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Einaudi has that effect on people. You might as well just give in and buy all his albums and all his sheet music collections, because you're going to come to that eventually.

Ohhhh you'll LOVE Oltremare!!! I have almost *got it* and adore playing it many many times a day just for the beauty of it.

Yeah getting to think that....

I just noticed that Einaudi will be part of the iTunes Festival in London... you can see the concert in live streaming using iTunes on the 17th!

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/einaudi/news/einaudi-play-itunes-festival-2013/

Thanks for sharing, sinophilia.

I finally got an okay take of "Underwood." I'm not planning on using it for a recital, so I thought I'd post it here for archival purposes. In terms of just the notes, this is probably one of the easiest pieces in the Time Lapse collection, but (good grief!) getting a clean take was next to impossible. I kept skipping notes while trying to play ppp--further evidence that these "simple" delicate pieces are sometimes more challenging than a "busier" piece.

[video:youtube]JqqyqDkeNRk[/video]

Great job Monica!!

Very good Monica.
Einaudi's music is harder than it seems. The delicacy of the touch and the transpose of the feelings are difficult to get, but you did a great job.

I'm still working on "Two Trees". I decided to play it after listening your contribution for the last recital.

That was really lovely Monica

Thank you for sharing Underwood, Monica. It was really beautiful! I play it a lot (it was the second piece I learned from In a Time Lapse after Orbits), but I have never recorded it. You have inspired me to do so. I also wanted to thank you for recommending Nevue a while back. I purchased some sheet music from him when you made the recommendation but didn't play all of the pieces (I just did Solitude). After a long and very unpleasant day at work, I whipped out Wonderland and managed to play through it somewhat musically by the end of the evening. What a remarkable mood changer that was

Monica, very nice! Thanks for sharing the video, I always find your videos so inspiring!

Also, what Carlos said is worth repeating, especially


I had my piano lesson today and I played La Linea Sicura for my piano teacher (maybe I'll write about that later) but it's a similar situation. Note-wise, it could not be easier, but then, there's a lot more than just the notes...

Last weekend, my parents came over and I played a few pieces I've been working on. One of them was Life. My father called Einaudi "the trance of piano." Not sure what to think of that...

"Tance of piano"? I like that!

Not sure if I would call Einaudi the "trance of piano," since I think of trance as not having a clear melody line, but if it's trance as in "mesmerizing," then definitely yes!

So I played La Linea Sicura at my lesson the other day. I originally wasn't going to, since note-wise it's so easy. But I'm glad I did, first because I got to play it on a very nice acoustic grand( (unlike my piano, which is a digital). I'm glad I've been playing it with the una corda pedal at home, so that I could experience just how beautiful it is on an acoustic. Also, we talked about voicing and having a quiet thumb (RH) which is a little difficult, so that was very helpful! And my teacher thought it was really beautiful, so maybe I can turn her into an Einaudi convert!

BTW, a while back I was writing about being worried that this piece might bring on hand cramps in the RH for me. Well, it never did, I don't know why exactly, but I think it's because the RH also has the melody (unlike Tiersen's LH part in Comptine...) and maybe I'm just better at being relaxed these days (that would be nice, but I'm not sure that's really it!)

I also showed my teacher Oltremare and had her give me some tips for working on the triplets, the ones that start on page 4 (at least of the sheet music I got from SheetMusicDirect), where it's 3 against 2. Since it's fast-ish, and 3 against 2, my plan is just to play that first section (basically almost all of page 4) for a few weeks before starting on anything else in the piece.

And I also bought the solo arrangement of Nightbook. I've lost my mind!

Thanks for sharing your experience, ShiroKuro. Can you share some tips your teacher gave to you?

Btw, I don't have any personal interest in this online store, but I bought all my Einaudi's books here: BookDepository: Einaudi

They are cheaper than other sellers, and they have free shipping worldwide.

Carlos, we talked about bringing out the melody line (RH pinkie) while keeping the RH thumb quiet, but still having a fairly good tempo. Paying attention to the melody that comes in on the second beat of the measure and carries over to the first beat of the next measure (those whole notes), so instead of hearing a melody made of 2-3-4, it's 2-3-4-1 (does that make sense, I don't have the score here! But the point is that the phrasing isn't written that way, but if you focus on playing that phrase and having it lead into the next measure, that makes a big difference. So there's a pulse that sort of starts on the down beat of the measure, that is in large part created by the LH, but there's also that phrase that carries you through into the next measure, and that's the kind of voicing we focused on.

Also, there are dynamic markings in the score, so we talked about really focusing on playing those as written (instead of just playing the notes, as it were). Dynamics are big issue for me since I practice on a digital, so just being able to play her piano and hear it was really wonderful.

She said that this piece in particular really is designed to take advantage of the piano as an instrument, as a huge instrument with vibration and pulse as opposed to a keyboard that might be somewhat percussive. And so a big part of that is using the una corda to change the sound color, then releasing it to create intensity and fullness.... She was somewhat more articulate in her explanations, but maybe this conveys some of it.

I am just glad I played it during our lesson, since I really almost wasn't going to, because it's not like I need technical guidance with it.... but because the piece is so easy, it was a good vehicle to talk about musicality....

Thanks for the link BTW. A quick look didn't seem like it was much of a discount, I tend to compare SheetMusicPlus.com and Amazon if I'm buying physical scores, and then I compare SheetMusicPlus and SheetMusicDirect for digital scores (SMD is almost always cheaper).

I think i am going to get the score for Earth Prelude, and then I am NOT buying any more scores for a year. No, really, I mean it!

I'm currently working on Brothers. It just fills me with so much energy! The only problem is that I cannot possibly concentrate on the Clementi sonatina - or any other music really - that my teacher invited me to try .

The notes are easy, but the syncopated rhythm takes some getting used to. My piano also won't be quite enough in the bass. It might be time for an upgrade already. Need better bass notes!

Are you sure?! The arrangement of "Berlin Song" is just gorgeous. And I have to say that I am playing more from the "Time Lapse" collection than any other single album of his.

I'm doomed...

So, are you suggesting I am going to need all the specific score collects, instead of just buying the scorebook for Islands? (it's only about $15 on Amazon, not that I was checking or anything...

I started working on "Two Trees". I'm already halfway through and I can see the "intelligence" of Einaudi ... The chords are very well crafted.
Monica can confirm that this piece is more difficult than it seems. Especially for me because I have small hands. But I will not give up. The music is wonderful.

ShiroKuro, do you want my opinion? Buy the books!