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Mendelssohn, Faure and Liszt:

37. lyricmudra - Venetian Boat Song No. 2 (Song Without Words Op. 30, No. 6)
A beautifully melodic rendition - a delight from start to finish (and more highly polished when compared to your earlier recording).

49. Pathbreaker - Nocturne No. 3 - Op. 33
The first time I’ve encountered this lovely Faure piece - and I really enjoyed it. Thank you Pathbreaker!

51. RudolfRSK - Sonetto 47 del Petrarca
I think you’ve covered every possible suggestion for improvement in your lengthy list: I didn’t read any of them. I just listened to - and thoroughly enjoyed - an impressive performance of a gorgeous work.

Thank you all for the kind comments on my performance, I'm glad I've been able to introduce you to Bohuslav Martinů :-) I apologize for not commenting on the recital performances myself, I do hope to finally have time this weekend to put my thoughts into words. I just want to say I thoroughly enjoyed listening to each and every submission, which I did during my workdays! Marvelous recital and many extraordinary performances.

09. peterws - Mozart's 23rd k488 Intro
One of my favorite pieces! In a way, the jolly temperament of it suits you.
It is definitely challenging and I can hear you had to adjust the tempo along the way to be able to play it. I enjoyed it anyway, simply because you are so musical.

13. Mateusz 'Mati' Papiernik - Loutky (Puppets), H. 92: No. 3. Columbine
Superb playing! I listened to it many times.

18. AndresVel - Two-Part Inventions, No. 9 in F minor (BWV 780)
One has to appreciate the effort you make in listening and commenting on all the pieces. It's no wonder you are progressing so fast - your mind takes notes from every performance you listen to.
This was a beautiful performance.

MarieJ and lilypad: glad you enjoyed them and it gives me pleasure to introduce music to someone who is unfamiliar with it.

Time's going fast and I am lagging behind ! Thanks for all the comments. I'm going to read them in detail later when I have my computer working...Maybe somewhere coming weekend

Thanks for that, Ido. I think, for the piano, it maybe needs to be a little faster in places, and it was painfully obvious I was finding it difficult playing either too slow, or too fast. But it was fun, and still is, to play that.

That makes two people who discerned jazz influence, which is puzzling to me because I don't particularly like jazz and its characteristics were the last thing on my mind at the time of recording. This exemplifies the abstract power of music, in that completely different meanings can be ascribed to the same piece by different listening minds, and they are all equally valid. Pleased you like it.

Interesting. Jazz was beginning to creep into classical from the time of Bach when chords (they didn't annotate as such then, i don't suppose) became not harmonic but dissonant, one such leading into another.
Someone once told me yo can't make mistakes in jazz. It's not what you play, but what follows it. And in classical, such diddonance is followed often by harmony,
Ted, you do away with boxed music! Music has no boundaries . . .

Wow so much feedback since i last commented, gotta catch up on my comments!

24. vte - Notturno Op 28 No 4

A very nice attempt at this rather obscure nocturne! I have to commend you on following most of the rhythmic changes throughout the piece and your attempts at rubato are coming through. You are making the most of the instrument you are currently using so good job!

Just a couple of critiques is that the rubato could be a little more natural by ensuring the pulse or speed of the music doesn't fluctuate too drastically. I mostly lose the adherence to the score when we get to the final part. When the rhythm changes to 6 notes per quarter note beat, bringing out the accent every 3 notes to show the quaver beats may help the listener to feel the rhythmic drive and structure of the section.

Finally, i believe in equal parts due to the limitation of the digital instrument and your pedaling, there are some places that sound rather blurred and the melody needs to sing out over the accompaniment more. When you do get occasional access to an acoustic instrument, play around with the nuance of the pedal and the balance between the melody and accompaniment. Hope to hear more from you!

25. Purrblast - Invention in C Major (BWV 772)

Ah yes, undoubtedly one of the top 10 hits on this forum, lets see your rendition is like

A very good attempt at it. I really appreciate your varied articulated in the half note motifs in the piece. I believe it is some combination of legato and 3 notes of non legato afterwards? Very interesting, The piece is overall rather secure and the voices are rather clear.

My only nitpick is that perhaps you entered a little bit into the romantic territory in the second half of the piece where the 'call and answer' happens. The pulse started to get pulled around which is a little unlike pieces of this style. Ironically, you could have made use of that in the final 2 or 3 crochet beats of the music as the ending felt like it needed a more convincing conclusion. But overall it is a polished product. Keep it up!

26. lilypad - The Great Pumpkin Waltz

Unfortunately i don't have access to the sheet music for this, so i cannot give super detailed feedback.

But using the a more advanced arrangement as reference, i believe that everything more or less there. The rhythmic motif and syncopation is definitely executed rather well. I like the use of a little ritard towards the end of the piece and you are keeping everything in style. Generally you seem rather secure with this piece!

If there is anything to critique, it most likely is due to the limitations of a digital instrument. The small flubs i believe is due to the lack of acclimatization to arm weight which is much easier to feel and learn on an acoustic. A similar comment for the balance between chords and the melody.
I think it is a really good product with what you have, keep it up

28. Saan Saturday - The Cat and the Mouse

I have to say this is a very honest attempt at a very challenging piece. You definitely are bringing out the interpretation of this piece and you should be rather proud of that. You have awareness of the mood and tempo changes throughout the piece as well as the dynamics. Technique wise, you seem have a decent grasp on finger work and execution of arm weight.

I won't go into too much detail on critique as i believe you are already aware of any flaws in the piece. My only advice as a fellow learner is to continue working on freeing up your body and improving your technical facility so that you can eventually play this piece at the standard performance tempo/indicated metronome marks by the composer.

Hope to hear your progress in the next ABF!

29. Flygbladet - Sonata Pathetique Mov. 1

I have to say that your dynamic control is very good even on the P45, the first session has beautifully contrasting dynamics and a very suitable tempo. Good pedaling too and the interpretation comes through very well.

For the main meat of the piece, you have a very convincing start and a healthy tempo. I am unable to pick up any real blemishes until measure 89 where we get to the contrary broken chord motif which seems to throw you off both times it appears in the sonata. This also subsequently seems to have disoriented your sense of pulse and speed abit. But its perfectly understandable.
Beyond that, i do not really see any major issues, i think you played the entire movement very beautifully especially given the fact that this is on a digital instrument. Stuff like pedaling and voicing is a little hard to execute given the nature of the P45 so you have to be commended to making it sound so good. Your broken chord tremolos are rather good and your landings for the right hand melodies are very accurate and the hand crossing motif is very clean.

I guess the the only thing is to practice with the metronome a little to find a more steady pulse and to deal with the contrary broken chord motif. I don't claim that i can play this better then you (far from it, i am just an intermediate player lol), but i believe the difficulty in the passage is the tension that you will pick up when you attempt to land and voice the pinkies in both hands, which will consequently cause the 1st and 2nd/3rd fingers to lock up, causing the fumbling sensation you are feeling. So one solution would be to pause on the pinkies every 1-4 beats and then deliberately check for tension in the thumb and pinky, maybe even shake and move the 1st 2nd and 3rd fingers and then continue the passage. Then memorize that feeling of release as you make it smoother.

It really is a fantastic product, keep working with your teacher if you have one and maybe consider moving on from this in a month or two to a piece of similar difficulty? It may serve you better in the long run than continuing to grind on this indefinitely.

I have some personal recommendation from Beethoven that you may find interesting. Maybe consider Op 78 (one of my personal favorites, hint hint), op 79, Op 2 no .1 ,the two Op 14 sets or even moonlight sonata. Some of these are not as popular as the usual ones, but they may be worth exploring to build your repertoire and repertoire.

27. Ganddalf - Sonata Pathetique, Second movement

How nice that both you and Flygbladet are presenting these two movements from this wonderful sonata!

A very very good rendition of it! I think you are very technically secure in it and i believe almost anyone listening to it will find it to be a very acceptable rendition. You are aware of the rhythmic changes and manage the part playing rather well and do not play with much hesitation. In fact the only things i will critique have nothing to do with technical stuff.

Personally, the main thing that can make this performance even better is to have some natural shaping. I do feel this tempo is a little too brisk and there are many places where tempo rubato could be used to great effect. Right now, it seems you are almost playing this metromically, but ironically, some breath marks and use of rubato to draw the listener to interesting accidentals and harmonies would make the piece sound more 'natural'.

It's funny because most players usually have the opposite problem where they negotiate too much with the pulse and tempo and have some technical holes in their playing. In your case, you can really afford to allow things to 'sing' more naturally. Try listening to a violin or clarinet rendition of this piece as this can give hints to how you need to allow 'breathing' and shaping to happen in piano.

A wonderful listen, would love to hear more in the next recital!

Thanks everyone for such a wonderful and varied recital.
I very much hope to take part again, depending on 2 main things.
Firstly I need to think what to learn.
Secondly I hope that eventually the parts needed to fix my ES8 will arrive. Unfortunately I'm not at a level where I can compensate for various notes that aren't working properly.
Take care everyone

Yes, that's how I operate these days Peter, no boundaries, I just let everything influence everything else without applying rules, names and labels. I ceased thinking in terms of idioms years ago for improvisation. I was trained in all that stuff as a boy though and I have always listened widely. For me music is an infinite landscape in which I am at liberty to wander at will, I couldn't handle anything less now at my time of life. Dissonance and harmony are just arbitrary options, free choices like all other musical properties.

Going to first respond to comments, and then get started on providing comments afterward.


First off, thank you for the work you do for this recital. I'm very grateful for it.

On the feedback: thank you for the kind words. A now-banned member of the Digital Piano forums has in the past said something like 'playing on a Williams Allegro (the best piano I could afford for about 5 years) was less than a waste of time, it's a building of bad habits.' So I'm relieved to say that was, if not nonsense, at least not an insurmountable obstacle.

I was going back and forth on whether to self-identify errors or not. This is a unique space, in that it is both both entertainment/community performance as well a venue to solicit feedback, the 'self-identification' of errors was a little bit of a gray area. If you're soliciting feedback, I've been taught it's best to self-identify the known areas of concern - at the same time, because it's a performance by and for the community, a performer should do everything possible to make the performance as enjoyable as possible, including not unnecessarily disclosing distractions.

So that's fair feedback on your part. Thank you very much for listening!


Sonnet 104 is gorgeous. From a listener's perspective, I do prefer it to 47 (which isn't to say anything against 47!). Technically, 104 was a bit too much for me to take on and expect to get a recording I liked in a reasonable timeframe.

And I am still working on this piece! Since submission, I think I've made some good progress on the evenness of the first occurrence of the melodic line, both evenness and expressiveness on the second occurrence of the libretto's melodic line, and both consistency and dynamic Goodness in the RH eighth note chords the 'in tempo ma sempre rubato' section (and the voicing of that whole section has been improved - Liszt's giving me rubato (surprise!), so I should take it).

Once I figure out what the best way to post follow-up recordings is (next recital? not sure!), I'll do so.

Thank you so much for the kind words!


I very much appreciate this! I intend to keep working on it and get it to that solid bar.


Ha. In the age of Wikipedia, looking up such things as 'biography of Liszt' is much easier, but if you're not aware of that, it can come as a surprise. I can imagine a conversation (not saying it happened, and not saying anyone here has this impression) going along the lines of 'These are figures of masters - why are their portrayals so crude?' In reality, these Petrarch Sonnets are (to put it in terms that I think are the most true to modern ears) extremely horny source material, and Liszt's horniest works that I've come across. Gorgeous melodic lines. Absolutely beautiful works. Incorrigibly lusty. It's not reflected in the recording I submitted, but I realized after submitting that the arpeggiated LH chords in measures 69-72 can convey quite the, uh, 'disquieted longing' if they're stretched out long enough (and it's how I've been playing/practicing those bars since then).

The author and the work can't always be separated - so in this case, I won't try! I'll use the author's context to interpret the text, and see what that interpretation yields.

Thank you very much for your comment!


I appreciate that. Thank you very much.


Thank you! It's not by any means a bravura, but it's still one that was difficult for me personally - so the fact that I was able to convey the mood of the piece in a way the audience can feel is something I'm glad to hear. Thanks for the comment!


Thank you for the comment and the kindness! Glad you enjoyed this - the source material's good, and I hope to interpret it and reflect it as best I can. Thank you very much!

46 Agrajag

Very impressed! Nice light and shade, phrasing. Very pleasing and clean sound.

47 facdo

Great sound from your piano. You feel the piece well. Improvements? Very little little needed.

48 Rachtoven

Super! But the polishing is the hard bit and takes time with Mozart stuff. That left hand gets no rest You done well!

49 Pathbreaker

I liked the flow of this, and the more delicate parts wich you played nicely. It sparkled with quality and depth. Splendid!

50 Coati

Handled nicely if i might say so. I'd have held down the bass note for the whole bar (despite what the music might indicate) to give it some cohesion and continuity, if you se what I mean. Nice job!

51 RudolfRSK

The NV10 sounds really good, and complements your playing well. Perhaps you might define the melody rather more from the accompanyment, by volume. i shouldn't be sayin' this; I'd not be able to play this as well as you . . .

52 P Westberg

The piano sounds nice and rustic, and the music is good with some great rhythms. I enjoyed this a lot.

53 Moo

Good work on this Mozart piece. The melody sounds well and stands out nicely. Good job!

Great work, everyone. I take this opportunity to thank y'all for your comments, and submissions; also Sam for sorting this all out for us!
Next year will be the nest one, I hope . . .Keep well, guys.

I was fortunate to get the NV10 - it was a confluence of luck and timing. It's an excellent piece of hardware.

Nothing wrong with that critique about the melodic line/accompaniment dynamic distinction - I think you're completely correct, particularly on the second and third instance of the melodic line. That melody/accompaniment distinction in the second instance of the melodic line (measure 36 onward) has been one of my recent focus areas.

Thank you for the feedback and for listening!

Three more: gems from Brahms, Couperin and Clementi.

40. OE1FEU (Peter) - Intermezzo b-flat minor Op. 117 No. 2
Welcome to the Quarterly Recitals, Peter, and what a debut on your magnificent antique Steinway. Bravo!

15. rwsavory - Les Barricades Mysterieuses
A sweet composition which sounds quite ‘modern', when in fact it was written for harpsichord more than 300 years ago. I liked this when you played it in Recital 61 and I very much enjoyed hearing it again.

38. CasualPianist123 - Sonata Op. 40 No. 2, 1st Movt
A dramatic performance - impressive!

And the really 'unknowns':

01. Greta99 - Two Baltic Waltzes -"Tallinn" and "Vilnius" from"Reflections in Waltz”
I thoroughly enjoyed both of these waltzes. Your dynamics were spot-on, and your touch light and sensitive - a beautiful performance.

03. PikaPianist - Nocturne Op. 3 No.2
Thank you for finding this rare gem - and for sharing it with us so magnificently. Every listening minute was a true delight.

04. Sam S - Valse de l'adieu
Congratulations on your 50th Quarterly - I strongly echo your hopes that Piano World’s Recitals continue for ever and ever. I hadn’t heard of the composer, thank you for introducing him here. A sensitive and polished performance of a very appealing piece!

06. wouter79 - Novelette, No17
I’m glad that you managed this submission despite computer problems. It sounds like this would be fun to play; it was enjoyable and fun to listen to.

13. Mateusz 'Mati' Papiernik - Loutky (Puppets), H. 92: No. 3. Columbine
Very interesting background to this piece; I had no trouble visualising Columbine’s antics while I listened. Beautifully played!

17. JB_PW (Jen) - Mermaid's Lullaby
A sweet and evocative miniature. I love hearing a very simple composition, sensitively executed - and you delivered, so thank you for this!

22. stevedoz - Dawn
Welcome, stevedoz. A new participant, and a totally new piece. If there were ‘things to improve on’ they were well hidden, and certainly, you were able to handle the level of difficulty - most enjoyable!

23. pianist685 (Constantin) - If I could see you again
I hadn’t heard this Yiruma creation before - I should look into more of his work. Your clear touch made for a highly polished performance. Well done!

14. Calavera - Legend of Mana medley
I can only begin to imagine the hours of work you put into this submission, but to me the result was worth all of the effort. Appealing, atmospheric and dramatic: what's not to love in this medley!

24. vte - Notturno Op 28 No 4
That was a pleasant little piece, one quite unknown to me. You brought out the melody well, I really enjoyed it.

26. lilypad - The Great Pumpkin Waltz
The title of this alone had me intrigued. It was fun to listen to, and sounded like fun to play. Super!

28. Saan Saturday - The Cat and the Mouse
Welcome to the Quarterly Recitals, Saan, I’m glad you were able to participate. Your performance painted a very vivid sound picture; I think the cat and mouse were actually romping on the keyboard. Nice work.

32. Pavel.K - Evening Clouds, No.9 from Album de Nina Op. 141
So many unfamiliar composers - Recital #64 has been a feast! This find was a little gem. A lovely rendition - thank you!

36. tyschoco - Sonatina in F Major, Op 20 No 3
You certainly set yourself a challenge, and you rose to it - with superb results! Not in the least beyond your skill level and no ‘dirty laundry’ to be found, in my opinion!

11. Ido - Invention 11 (BWV 782)
I enjoyed this clean Bach performance. Nice piano sound too. Thanks for sharing.

12. JJHLH - Prelude in B major Op 27 No 2
That doesn't seem like an easy piece in terms of mood and musicality, but I thought your performance was convincing and enjoyable.

13. Mateusz 'Mati' Papiernik - Loutky (Puppets), H. 92: No. 3. Columbine
It does sound theatrical. The change aroud 0:50 is quite enthralling. That was a fun piece and performance to listen to.

15. rwsavory - Les Barricades Mysterieuses
Nice and even, and there's enough variation across the repetitions to keep the piece interesting.

16. PianogrlNW (Ellen) - Preludes Op 11, Nos 9 & 17
Nice job! Both your comment and the performances make it sound like you enjoyed playing these preludes.

17. JB_PW (Jen) - Mermaid's Lullaby
The piece is short but sounds pregnant with meaning, not unlike a short poem in fact. Really nice playing and the opening is delightful. Thanks for sharing this piece, Jen.

18. AndresVel - Two-Part Inventions, No. 9 in F minor (BWV 780)
Really nice and you seem to have an impeccable sense of musicality, especially for someone with less than 2 years' experience.

19. Talao - Gnossienne No. 1
Nice! The pedal noise didn't bother me.

20. winterflower - The Night is Too Long and So Deep
Interesting. It sounds pensive and peaceful to me. Thanks for this improvisation.

I'm still making my way through the various performances in this recital, but I can say that I'm really enjoying listening. Thanks everyone for your submissions! Also, thank you to all for listening to my own performance, and especially to the following individuals who took the time to comment upon it:
Sam S, marklings, Ido, KevinM, Greener, peterws, Serge88, MarieJ, Rachtoven, Coati, and lilypad.

Another magical Recital, with so much wonderful music.

I’ve just been revisiting the comments on my submission, reflecting on how much they encourage me to persevere with ‘pianoing’: it can be a lonely journey. Thank you to everyone who listened.

To peterws, Pathbreaker, Flygbladet, Sam S, Serge88, marklings, tyschoco, Talāo, lilypad, Coati, KevinM, Greener, Calavera, AndresVel, Ido, P Westberg and Rachtoven: extra special thanks for your kind and supportive words.

And Sam S, your ongoing work in managing these Recitals deserves super-special thanks!