thought could be improved upon:

Accuracy - There were wrong notes everywhere. Some of the time I found it hard to make out what you were playing. However, if you haven't played this piece in a long time or if you are not well acquainted with it then I can understand why that would be.

Dynamics - There really seemed to be three main dynamics: mf, f, and ff. I don't have the score with me to look but I recall when looking at it that there were quite a few very soft parts too.

Accuracy: Yep...hadn't played it in 6 months, and though intimately familiar with it in my head, wasn't so intimately familiar with it in my fingers when I stopped playing it.

Dynamics: See a few posts up. The piano itself does not have a very good dynamic range, the ****-poor microphone was in a different room and had to pick up all the sound, and I had to amplify quite a bit of it (both in my fingers and in Audacity) to get it to an audible level.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to post better recordings. I just found out my cousin opened a recording studio...but it's in Boston and I'm in Philly...so we'll have to work something out. Maybe he can bring the studio to Philly? :p

Or one of these days I'll just have to lug my computer down to the Main Bldg. where sits the 9' Steinway I usually play on. (I guarantee you'll hear a good dynamic difference on that.)

Derulux. Accuracy aside, your performance was exciting! It most definitely had flair and almost a macabre feel. I enjoyed very much! Thanks!

Bumping this to the top to hide the following:

Chopin Scherzo No 2 (Op 31)

I'm hiding it for the following reasons:

1. It was played on a digital.
2. It was recorded with a $3 microphone.
3. There were a laundry-list of mistakes:
3a. Serious melody slip at 2:30 thanks to a bum peeking in through my window.... :rolleyes:
3b. After 3:15ish, the mic couldn't pick up the soft stuff very well
3c. Hesitation @ 4:16
3d. 4:18-4:38 (and its repeat at 5:54), and 6:35-6:55 I'm still working on
3e. Rush @ 6:55 (read: "sF" - "spontaneously fast" :p )
3f. Dynamic flair at 7:36
3g. Jumped pretty noticably ahead of beat at 8:06
3h. LH @ 9:02 and RH @ 9:14
3i. Tempo at 9:44 (read: another "sF" :p )

But I posted it because I'm supposed to get studio time tomorrow to have some fun. Of course, I have no idea if the piano's any good...we'll figure that out tomorrow...OR if the university will keep its deal with me. We'll figure that one out tomorrow, too....

But enjoy what's possible to enjoy until I have a much better (hopefully) recording.


piano808:
Accuracy aside, your performance was exciting! It most definitely had flair and almost a macabre feel. I enjoyed very much! Thanks!
Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. The way I look at it, I played almost every right note, and when I didn't, I made up for it by playing extra notes in other places. :p

Only comment I have at this point is to make those 4-note groups (A Bb Db F) a bit lighter; marking on my score is pp. They sound somewhat heavy but it's hard to tell if it's the way that piano sounds, the sensitivity of $3 mic, or you meant to play it that way.

There is too much mechanical noise from that digital piano, so I'll wait until you have a better recording on a real piano for further comments

Did you really have to pound those keys as hard as it sounds? If so I wouldn't touch that instrument ever again - not ever!


John