Here is the recording for what I'll call Day 7 since I skipped recording yesterday. I only played it five times since the last recording for "Day 5."

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I apologize for the constant refocusing. The camera has done minor versions of this on previous days, but is far, far worse tonight. I need a new one. If it makes you need an eye doctor just close your eyes and decide how I sound, since that's more important.
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This will be the last recording of this series due to the Motorcycle festival starting here tomorrow and the fact that I'm almost done with the initial learning.

Don't get me wrong; I have a long way to go before I think I'm playing it well, as the bobbles in this video attest (like forgetting to strike the D again in measure 148). I just don't think anybody wants to watch endless videos that are almost the same as I crawl towards making good music.

Day 7 (5:51): http://swayingtree.sytes.net/Learning_Le_Onde_Day7.htm

The bobbles are few and far between, Swaying Tree! Your Le Onde at 7 days already sounds better than my Le Onde did at, oh, 1 year.

My main suggestion at this point would be to work on dynamics, making the pp's ppier and the ff's ffier. (Of course, it's highly possible that the compression of the video recording doesn't reflect how it sounds live. Such are the limitations of internet videos.)

Also, are you using the Una Corda pedal where indicated? Again, it could just be the recording, but I didn't hear a change in the tonal quality in the sections you're supposed to use the Una Corda pedal.

One last thing, and it's a question of burning importance to me: Just how did you manage to get SIX sheets of paper spread out across your music desk?! I can only get 5, which hampers me greatly on the 6-page pieces.

I'll give swayingtree the benefit of the doubt and maybe the purpose of all those 1.C.'s and 3.C.'s wasn't exactly obvious. I know it took me a while to figure out the 1C was for Una Corda and the 3C for Tre Corde.

I'll have to give the latest video a listen. I did watch the first few but failed to comment on those. But it's almost 1am and I really should just get off to bed.

Yeah... that 1C notation isn't exactly obvious. I couldn't figure it out myself and had to ask here what it meant.

Thanks, Monica and Anthony for taking the time to listen and comment. Before I forget, Monica, I scanned the pages from the book so they'd be easier to work with. When I printed I just downsized to 77% since that's what allowed six pages to fit on my music desk. I scanned through Photoshop, saved as PDFs and printed from inside PS. And then of course cut the pages on my paper trimmer.

I'd like to try and limit my normal mini-novel of a response but it will take a bit of space to try and address the issues you raised and have any chance of it making sense and not seeming defensive, which I'm not. I know I have a LOT of room for improvement in my playing, both generally and on "Le onde." And as I've said before, you've pointed things out that I've missed, so I appreciate any pointers, even if occasionally I might still choose to go a different direction. We all have our own musical interpretations after all.

Thanks for the benefit, Anthony, but I saw the 1C markings, know what they mean and as yet have ignored them. I just read the thread on playing with feeling and on a song new to me I'm a bit like Mr. S-H described himself; while devoting near 100% of my efforts to learning/hitting the right notes, I don't yet tackle the subtleties of true music. That's what's just coming now. I already think I sound better than my Day 7 recording (will post a final one on YouTube later and link it here). Everything I'm about to say doesn't mean that I'm not going to be trying to improve dynamics and make the ff more fortissimo and the pp more pianissimo...at least somewhat.

That general comment out of the way, two--no, three--other factors made me ignore the una corda here, though an experiment this morning might change it for this song.

1) When I listen to Einaudi's recording of "Le onde" he does not, to me, appear to follow the dynamics marked on the page. Sometimes he does, but in other places, for a measure or two, he seems to do almost the opposite. I'll hear him doing a bit of a crescendo when the music says to dim. towards p, for example. So I'm attacking this song like I have his others. I read the music. I listen to him. Perhaps I have a rendition from a few others to consider their interpretation. I learn the notes and then see how my brain chooses to "feel" the song. Over time an interpretation will reveal itself, and this process is still ongoing for "Le onde." This interpretation will likely draw upon Einaudi's version quite deeply but I allow myself to deviate from both him and the music if I want to (oh, God...I sound like gyro). On "Stella del mattino," for example, the music shows waxing and waning as you work up and down the middle notes of the arpeggios. For me, though, that song feels right when played more mellowly and evenly, with less volume variation. So that's how I do it. I'm evolving towards a mellower "Giorni dispari" because the music sounds too harsh to me if I really forte the parts where the right hand is working away fast. I'm liking that song a little slower and with less variation in loudness. Which leads to...

2) On some of his other songs, such as "Limbo" or "I due fiumi" I have also ignored the 1C markings because to me, on my piano (see #3) it just doesn't sound right. I tried it both ways and decided to just play as softly as I can 3C. Partly this is because the shift of the keyboard and the foot action tend, due to my skill limitations, to make the overall blending and smoothness of the song suffer. I think I get a better effect overall in the flow of the song 3C. I could easily be wrong.

3) I've had my technician look into things and he swears everything is in working order, but I'm not happy with either my una corda pedal or the sustain. I've had this piano since 1986 and swear that things used to work better. The sustain is just way louder in its function than I recall and I get more pedal noise than I want (from both the mechanism and the dampers raising and lowering), but I of course have to use it (except on Clementi). It seems to start out really bad and 'warm up' into a semblance of acceptability after 20-30 minutes of playing. The una corda pedal is, I know, supposed to somewhat change the tone of the piano, but it sounds to me (now) like it cheapens and weakens the voice of my instrument. I experiment with it on every song where it's called for and usually discard using it, except in rare circumstances where the particular notes being played don't seem to suffer for the tonal change.

All that said, this morning I tried playing the 1C sections of "Le onde" with the una corda pedal, and I think it works on this song, especially for the closing measures and the two transitional passages (e.g., 64-73). I'm not sure about 78-81 and 86-99 because those are some of the passages where it doesn't sound to me like Einaudi quite follows the "pp" and "sottovoce" directives. But I'll listen and practice some more, consider different options, and my interpretion will emerge. Hopefully it'll be pleasing even if a little different from your choices.

Again, I really appreciate your time and thoughts, especially if you (anybody!) made it through reading this whole post.

Aha!! I was reducing the size to 93%, because that's the only way to get it to fit on 8.5" x 11" paper, but I had not managed to think outside the box sufficiently to hit upon CUTTING the paper size down further! Thanks for the tip...

As for the musical interpretation, I think it's clear from his concerts and the La Scala CD that Einaudi himself changes how he plays pieces according to the setting or his whimsy. So I would certainly encourage you to do go with what feels right. There are times I deviate from the sheet music, too; e.g., the sheet music might indicate that some passages should be played legato, whereas I think it sounds better to keep the notes relatively more distinct.

Tracks from Nightbook are slowly making their way onto YouTube, which is helping me stave off my impatience over the much-delayed U.S. release of Einaudi's latest album. So far the pieces are quite different in style than Divenire, but no less pleasing.

I really like this one, called "Indaco":

My copy of "Nightbook" arrived in the mail today. Wasn't the cheapest CD I've ever purchased but I got it for far less than the current Amazon.com price of just under $38. (Mine was under $24 with shipping.)

The copy is clearly an import version as it had a sticker on the outside wrapper detailing some of the Nightbook Tour dates in LUX, NL and BE. Sadly, I won't be going to any of those.

[Monica gnashes teeth because she spent $38 on the amazon version that's not even due to arrive until November.]

I know the price wasn't always as high as the near $38 mark. Did you place the order before that price hike? (But supposedly if it comes back down you could get the lower price.)

Cheers for the heads up, Anthony + Monica. I see he is playing in Edinburgh on the 25th, so I may grab a ticket for that show!

That sounds like a wonderful idea to me. I think you should go.

Can't let the Einaudi thread slip down too far.

I managed to record a radio interview Ludovico Einaudi did this morning over in the UK thanks to the online stream the radio station set up as well as a "tweet" mentioning the time of the interview.

I posted a link to it over on the Einaudi forunms:

Einaudi interview

Picked up my copy of Nightbook today!

I've only heard a few tracks yet, so I can't comment fully. My initial impression is that it is 'quite good', but I hope it is an album which gets better with more listens. For me, Divenire is still my favourite album by far. (that one was instant!)

On Nightbook, I like the 2 Snow Preludes, Reverie, and Lady Labyrinth the best so far.

Also, I don't think I will be going to the concert this month. Finances are quite tight and my football/soccer team is doing quite well these days, so my money is going there instead. Sorry i won't be able to give a report!

Euan, Euan, Euan.... if it's a choice between Einaudi and football, that's a no-brainer to me! Even when we're talking soccer football!

I won't be getting my CD for ages, but fortunately there's enough clips uploaded on YouTube that I can get my Nightbook fix. So far "Indaco" is my favorite track.

The Nightbook CD has grown on me (even the tracks that I'm not overly thrilled about.)

For example, I put it on as I went to bed last night but didn't manage to fall asleep until it was over. I guess it held me captivated enough that I was paying too much attention to fall asleep. I've played it through a decent number of times so it wasn't like I had to hear every song on the album. Of course, I didn't have it on shuffle and likely wanted to make it to Reverie which is towards the end of the album.

Yeah, "Indaco" is pretty nice too. I bet that one will even be nice as a solo piano work, just don't ask me to play it yet.

My decision took some calculation. I can get to two soccer matches for the price of the concert alone. Add on the expense of the cd purchase, and the possibility of a book purchase... it all adds up! So my plan is Nightbook cd+book, 2 football matches.

Will need to listen to Indaco - that can be the soundtrack to my commute tomorrow

As I wrote in the YouTube description, it's still not making me happy, but a project at work is going to really reduce my piano time for the next month, so I wanted to get at least a semi-serviceable version in the bank.

Here's the 'final' version of "Le onde":

I'm afraid you're bound to make Monica a bit jealous with that rendition of Monica's Waterloo...er Le Onde.

For the small amount of time you've spent working on it I'd say it sounds pretty good and even I would have a hard time making it sound that good that fast.

I shall have to attempt playing one of Einaudi's more popular songs one of these days. However, I am having a bit of fun playing some of the less popular ones. One of the things that inspired my recording of "Come Un Fiore" was how few times it had been performed on youtube. The same thing can be said for my upcoming recital piece.

Thanks, Anthony. Hopefully Monica won't hate me, because, like her, I feel like I have a long way to go to get the song "right." There's just something about his music that demands a final 10% I can't seem to consistently find.

I might have to look into some of his other songs, but to avoid my wife thinking I play nothing but Einaudi I'm going to take a bit of a breather; that and the hideous project at work that's going to be dominating my time for the next month.

Well, yes, I'm jealous , but in a nice humble way of tipping my hat to a wonderful performance. I would be proud and satisfied myself if I could turn in a final version that good--but I fully understand what you mean about feeling that, as far as Le Onde is concerned, there is always more that can improved.

A breather from Einaudi?! I dunno... Einaudi addiction is awfully tough to kick. But good luck getting through your awful project, and I'll look forward to hearing some more Einaudi from you when you get the chance.

I'll just take a moment to note that I've managed to get a good video take of me playing "Exit" by Mr. Einaudi and that will likely be my recital piece for the upcoming recital. Even though the piano bar threads get started early I felt that it's more appropriate to start the "one month to recital" thread on time.

I had originally planned to do something composed by someone else for the recital this time around but I realized that I wouldn't get it done in time (despite there being so much time left to go.) So I picked up "Exit" due to the relative shortness of the piece and proceeded to hammer it out pretty quickly. One of the milestones of this one is that this is the first one I've done from the "Eden Roc" album. I doubt it will be the last.

Previously, I've done work from "I Giorni" and "Una Mattina" so that leaves out something from "Le Onde", "Divenire" and I guess now "Nightbook" even though sheets for the last one don't exist yet.

Now I have even more time to work on stuff before the next recital.

Hey Anthony, congrats on your recording

As you are on the Einaudi board more than me, is there any news about sheet music for Nightbook yet?

No, I have not seen anything about the sheet music yet. I don't know if you noticed but there is credit to Chester Music for sheet music on the Nightbook album liner. Maybe this was mainly for the sheets for all the accompaniment to use but it could also be dealing with the upcoming sheet music book. Either way (and even if I can't play the pieces) I'm sure I'll be getting a copy of the sheet music when it comes out.

Swaying Tree, That's a beautiful rendition of Le Onde

Thanks, Monica and Kawaigirl. Yes, it will be hard to not jump into another Einaudi song...I've learned seven in a row and trying to polish them/learn the new ones has dominated my practice time for the past couple of months so that many of my other pieces have gotten a bit rusty.

Thankfully my wife likes the Einaudi music but she also wants to hear something else from time to time (I know, blasphemy). Right now she wants me to find time to learn "Skating" by Vince Guaraldi before Christmas.

That's a different style for me, but I do like the song, so fingers crossed. I'm sure I'll be back in this thread before long, even if only to check in on the rest of you.

Take care.

It appears the sheet music for Nightbook is now available.

http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0705142/details.html

There is word over from the Official Ludovico Einaudi forum that there may be some US concert dates coming up in March 2010. No word how many or where but it might be time to start saving up that travel fund again.

My eagerly awaited "Nightbook" collection arrived yesterday. AnthonyB had gotten his a couple of days before and had given me the heads up that the transcriptions are pretty intimidating, which they are. But at least a couple seem doable ("The Sand Crane" is probably the easiest), and best of all, "Berlin Song," is in the realm of possibility. At the risk of sounding heretical, I think "Berlin Song" is prettier than any of the pieces that ended up on the official Nightbook release, so I'm happy that I might actually end up being able to play it.