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Thanks Barbaram, yes I love listening to what others can do, it's inspiring!

Yes I Giorni is more technical than it appears! I find the same- leave it for a week or two and I'm not as sure of myself, need to give it a practice run.

Two Trees is going nicely, there's a hidden tricky bit at the top of the 3rd page that I missed first time round. But all in all, it's creeping into my bones and making me play it every chance I get. Carlos when do we get to hear your take on it?? Pretty please? hehe

Well I bought a proper microphone today (as proper as I can get without selling my firstborn to afford! lol)
, I hope I can get better sound now. I'm quite excited for a kid-free day next week to play around with it

Bumping to hear how other people are enjoying their Einaudi?

Carlos I'm so loving Two Trees

Jessiebear, usually I have passion for the pieces I'm working on at the moment. "Two Trees" it's not an exception. It has happened many times to me - to be in love with a piece -, and I think that's part of the learning process (at least for me).
As other pieces, "Two Trees" leads me to an "outside world", and I think this is the beauty of music. I'm working on some little variations I decided to do with it and I think I'll be able to do a decent record for the next recital.

At the same time, I'm trying now "Walk" which has a solemn ambiance. Easy to play - technically speaking -, but very hard to get the sounds. Get it a try, and you'll see what I mean.

During the breaks I learned "Discovery at Night" which is very, very funny to play. It's a good piece to relax and to warm up my fingers

What do you mean?

It's bars 56/57 on pg 3, where the RH goes DD, EE, EE, FE, FF, GG,GG.

I read it as FF instead of FE, it threw me and I still stumble a bit trying to manoevere it, my hands just want to do the usual octave stretch.

Does that make sense?

Absolutely. It's like a compulsion to play them!

I look forward to hearing them!

'Walk' is on my YT Einaudi playlist, it's beautiful in a slightly different way to the rest, like it doesn't try as hard, it's understated but wow the effect!!

I just looked this up and have heard it before, it's very familiar and must be great to play, you're right it would be a great warmup.

.....I have vowed no more pieces until Questa Notte is done, oh dear!

It's a typo. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


$%#^*!#

Oh my gosh Monika that made me crack up!!

Right, I noticed it.
But Jessiebear, IMO it's not as good as DD, EE, EE, FF, FF, GG,GG.
If you listen with attention, Ludovico does not use EE, EF, FF in some of the performances he does. When I was studying and reading this bars I was wondering if it was a mistake - yes, there are some mistakes in books - or if it was right, so I used YT to search for the answer. More specifically, I was watching for the "Live from home concert" and, by luck, this passage is clear and focused in his hands. You can see that he plays DD, EE, EE, FF, FF, GG, GG.

What makes sense is your playing. Play as you like.

That is awesome to know! It would be so much easier. I will give myself permission to do what feels more natural

I was pretty sure it was a typo, as "Two Trees" is way too beautiful to contain such a jarring dissonance. Thanks for confirming that for us, Carlos.

You're welcome
The true is that when I started to play "Two Trees" I was playing that passage by ear and it sounded fine to me - it seemed so logical -. When I checked the score I noticed the difference, so I decided to investigate in detail what was wrong.

So much better, Carlos!

On another note (haha), I now stick the microphone IN the piano and get the best sound yet!

I'm also in love with the violin solo in Orbits. It is hauntingly beautiful. Daniel Hope makes it sing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6W8gi6x-UA

Wish I had a friend who played violin, oh the fun we could have!

Jessiebear, I know what you mean about wanting a few string players in your circle of friends! I have totally fallen in love with "The Earth Prelude," and although I am enjoying playing it as a solo piece, the original with cello and violin is so much more beautiful.

I'm still working on Oltremare... I keep wondering if I should let it fall out of my fingers and come back to it in a few months. Partly that's because I'm working on several pieces at once and in November I'll start adding some Christmas pieces.

Also, I've done that (let the piece fall away and come back to it) with several pieces in the past, and they always shape up faster and easier the second time around. Also I find that if the piece has a more demanding tempo, it's easier for me to get to that tempo after I've stopped playing it for awhile, because when I pick it up again, I start at a faster tempo and somehow I don't have the slower tempo ingrained anymore.

But I'm not quite ready to put Oltremare away just yet. Right now I'm working on pages 1 through 6 (so that's half the piece right there!) And I can play the 3 against 2 section on page 4 at about 100 to 110, which is actually pretty good since the MM marking is 120. reading what I just wrote makes me think I should definitely keep working on.... it's just that it's so long! And I want to start Nefeli!

We'll see, I'll keep working on it this week anyway.

Nefeli will be a breeze after you conquer Oltremare, Shiro.

I'm almost done with Reverie (I've been on a Nightbook kick lately), but I'm having trouble getting that echoy effect in the left hand that other people seem to get. Any tips? I'm using a really light touch and it's still not quite right.

Anne, I dabbled with Reverie, too, a bit and had the same problem getting the echoey reverb. I think maybe it's because I was playing an acoustic? This seems like one piece where it would be easier to get the desired effect with a digital.

p.s. How is your Carol of the Bells coming along? I love that arrangement, but it's so hard... not sure I'm willing to put the time into it I'd need to in order to master it.

Oh I might have to have a look at Reverie
eta: yes I agree with Monika, that is hard to replicate with an acoustic.

I finally got a recording of Oltremare I'm happy with, albeight a couple of obligatory slips. And sometimes the mic doesn't pick up the end of some long notes.

But I'm happy with that for 12 minutes of continuous playing!

What do you think? https://app.box.com/s/6tq6j3iojzoz0w0vlk5x

Jessiebear,congrats on recording Oltremare!! Great job!! And you've given me courage to keep at it a little longer with this piece.

Monica, thanks for the vote of confidence! I hope you're right, because my current plan (which keeps changing!) is to start Nefeli during the holidays when I'll be away from piano lessons.

On the topic of digital pianos.... I remember someone else mentioned something about Einaudi being better on digitals. I guess that might be right for some pieces (and I haven't ever tried Reverie), but I have to say, I miss having an acoustic even more when I'm working on Einaudi. A good example is La Linea Sicura, because it just doesn't sing on a digital the way it does on an acoustic. I have the opportunity to play a grand on campus periodically, and the difference is just massive.

Annie, yes please share how Carol of the Bells is coming. I am pretty sure I couldn't master that even if I devote all my practice time to it, it's just too fast. Do you sit farther to the right when you play it?

Monica, I don't know if you've heard Michele McLaughlin's arrangement of the Carol of the Bells, but I'm working on it right now and I love it. And it's very manageable.

I have also toyed with the idea of playing TSO's Christmas Eve (which has a lot of Carol of the Bells in it) but the main tempo is MM=184 or something like that! So yeah, not any time soon!

I love you all. You're like a giant piano support group! Carol of the Bells is playable slowly to medium slowly the whole way through without any mistakes, but definitely is nowhere up to speed yet. At least it was before work torpedoed a month of practice - I haven't done much except listen to recordings around here, play for five minutes a day and stare longingly at my piano. I wanted to do this recital but I just won't make it. My goal was to get it ready for the December holidays, so I'm not totally sunk yet. And yes, I do sit more to the right for it! I'd never thought of that before.



I'm on an acoustic, so this makes me feel much better. I consider you the Einaudi master, Monica, so if you can't do it then I won't sweat it!