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Hi everybody,

I've been working on this sonata for the past two months, and will be performing it in 3 weeks. I was practising on my digital piano (to not be disruptive), and I sort of decided to push the record button when I was playing through the first movement in the moment. A few notes about this recording though:

- it's being played on a digital
- I recorded it on a digital
- I recorded my digital piano playing back my recording with a different device. (Technology! It's not as simple as just outputting it straight into my computer!)

So long story short, here is my recording (of my recording) of this movement, which is a work in progress still. There's background noise with people walking around the house, but I think it's tolerable since it's not a performance...

If anybody is curious as to why I skipped the repeat, it's because I started recording after I played the exposition the first time through.

Here it is:
https://app.box.com/s/7id0nqde8ydo361otxqm

We have *got* to get you into a recording studio someday, with a well tuned acoustic piano and good mics! The way you play is definitely worth it!



I think this works to the listener's advantage. There is something about sending the digital piano's sound out over the air that makes it sound, well, less digital!

You definitely got it goin', Allan! Very sensitively played, with wonderful musical and emotional intelligence on display. Thank you so much for sharing this! Break a leg!!!

--Andy

Thank you for your kind comments Andy! And many apologies for that epic door slam partway through the piece...haha. I really need to find a good way to record things!

So far the 3rd and 4th movements are almost done too, and the 2nd is...hard. I'll record the rest before my actual performance, which I think is good so I'll have an idea of what I sound like, away from the bench. I hope to do a really good job with this piece, because it's very special to me. And I really want make a musical statement with the tempo - a true Allegro Maestoso!

Only able to do a quick 'skim' so far, but it seems quite quite good!

(Maybe even better than that!)

I mean, some of it is just too slowed-down, and I'll be having some other 'suggestions,' but so what....

Pretty good, but needs more gusto, grandiose, and gonzo! You sound bored while playing it.

@Joel - Ahaha, all of that is present in the finale, don't worry

And Mark - if you do have time, I'd love to hear some suggestions! I know that this piece is very special to you and you've studied it for quite some time...so I'm sure you have many interpretative ideas about how it might go.

Thanks for listening!

Can't wait to hear it!

Apparently Mark agrees with you. He thinks it's the hardest movement. (And it is, in a way.)

I'm not going to try to offer suggestions until you've learned the piece, Kuan. I don't really approve of posting mediocre, 3/4 speed performances here, as you might have guessed. I'm sure you will play it a lot better, both technically and interpretatively, when you have really mastered the piece. (Or is it really possible to master Opus 58? But that's another question. )

I agree but wasn't sure I was going to make an issue of it. Let's say I was trying to think of how to do it without seeming like I was giving him a hard time.

And in this case it's not even just that it's "3/4 speed"; it's that some parts are learned much less than others, and slow down more.

I'm at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Kuan when it comes to displaying my playing. I don't necessarily want to show it yet even when the piece is fully learned from beginning to end, because even then it's not good enough yet. I wouldn't even bring it to a teacher yet, in this stage of learning, much less post it. Of course a problem with my way is that sometimes the piece is never "good enough yet" -- in fact it's almost always not good enough yet.

Probably a better answer is somewhere in between. Anyway, on a recording where someone clearly hasn't even finished working out the whole piece, I'm not that moved to start listening or judging or suggesting anything, because I don't know what he himself will still figure out himself. The reason I came on here anyway (and will be saying still more) is because it's Kuan and because of the interchanges that we've had recently about what's hard and what isn't, and because this is a special piece for me. So, even though I totally share Poly's view, I'll be back.

I'm "the Poly" now?

Fixed.

That was from an error in rephrasing the sentence.

What did it say before? "that idiot?"

(just kidding of course. I know no one is enough of an idiot to think I'm one. )

Haha, well it's true that I'm not finished...but one thing that I'm sure of is the tempo. I know that the reason why my recording is long mostly derives from how I handle the B material. I'm not interested in taking it faster though, so this isn't 3/4 speed. This is my preferred tempo. But it's not like I'm alone, both Gilels and Sokolov take it 30 seconds and 1 minute slower respectively.

However, I will post a performance recording in time, so I guess I'll just have to keep practicing for now.

You mean you think everything besides the "B" theme is at the tempo that you think you'll want?



Pssssssst: It isn't.
Especially in the latter part of the movement, you slow down in ways that are clearly just from not knowing those parts well.

If you actually intend to play it that slow, Kuan, I for one will not be coming to your concert. And neither will Mark, it appears.

Neither would Kuan.

Trust me Kuan -- this is an instance of us knowing better than you do about what you will or won't want.
You are misjudging it.

I think tempo is a very personal thing (unless it's borderlining on insanity, which this isn't), so trying to push him to go faster isn't going to work. You shouldn't. Maybe with time, it will move more - but it doesn't have to. It needs time to be decided by HIM. And yes, this is allegro maestoso. Perhaps you are all used to hearing it too fast, which most people seem to gravitate toward.

Pogo: Did you read the previous posts?

(If you did, you forgot about them.)

If it were just a matter of what you're talking about, then sure. But it's not. In fact, what I've been saying about this isn't even mainly about basic tempo. It's about the tempo changes, and inconsistencies, and particularly where he slows down extra and what it shows. Very often it's clearly (very clearly) not a musical choice but a concession to not having learned the part well enough yet.

No problem with what you're saying; in fact I agree with it 100%. It's just that you're not really commenting on what you thought you were.

Huh. This kind of statement makes me sick. Sorry, Mark. It just does.

I went back and listened again (again). One thing I've come to appreciate about Allan's playing (as I've been listening to his posted recordings for the last three years or so) is his musical judgement. It seems obvious to me from Allan's comments that he has something special in mind about the shaping and momentum of the entire piece. Yes, this is billed as a practice recording, and obviously the piece is still green, and even if I did not know what kind of pianist Allan is already, there are myriad indications in this clip alone that this piece will polish up nicely. There are long stretches of depth and beauty in it, and the tempo is JUST FINE.

My advice to you, Allan, is to disregard the McDonald's quality control team. Show us what you have in mind.

--Andy

Wrong, Andy.

I think you just maybe need a supply of Pepto Bismol.

You're being way too quick to dismiss what has been said. There's more to it than you're appreciating.

It could be OK (if we wanted to be exceedingly liberal about the tempo, which most people wouldn't) if, when Kuan says that the speed is basically what he wants, he isn't including the great inconsistencies and the parts where he slows down so extremely. It looked to me like he meant the whole thing.