Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Grieg recital: Proposal.....

Every time I record.

Try to limit your recording sessions! For the Mendelssohn I did the marathon recording sessions and wound up hurting myself from the tension. My best takes were always in the first 3. Take a few days off, and just go for 3 recordings a day. You've got over a month, and maybe by giving yourself plenty of time to screw up, the pressure will be off.

Wanted!: more Grieg recital participants....

….but only a few!

As many will be more or less aware, since April, ABF members have been engaged in preparing a recital of Grieg’s wonderful Lyric Pieces for airing on the 15th September. Inevitably after the initial dash for the most popular/accessible in this collection, the choice thinned out with pick-up slowing through crawl to standstill and that is where we are at the moment – but, remarkably, with only 2 pieces of the original 66 still free!

More remarkable is that those 2 remaining pieces are both a delight and much less of an undertaking at an intermediate level than one might imagine. They are:-

op.65 no.4 - Salon
[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3d1S-GAKXS8[/video]



op.68 no.6 – Melancholy Waltz
[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SGY542TRuHA[/video]



Both pieces consist of three repeats of the one idea with a short coda for the Waltz, so Salon is little more than a single page of learning, Melancholy Waltz is barely more than two pages. No doubt these are well within the abilities of some existing participants but it would be nice to snare some freshers to this recital so perhaps leave the weekend free to see if these are picked up by newcomers, then from Monday a free for all.

You’d be quite MAD not to want to play these!

There’s more!

Possibly because we’re in the holiday season, but maybe because some are having second thoughts about their commitment, a few have failed to respond to a call for confirmation that they’re on track to submit their performances. For now, we’re asking that anyone interested watch this space to see if some of the earlier selected pieces come up as re-issues. Initially, any such would become available only to ‘understudy’ since the original taker would have first refusal until it’s known for sure whether or not they still intend to submit. Dipsy will be posting a list showing 'confirmed'/'as yet unconfirmed' and 'untaken' either late today or tomorrow when all will become clear.

Putting dibs on a piece on the off chance that it comes up won’t be accepted – nothing can be reserved in advance of it becoming available.

But don’t miss out on this last chance to participate!

have fun….dt

I sign up for Op.65/4 "Salon". It's a risky project since I haven't touched the piano for 4 weeks, and there are still 2 weeks left before I return to my instrument. However, I have played the piece earlier and don't think it is too hard.

This will be my third piece. If someone else falls in love with the piece I'll gladly give it away.

- a lovely piece, Ganddalf. Had it been remaindered towards the end I'd have picked it up myself but that would have been my fourth - it's too many.

Hi folks,

All the results of the checking in exercise are now in! Nearly 90% of pieces have now been confirmed, which is a very good start - and some have even recorded their pieces.

Note: A handful of people have yet to confirm, despite our efforts to contact you, so there are 6 unconfirmed pieces. If you are one of these people, please get in touch urgently. Alongside each opus heading, the person coordinating the pieces in that opus (opled)is shown.
'Melancholy Waltz' remains the only unclaimed piece.
Unless otherwise stated, all pieces have been confirmed.

Here's the list:

Grieg Lyric Pieces

OPUS 12 -Casinitaly- complete
No 1: Arietta (AimeeO)
No 2: Waltz (Saranoya)
No 3: Watchman's Song (Casinitaly)
No 4: Elve's Dance (LadyChen)
No 5: Popular Melody (AndyPlatt)
No 6: Norwegian Melody (Piano Dad)
No 7: Album Leaf (Saranoya)
No 8: National Song (AZ Astro)

OPUS 38- zrtf90-(complete)
No 1: Berceuse (zrtf90)
No 2: Popular Melody (Wayne33yrs)
No 3: Melody (SwissMS)
No 4: Halling (Piano Dad)
No 5: Spring Dance (zrtf90)
No 6: Elegy (Recaredo)
No 7: Waltz (Dipsy)
No 8: Canon (dynamobt)

OPUS 43- peterws
No 1: Butterfly (Beric)
No 2: Solitary Traveller (Wisebuff)
No 3: In My Native Country (Allard)
No 4: Little Bird (RagnHild)
No 5: Erotik (Peterws)
No 6: To the spring (Carey)

OPUS 47 -PianoStudent88 (complete)
No I: Valse Impromptu (Swissms)
No 2: Album Leaf (Ganddalf)
No 3: Melody (Dipsy)
No 4: Halling (Carlos88)
No 5: Melancholy (Stumbler)
No 6: Spring Dance (Peterws)
No 7: Elegy (PianoStudent88)

OPUS 54- zrtf90 (complete)
No 1: Shepherd's Boy (Beric)
No 2: Norwegian March (zrtf90)
No 3: March of the Trolls (zrtf90)
No 4: Notturno (Dipsy)
No 5: Scherzo (PatH)
No 6: Bell Ringing (Sinophilia)

OPUS 57 - PianoStudent88
No 1: Vanished Days (dire tonic)
No 2: Gade (Sam S)
No 3: Illusion (PianoStudent88)
No 4: Secret (Beric)
No 5: She Dances (Dire Tonic)
No 6: Homesickness (RagnHild)

OPUS 62 - dipsy
No 1: Sylph (niluh01)
No 2: Gratitude (SamS)
No 3: French Serenade (yester)
No 4: Brooklet (niluh01)
No 5: Phantom (Pavel.K)
No 6: Homeward (Morodiene)

OPUS 65 - PianoStudent88 (complete)
No 1: From Early Years (Morodiene)
No 2: Peasant's Song (Wisebuff)
No 3: Melancholy (PianoStudent88)
No 4: Salon (Ganddalf)
No 5: Ballad (Rupak Bhattacharya)
No 6: Wedding Day at Troldhauen (Ganddalf)

OPUS 68 - dire tonic
No 1: Sailor's song (ElleC)
No 2: Grandmother's Minuet (yester)
No 3: At Your Feet (dire tonic)
No 4: Evening in the mountains (Limefriday)
No 5: Cradle Song (Carey)
No 6: Melancholy Waltz - untaken

OPUS 71 - AnneH (complete)
No 1: Once upon a time (AnneH)
No 2: Summer Evening (Farmgirl)
No 3: Puck (Farmgirl)
No 4: Peace of the Woods (Valencia)
No 5: Halling (Morodiene)
No 6: Gone (Keystring)
No 7: Remembrances (dynamobt)

Hope you found this interesting!

Hello all, sorry I've been absent for soooooo long, just been real busy and not had chance for much Piano Practice. I guess since there's 6 weeks left, I will try my best lol, so consider me confirmed

A big congrats and THANK YOU to Dipsey for getting all the pieces taken (bar Opus 68 - No 6: Melancholy Waltz - surely someone out there is able to take it.......come on folks)

HIYA WAYNE!!

Its so good to hear from you again - especially as you've just confirmed!

keep up the good work

x

- off to update the list now

Glad to see you over here, Wayne, I would have missed your performance in this recital, dude.

Hi Wayne! You can learn your piece in 6 weeks, I'm sure.

Oh, look who's graced us with his presence
Welcome back Wayne! Get to practicing!

Pavel.K has just confirmed everyone! So we're now down to 5 'unconfirmed', plus the untaken 'melancholy waltz' op 68:6.

(BTW, it wasn't just me who worked to produce the list - each opled contacted the people in their opus to ask them to check in - so thanks go to Casinitaly, zrtf90, peterws, PianoStudent88, Anne H and dire tonic! Without this team effort this project would be a bit much)!

Thanks for the welcome back/encouragment guys, looking forward to it

Thank you leaders!!! This is an amazing feat. Would anyone be offended if I write this thread up as an example of communication on line?

Looking forward to the great listening experience.

I love seeing this all come together!

Wisebuff - I think it would be pretty neat if you wrote this thread up - there are a lot of great aspects to talk about.

....but we have to get to read the article, right?

Today I played my piece for a friend, over Skype!

It went...not too shabbily at all, though I will confess to having been somewhat thrown off by the car alarm that went off just before my finale....!

I have Berceuse in three parts and each is doing fine. Gangar is in bits. Each bit is ok and is in much larger sections HS than it is HT. With six weeks to go I'm not concerned about it yet.

I recently picked up Spring Dance, 38/5, and I'm still at the listening stage. Apart from a stretched chord there's little to prevent this being played from the score.

I've also just got my grubby little mitts on my first choice piece, 54/3. In just a couple of days I have each hand memorised though not quite up to tempo for the first two pages (which are also the last two) so it's just a time and co-ordination issue and the middle section, which I can sing from memory and have read through a few times. To be fair, this piece has been on my to-do list for some time and is well memorised as far as sound goes. It's looking very good.

The only real concern I have is getting my ABF Recital piece in and wondering when I'll get back to Bach and Scarlatti!

"Gade" is sounding pretty good, relatively speaking. I've stabilized at a moderate tempo, not as fast as the recordings I've listened to, but about the best I can do. It's really a very nice piece. Lot's of repetition, but that seems typical of Grieg. And he seems very fond of the subdominant to tonic cadence - the old "Amen" at the end of hymns.

"Takk" is odd - I can't think of a better way to describe it. It has a very beautiful A section (which returns, of course) that reminds me of one of Mendelssohn's Songs without Words. But the B section is awkward and very contrasting - a series of dissonant chords that get louder and faster until they end in a ninth chord. Then it's back to the A section again - and so forth. It ends with another "Amen" cadence.

Now, recording them is another thing altogether.

Sam

I know what you mean! For the last recitals, someone else did that for me. This time around, I've been lacking in knowledge of what equipment to use/how to use equipment - not to mention the equipment itself! This whole experience continues to be a v steep 'learning curve' for me. And in my case 10% of this recital rests on getting it right.

Although the fact that I'm being pushed way outside my comfort zone is good for me, and I'm getting there slowly, it would be so easy to hope for a technically-minded 'rescuer' on a white charger instead!

If you feel your piece is ready enough to have a go at recording, how are you getting on with it? I know that some of you have already done your recordings, but are any of you having difficulty with this (apart from problems with your playing)?

The Solitary Traveler or Lonely Wanderer (43#2), as the book may be, is under my fingers but the connecting of note to note or chord to chord is not as smooth as my teacher (and I) want it. Sure the pedal will hide a lot of that but I'm spending 20 minutes or so per phrase working to teach my fingers to be in position a titch quicker to smooth it out. Pretty much the same with Peasant's song (65#2). Tempo will be what it will be by recording time. Both are nice singing pieces. Haven't subjected either one to the red dot test yet. Might wait until after the Denver Piano Party on Aug 17.

I have an initial recording of Melody (38 3) done, but since I have the time, I am going to continue to work on it and try to bring up the tempo a bit. The rapid changes between the arpeggio runs are my limiter right now.

Valse Impromptu, on the other hand, is giving my left hand fits. It has a lot of large stretches. I can handle it and stay relaxed at slow tempo, but when I speed it up, I tense up. So, it will be slow and steady until my hand decides it can stay relaxed. This is one I cannot push the tempo, or I end up hurting. I have taken it down to one chord at a time - check relaxation - play the next chord. I will get there. It probably will not end up as fast as the big boys, but it will do.