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!
This is my first recording in six years and I intend to make a habit of it. Some lessons were learned about both the filmography and the audio. Hopefully the next one will be better in these regards, and I hope you enjoy the recording!
I can't say that I appreciate this composition nor the performance of it; to me, it's just a lot of banged-out chords, pretty much all at one (loud) volume, with some added left-hand tremolos. The piece has no perceptible form, the performance gives no sense of direction since there are no dynamics or phrasing, and the audio quality of this recording leaves a lot to be desired.
I'm with Bruce, except that I suspect that the performance per se is quite good in terms of conveying the composer's intention, which I'm basing on what I've heard of Nyiregyhazi's playing.
I think the main interest of the piece is that it perhaps gives us an extra impression of Nyiregyhazi and that it completely echoes the impression of him that we've had from his playing, and also perhaps what we've heard or read about him personally, i.e. that he was a great talent but (I think it's safe to say) quite disturbed.
I'm not keen on the composition, which I find rather sophomoric, but think that the performance is a pretty decent attempt at evoking Nyiregyhazi's rather peculiar sound world. I'm surprised that the sound didn't blur more during the passages where the pedal was being held down for lengthy periods. EN seems to have been quite fond of creating "foggy" textures which we don't normally hear in piano music, and I think the comparative clearness of the sound is the only aspect where the performance isn't truly "in the style of".
I can't say that I appreciate this composition nor the performance of it; to me, it's just a lot of banged-out chords, pretty much all at one (loud) volume, with some added left-hand tremolos. The piece has no perceptible form, the performance gives no sense of direction since there are no dynamics or phrasing, and the audio quality of this recording leaves a lot to be desired.
There are many ways in which music can be beautiful or beautified, and for me personally this Nyiregyhazi composition, which is of limited focus and marked fortissimo throughout, is hyper-masculine and heroico in temperament. Phrasing and dynamic articulation therefore occurs within a limited range at already slow tempo and consistently elevated dynamics. I think it elicits a style of play that is intense, commanding and with sparse range of emotion.
The left and right hand tremolos help maintain volume of sound and provide limited contrast in this austere Nyiregyhazian landscape.
Definitely the recording quality in audio and video could have been better.
I'm with Bruce, except that I suspect that the performance per se is quite good in terms of conveying the composer's intention, which I'm basing on what I've heard of Nyiregyhazi's playing.
I think the main interest of the piece is that it perhaps gives us an extra impression of Nyiregyhazi and that it completely echoes the impression of him that we've had from his playing, and also perhaps what we've heard or read about him personally, i.e. that he was a great talent but (I think it's safe to say) quite disturbed.
Many thanks and I suspect you quite right. I never am interested in conveying a composer's intention, however he and I seem to align in some ways musically. His compositions often feel like a perfect or nearly perfect fit.
People can get lost in cycles of negativity, compulsion and unhealthy drives, and unfortunately Nyiregyhazi went down that path.
I'm not keen on the composition, which I find rather sophomoric, but think that the performance is a pretty decent attempt at evoking Nyiregyhazi's rather peculiar sound world. I'm surprised that the sound didn't blur more during the passages where the pedal was being held down for lengthy periods. EN seems to have been quite fond of creating "foggy" textures which we don't normally hear in piano music, and I think the comparative clearness of the sound is the only aspect where the performance isn't truly "in the style of".
I was quite surprised at under-mixing of the harmonic progressions. I started off focused to not cross the line into over-pedaling - this was a primary concern with this piece - but then I discovered enough of a massed sonority effect couldn't be achieved!
