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No. 1 of the Four Poems, composed in 1927.

http://picosong.com/ewtR/

Beautifully conceived and executed.

And this is a great great little piece. Unfortunately for me, Godowsky's name has become tarnished by his famous Chopin etudes (which I find tasteless), so I tend to write him off as a composer. In one minute of music I've been proven wrong.


-Jason

Neat!
This is the first Godowsky (I mean pure Godowsky) that I've ever heard. I don't like it as much as Jason does, but at least I sort of do -- maybe I'd like it more with more hearings of this and his other pieces. I appreciate your recording it and posting it. And, BTW, nice playing!

Can't really comment on the interpretation because I don't know this piece. Sounds good though. Now how about some Chopin? Bach?

Now we can stop complaining that you never post any recordings .

Excellent.

I guess your name is Polyphonist for a reason. Nice job bringing out the parts.

I'm actually curious to hear Polyphonist play the Godowsky arrangement of The Swan by S-S. It's gorgeous -- better than the original. (one of those rare occurrences)

What's that clicking sound throughout the recording? It's not steady like a metronome.

There has been a problem with my damper pedal for a few months, and it sometimes makes a clicking sound when depressed. Sorry about that.

Nicely done! A minute of bliss on a bleak day.

Forrest

Very nice. I am not really familiar with Godowsky, so I can't comment beyond that, but I enjoyed your interpretation -- even with the clicking!

Seriously, well-played.

Yay, there's someone else playing Godowsky in the world. I didn't know of this set, but I just happened to have checked out the 4th volume the Carl Fischer collection for the sake of reading through the waltz transcriptions. Lucky me eh.

The first thing I noticed is how much I absolutely love how you weave the polyphonic lines. Do you just have a really natural feel for that, or were these things heavily thought out. It sounds so natural, even the phrasing. I find this hard to achieve in Godowsky's music.

The only aspect that I felt could be improved upon is the pacing of the rallentandos. You seem to push past them. I feel like you could really stretch them out. Maybe not so much with the first one before the repetition of the theme, but have you considered making more of the the piu rallentando and the molto rallentando. I think if you really stretched out the piu rall. and then gave the molto rall a different color while stretching it even farther it would come off far better.

*shrugs* Just my thoughts. I'm definitely reading through these before I return the book.

That was pretty but it could have been a little more dynamic at the appassionato and there's a repeat you didn't play. Still...pretty. Good job!

This is such a beautiful piece, and your playing is lovely and very well controlled. I have to agree with MikeN, not so much that I *noticed* any rushing, exactly, but you've done such a nice job of voicing and layering that the next thing to do, perhaps, is to give the harmonics some space to mingle and sing. You might actually let them help shape some of your timings. I'm not talking huge indulgences of time, just a tiny little bit more elbow room between things here and there.

I really enjoyed hearing you play this piece. Thanks for sharing!

--Andy

That really is a lovely piece and beautifully played. I enjoyed your interpretation as performed (though its too bad its not better recorded).

Will we get to hear your performance of the other pieces in this set?

This sounds wonderful Polyphonist – excellent playing to my ears and a delightful piece - I don’t know anything about Godowski other than the transcription of a Moment Musicale I’ve heard Kissin play.

As already noted, your playing deserves some experienced recording technique so I hope you’ll get some help with that.

Very good playing, you live up to your username quite well!

Thanks for sharing this gem.

An elegant miniature and very sensitively played. I'd love to hear more

Very nicely executed as Godowsky's pieces are always far more difficult to play than they sound. Another good example of interweaving counterpoint in a Godowsky arrangement is the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8xTpSj4bd0

Note as to how the key changes to E-major (as in the Poem) a little later in the piece as this would have to be one of Godowsky's most sublime moments in an excellent transition.

Nice one Poly.

I didn't know this work at all, and I wasn't too familiar with Godowsky... So this is very pleasant!

Thanks for sharing.