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Hey Guys,

I have my non-degree freshman recital in 2 days . Yesterday, I had my dress rehearsal in the venue, and the piano was ok (it's going to be tuned, but the action is still uneven). I recorded the whole thing, and told myself that I would upload a portion here, no matter how badly it went. The run through went well, imo, but I hear SO MANY things that need to (and are going to) be worked out tonight. It has me a little bit nervous.

Without further ado, I present one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas: Op. 81a. What do you all think of it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZEI3xq-sI

Donald Lee III

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Thanks for letting me know! Here's a new link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZEI3xq-sI

Hi, Donald! Overall, your presentation is quite secure -- confidently presented; both technically and musically well-gauged throughout. A few general comments, though:

In the first movement, particularly, I don't get enough sense of surprise -- the illusion of an improvisatory, in-the-moment quality. IMO, the opening material goes through 3 - 4 changes in emotional coloration, none of which I heard convincingly, and the introduction of the fast section was neither sudden enough nor joyful enough for my taste. Your tempo was OK, but I hear more of a giddy, yelping quality in these pages.

To a lesser extent, I would have the same comment in the third movement -- although here I get more a sense of virtuosic "heaviness" that for me is more appropriate to Schumann or Liszt. Although I realize that this movement really IS more virtuosic in character, I'd be inclined to play it in a style similar to his OP 78 or 79 sonatas, both of which IMO hearken back to a Classical "lightness of being".

Just in the interests of full disclosure, I've never studied this Sonata in any detail, and so you can take my comments with the proverbial grain of salt. But, just to reiterate, I heard this as a very secure performance, and have nothing hugely cautionary to recommend.

Thank you so much for you comment! I actually marked everything you said in my score for when I revisit this piece. I feel like it's going to have to marinate in the back of my brain for a while before it really starts to sparkle. It did, however, go VERY well at my recital.