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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ndHYBEPsw

I played this in the Southeastern Piano Festival's competition; it was a good experience, and this work earned me the award for best solo performance in the competition.
I had a very valuable conversation with Professor Babayan, (a judge, and of course, incredible pianist) after my performance.

There is a link to an unlisted performance of Beethoven's 4th concerto from that competition in the video information. I was planning on playing Rach 3 at the competition, but switched at the last minute as the Rachmaninov was, at the time, quite new.

P.S. Jason, I tried to lighten up contrapunctus 9 a bit-- it's actually a really difficult piece for me, but I'll keep working on it

Absolutely outstanding, Rachel! Beautiful, sustained sound in the first contrapunctus, and each voice is profiled very well. Wonderful articulation in the contrapunctus 9 - not an easy piece at all! Congratulations on the competition!

Urgh. Talent. Well, sure, you can articulate well and the phrasing is sublime, you might be far too good for your age and winning competitions, but my feelings of envy and deep seated inferiority have reserves the likes of which you'll never be forced to attain, so who's the real winner? Um...really, there's modesty and then there's taking the p*ss; "I tried to lighten up contrapunctus 9 a bit-- it's actually a really difficult piece for me, but I'll keep working on it" urgh...just...urgh....you're disgustingly good; deal with it
Xxx

Oh dear... well, actually I have quite a few technical issues with contrapunctus 9. It takes a lot of finger independence to be able to voice the trills the way I want, and I'm not quite there yet. I was considering just publishing the two fugues together from the winners' concert but the opening trill bothers me quite a bit! Besides that, it is a probably a better performance, but it has some 'bugs' I'd like to work out.
(winners' concert- note the abysmal first trill of no. 9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NyyW0R4aE4

Yes yes, I quite noticed that trill.... I didn't say you were Gouldian, I didn't even say you were perfect, it's just....some of us have so far to go; you appear to already be there, looking for a parking space...

This was good. Work on those faces though, for your own benefit.

Bravo! Very good.

But...

Rachel,

Fantastic playing! Here are some thoughts, for what they're worth:

#9: I actually think you nailed it. I'm sure you think there's room for improvement of details, but the big picture is there, and it's *very* compelling. You're in touch with the right cosmic ticking. Keep doing what you're doing.

#1: The playing is beautiful, but we may just have a difference of interpretation. You make this fugue into something very drawn-out, almost painful. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I've always heard it as much more quiet and reserved. Almost expressionless, like a statue, feeling all the cosmic emotions you can imagine, but mostly feeling them internally, and not emoting them so strongly. I'd love to hear what you sound like playing this at pp to p throughout, just as a fun experiment.


-Jason

Thanks for posting these performances; they are very good!!

I'm friends with a few people that have gone to SEPF, including this past summer.

Me too

By the way, PianoPerson, with the repertoire list in your signature, it seems you'd barely have time to just run through all your pieces, even if you had 5 hours to practice. What's up with that?

Ha. I don't work on everything every day! Some of the repertoire, I learned in the summer and have "put away" until a time in the near future when I will begin reviving for practice recital or competition. As I am competing and auditioning this year, there are a number of requirements, and those don't always match, so there's a lot of rep!

I actually took extra courses to finish high school early, so I've already graduated (I'm 16) and now spend pretty much all day practicing (usually between 9-12 hours).

I was going on the assumption that the pieces listed were just the ones you're currently working on, as with most similar signatures.

Everything gets attacked at least once a week, but momentary shifts in focus depend on what I am performing that week. I guess you can think of it more as what is in my hands at the moment. There isn't really anything in my repertoire (as listed) that wouldn't be prepared for performance given a week's notice.

I concur that it is too much, but thank heavens it's all good music

It's not all good music. Those Bach songs are just garbage. So boring.

(Joking, of course. )

Haha. I think that's my fault, not Bach's!

No, I was joking. Sorry about that. Of course I understand the work is one of the major cornerstones of the piano repertoire, and every moment of it is genius. I hoped my facetious use of the word "song" would convey this.

You play them quite well. Just cut the dramatic facial expressions.

Beautiful playing, but you look like a goldfish being stabbed multiple times.

Excellent job. Art, is quite a difficult work. Will you be playing it in it's entirety?
I must admit, for as much as I enjoyed your performance I had to stop watching and just listen, because I couldn't take any more of the facial stuff going on (whatever that was).

I agree with what most members here have said - excellent performance... but avoid the grimaces if possible, even if I don't doubt they are "real" and that you feel what you are trying to express.