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Just a thought about Le Onde and if it has already come up before....my apologies. I seem to remember someone having difficulty in keeping the strong RH notes emphasized, D C A D C A etc. The second note, in this case, the C, IMO has a tendency to fade as we play. If you make a concerted effort to bring out that second note in all the runs, it is surprising how it all seems to come together much easier.

That was beautiful. The more I listen to his music, the more I enjoy it. I never perform in situations like that and always admire people who do. The increased confidence in your own abilities after a recital must be huge.

hmmm.... I'll have to give that a try.

I haven't played Le Onde in months. I know at some point I will dig it out (yet again) and try to get a better recording of it (yet again).

AWTPP, I think "I giorni" is an excellent next step. I found it only a little bit harder than "I due fiumi." The hardest part for me was playing the delicate arpeggios in the last part softly enough without skipping a note, and then voicing the chords in the last couple of lines. I'm used to emphasizing the highest note on a chord, but in this case, it's the middle note you have to emphasize.

(p.s. Oh, and I couldn't reach some of the big chords at the end and had to rearrange them, which sounded fine.)

In "Le Onde" I can't hear a difference between holding the first note, of the two eight notes figure, while playing the second or releasing the first note while I play the second.

Talking about (D-F#, C#-E, A-D)

Ok, talk to me about this .... I just came across measure 86, and thought to myself, "Ok, there is no way Monica can play this without rearranging the chord." I could maybe reach it, but it would be hit or miss. Then there is the same reach in measures 186 and 187 at the very end... is this what you are talking about?

Can anybody here play these measures as written, and if so, how?

I'm out of town right now, AWTPP, so I don't have the book in front of me. But I'm pretty sure those are the chords I was talking about. And I'm also without a piano so I can't even say for sure how I re-arrange them. I think what I did was take the bottom note and move it up an octave, so it would then fit in between the other two notes. But that's going by highly imperfect memory, so I won't guarantee it.

If you don't have it figured out by the 25th (when I get back), shoot me a PM and remind me to tell you more specifically how I resolved it.

Hi,

I'm learning Le onde, and have come pretty far with it, perfecting it quite well. I can play up to the part where the right hand 3 -step structure moves up an octave, and it gets faster/louder.

Anyway, i was wondering, how do you use the pedal for this piece, as my sheet music doesn't indicate with any sort of number system.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi,

I'm learning Le onde, and have come pretty far with it, perfecting it quite well. I can play up to the part where the right hand 3 -step structure moves up an octave, and it gets faster/louder.

Anyway, i was wondering, how do you use the pedal for this piece, as my sheet music doesn't indicate with any sort of number system.

Thanks,
Ed

I recorded this one probably around a year ago. From what I recall, I did manage the large chords as written. However, my fingers were taking the scenic route, and hanging off the edge of the keyboard, rather than going straight over the top of the keys!

I have some Einaudi performances on my youtube page, Passaggio, Le onde, Divenire, Primavera, in un altra vita and Questa Notte. Cheers

Hi mwf,

Bit of a random question here, but do you know any other pianists from the Peterborough area? I did some work in that area of the country in 2008, and spent a week working with a young piano student called Richard Allum. I think he must have been around 22 or 23 yrs old. He gave me a cd of his playing which was fantastic.

According to his website:
He was a Finalist in the European Piano Teachers’ Association Piano Competition in 2007 (2nd prize) and 2008 (1st prize), and was awarded a double scholarship to study at the 2008 Birmingham Interntional Piano Academy with John Lill, Peter Donohoe and Piers Lane.

Welcome to the forum, Ed!

Einaudi's sheet music rarely indicates pedaling (but I play close attention when it does). What I do--and I believe it's consistent with what Einaudi does on his recording--is pedal with chord changes.

Good luck with Le Onde! It's a toughie, all right.

Ya, that is pretty much how I am going about it.

Wow, mwf! Thanks to the link to your YouTube channel and the covers of the Einaudi pieces. Those are beautiful. Am I correct that your intro to "Divenire" is played by ear and rather different from the sheet music? I think your rendition sounds even closer to the recording than the sheet music version. (I'd ask if you had a transcription of that section, except that it sounds even HARDER than the sheet music, and I have a hard enough time with that! )

p.s. I'm listening right now to your transcription of the "Transformers" soundtrack... just stunning.

New question on I Giorni. Beginning with measure 82, there are some 8th notes that... how shall I explain it... alternate back and forth between two fingers and one. I am sure there is a standard way to do this, but (no surprise) Alfred's Book 2 doesn't cover it.

How do you do the RH in 82-86? For the life of me, I can't figure a way to make it smooth.

Strangely, when I first started practicing Dietro Casa a while ago I had a similar problem playing with certain fingers together. I guess I had gotten so used to either a chord or one note at a time that it was quite tricky to do!

What you may want to start with for this section is to practice hitting all three notes together. Then try hitting the two then the one. In that last section the thumb appears to be doing duty moving between the D and the E.

Anyway, here's what I came up with a few minutes of practice on that part. I've never played this section before and it sounds pretty strange until towards the end when it gets a bit more recognizable with the ending interval chord and arpeggio. I may have played it with the style of the ending of the song, I couldn't help myself there.

Here's my attempt at measures 82-87

The main hurdle I had with playing this section was just trying to start out as the E is used right in the beginning then the thumb goes to D. I kept starting out hitting the D as my hand wanted to revert back to that position right away...

Good luck learning the rest of the song aw2pp!

Thanks, AnthonyB. I have been alternating between 2/5 - 1, as you suggest, and couldn't get it to sound smooth. I will try your suggestion about starting with all three notes first, and just play it over and over until it gets smooth.

Okay, I finally got home to my book so I could look up those measures. I use the fingering you describe: For measures 82-84, I use 2&5 alternating with my thumb. For measures 85-86, I initially tried to keep that fingering, but the stretch was way too hard for me, so I ultimately ended up using my thumb to hit all the low notes. These were the hardest measures to get smooth, but the nice thing about "I giorni" is that you're really not going too fast at that part so it is doable.

In addition to Anthony's suggestion, just try tapping that 2&5 vs. 1 rhythm out on the table (or steering wheel... whatever) whenever you've got a few spare seconds, and you'll eventually find it coming naturally.

Monica,
I have heard all of your YouTube recordings (and loved them) and I would like to start my Einaudi experience. Is his music about as difficult as David Nevue's? Which book do I start with?
Thanks,
Woody

You are very sweet, Woody, though I suggest that for the TRUE Einaudi experience that you listen to HIS recordings, not mine.

Definitely get the "Best of Einaudi" book... it's the most bang for the buck and has the full range of difficulty from very easy to downright hard. As for how Einaudi's music compares to Nevue's, difficulty-wise, hmmm... they're overlapping distributions. Nevue's easiest pieces (Solitude, say, or Wonderland) are easier than Einaudi's easiest pieces (Limbo, Exit). But Nevue also has some very difficult pieces that I can't play yet (as does Einaudi).

Enjoy! But be aware that Einaudi-addiction is just as profound as piano-addiction.