Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Rachmaninoff is going to KILL me! (Prelude in C# minor)

That's gotta be some kind of record...

I think eight might be a record ....

He's probably trying to innov8 beyond music.

These are my favourite trail/mountain-running shoe brand:
www.inov-8.com

Can't fault 'em.

"Dedicated to Lola Astanova". Gotta love that. My piano is named Lola after her. If you haven't seen her, look her up on YouTube. I find her piano playing good but not great. However, she has other...qualities, and she's doing her best to market those.

Thank you for sharing. You have definitely put a lot of effort into this work. There are many possibilities for what you are trying to do but I think it is not quite there yet.

I see this as a classically-inspired performance, meaning it may not fit specifically into the classical basket. The concept that you are working with from the beginning of the video is fine and workable. But once you have got going, the performance fails to assert itself in any specific way. As someone else put it, you are trying to bridge two worlds but will ultimately not please either side.

By assuming that the 'current generation' cannot sit through the full prelude as it is composed, you deprive them of experiencing it fully. What you are trying to do is bring them to the water but you cannot make them drink it.

In your production you have to make a decision of whether you want to reference Rachmaninoff and incorporate this work into your own composition, or introduce a new audience to the real Rachmaninoff. What you have done here falls too much in the middle and will not hold the attention of a broad audience. You might pull some people in through novelty or gimmick but the attention will not hold.

I think the Alicia Keys example is one way to go about using the classics as inspiration. The audience will be introduced to the original piece in that way. Some will be intrigued and look into it further. There's also groups like Evanescence that incorporate classical pieces into their music. This is basically done as a value-added component and doesn't really cross-over.

There is a great Bill Evans interview where he explains that people need to understand a thing at its most basic level in order to get any true meaning out of it. By introducing a new audience to a piece they don't know and then providing an improvisation on it, they are less likely to understand it.

I looked at your website briefly. Can you explain some of your musical influences and how they impact your work? Any interest in Jazz? What I'm thinking is that instead of playing the piece as you did with edits and improvisation, add more production and 'beats' or something like that so that the classical nature of the piece is subordinated. Sorry to use the labels and suggest picking a side but I think it would be more effective.

3 years playing? Very nice

Also nice work on the video.

I like the Rachmaninoff parts. And I don't miss the little 'Rack City' that you present

But to me it does not bridge Rach to the Rack. You could try to find some middle ground and go back and forth, shaping the characters of the two pieces. Instead, you go from Rack to Rach and never look back

-111111111111111111111111111 Other qualities? This is a piano forum and not some meat market. That said, the second I read the dedication I knew I was going to hate what I was about to hear.

This is so bizarre.

Yes indeed. I think the world needs a little shaking up. Especially when it comes to classical music.

Dear Pathbreaker,

Thanks so much for your time and insight. I appreciate hearing from people like yourself because I am sincerely looking for feedback and trying to learn from these projects.

I do see your point as I did somewhat of a disservice to both sides and fell in the middle. I agree and as time has went on I have composed a more balanced hybrid of the two. Only thing is that I have moved on to other projects and perhaps will get back to this one in the future. Especially after gaining so much more insight, and hopefully much more of a developed musical inclination.

I will look up some Bill Evans interviews and see if I can find it. If you stumble upon it feel free to private message me or email me: innov8music@about.me

Thanks for taking a look on my website. I started as a dj at age 13 (in 2003) and worked for multiple radio stations, entertainment companies, etc. I heard every mainstream hit over this last decade and am utterly sickened with what the music and message has become. I only found classical music at age 21, so I've only recently been venturing off into non-mainstream categories. I appreciate jazz very much and have been listening to the greats like Art Tatum, all the way to contemporary cats like Taylor Eigsti.

I have a handful of jazzy instrumental production work on my sound cloud which most likely mimics the kind of idea you put forth. If you are interested:

www.soundcloud.com/innov8music

Thank you again sincerely for your time and energy.

Thanks for your time and kind words Wouter79.

I started playing at age 21 without ever any musical training besides my many years of deejaying and sound engineering.

Glad you like the Rach parts - I know I have much work to do.

Again, appreciate the time and consideration.

Dear Mr. Stores,

I took a deep breath before responding to your comment about Lola.

You see, three years ago at age 21, amidst basically total despair and calamity - it was Lola's channel that serendipitously gave me hope for the future. Growing up in Philadelphia, I had never heard of Chopin or Rachmaninoff before, let alone Liszt or Scriabin.

Regardless of your opinion of her playing - isn't my true, honest story something to be proud of? Have you HEARD what is playing on the radio?! Do you SEE what is going on with society?

It's this type of blatant ignorance that is ruining classical music. If you were to appreciate this young woman's apparent hard work, dedication, perseverance, and lastly her talent - instead of bashing her and comparing her to others - only then can the paradigm change.

Anyways, I sincerely appreciate your time watching my video. I know I can't change your beliefs about music - not my intention, you probably know more than me. Perhaps however, next time you hear another rap song thats making hundreds of millions of dollars, negatively affecting the lives of millions of people, you will remember the incomprehensible positive influence Lola inflicted upon my soul using social media.

I digress.

Actually, that video of yours did shake me up.

CC'ing you on my reply to Mr. Stores.

I don't buy your story.

Man, you are playing for just 3 years? H*ll, you are good! I'm playing for 2 years now and that means some easy pieces from Anna Magdalena book and I can't see myself to even touch this piece in foreseeable future!
As per your innovation :-) this is music right, I always felt that music is here to give us a joy. So, do you enjoy playing the piece for yourself and your friends and followers? Well, than Maestro himself may be glad.
Also do you know about PianoGuys' arrangement of this piece known as "Rock meets Rachmaninov"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqeoKrKDffc -- I like it too.
Keep playing/experimenting music!
Karel

I'm nobody to critizise your piano skills... I haven't even tried this piece still so you play it infinitely better than I do. But I think that it was a very decent intepretation, especially considering the short time you have been learning piano and everything that you had in your plate while recording the video. Very nice touch with the chain!

I applaud your intention and that you have spent your time and money creating this video. You don't have to be born in Philly to realise the deep hole a lot of young people are falling into. In London and in many other places in the world it is really rare that young people get a chance to properly listen to classic music unless they are wealthy. They are too busy trying to survive between daily violence and crime whilst society ("normal" people with "normal" lives) turns their backs to them.

This "normal people" with their "normal lives" where education including classical music is just as normal as breathing, cannot get to understand that along theirs there are many other realities living in the world. If you have managed to just get a single kid to watch and listen to your video and realise that there is something else out there, you have got your target.

I have watched your other videos too, good material there. I like your Jay Z Magna Carta Holy Grail cover, though the original is not for me. I love your Hip Hop Instrumental. And I loved even more one of the comments:

Yagga97 5 months ago
Ur so talentes im kinda inspired to become a great piano player like u. Im taking lessons right now im 10 (PLEASE DONT REPORT ME)

Go on like this, please. You have a chance to connect with young people and offer them something else in their lives.

Well done!

Stores,

We've been in this forum "together" for a long time... We don't post to each other too often, but none the less we both have a large number of posts.

At this moment, I really can't understand what's wrong with what the OP did. I can't see why on earth you're basically calling him a liar (since you're not buying his story).

If you think that this thread and the video is an attempt to sell something (thus a spam thread in a way), then by all means. But for the rest I can't see why on earth you would reply like that, so insultingly to someone you really don't know (unless you do, in which case I'd be more interested to know more things)...

I second Nikolas.