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I haven't posted in here for a while, would love to hear how you're all going with your Mr E pieces?

I have got into a bit of Yann Tiersen- Le Moulin, Comptine d' un autre ete, and Sur le Fil, got them by memory and I love them so much! Especially that 19/16 timing part in Sur le Fil.

I feel a bit like I'm cheating on Einaudi, haha. But still working on getting Questa Notte and Ancora smoothly by memory, it's just the last two pages of Ancora that trip me up. It's so beautiful though, I never get sick of playing it.

Still struggling with quality of recording, I have another tablet now so will try and get a
decent vid or two.

What are the rest of you up to in your playing? Anything you're especially loving at the moment?

I think 'especially loving it at the moment' says it all. I keep surprising myself by suddenly finding yet another piece among my Einaudi albums that I can't believe was waiting there all the time; my latest discovery is Indaco. Perhaps it seemed too advanced when I first looked, but I'm starting to manage it; Dietro Casa is another.

My all-time favourites are still I Giorni, Nefelli, Julia and Nuvole Bianche ... and Burning is coming up on the list.

I try to get interested in something else - perhaps one of Satie's Gymnopedies or Tiersen's La Valse d'Amelie - but before I know it I'm back with Einaudi again. And happy.

Yes exactly Marie. I play Satie's 3rd Gnossienne, it's nice but still not as soulful as I find Einaudi.
I've dabbled in Tiersen with the 3 in my post above, but before I know it, I'm back with Mr E. I like I Giorni too, haven't tried the others yet. Nefelli seems to be a popular one around here?

Last night I slipped and fell onto Musicnotes and bought Monday, Melody Africana IV and L' Origine Nascosta. I'm ridiculously excited to have three new songs! *jumps around squealing*

Now I just need to convince a friend to take up the cello. LOL.

Just discovered a huge typo in my (purchased!!) copy of Melodia Africana IV.
Not happy! Just had to scribble over it in pencil, don't have white-out on me.

Wondered why it was sounding so yuck just in bars 96-110, saw a comment on a YT clip of a girl doing the same wrong notes for a concert (ohhh bugger) and whaddaya know it should be LH doing treble clef not bass clef.

I wonder how many other people have been caught out like this?



I'm really loving it though, especially about 3 minutes in where my fingers get tangled LOL, why do I always fall in love with the trickiest bits?

How is everyone going with their pieces at the moment? Anything else new you're into?

I’d been keeping up with this thread (more a tapestry than a thread!) for the past 12 months or so, but a few days ago I started idly browsing through the earliest posts ...and I only stopped at page 29 because my long-suffering husband was mournfully waving a knife and fork and asking where was dinner.

I realised what a wonderful and unique resource this was - full of passion, humour, advice, struggle, determination, encouragement, assistance, enthusiasm and joy. The whole 60+ pages deserve to be printed, bound and packaged to be given away with every Einaudi album sold, whether sheet music or CD. With more copies available from every piano dealer.

And of course a specially-bound copy to go to Einaudi himself, to show him just what his music means to people, and how many he has inspired to learn to play the piano (even those of us who believed that they were FAR too old to start!)

You're so right, Marie. I too spent ages reading through the thread, loving people's discovery and experiences of Mr E's pieces, before I posted.

I hope he would be heartened to learn he's affected us so much.

I certainly owe him my passion for piano being rediscovered. Without finding 'I Giorni' (first piece I learned), I'd still be sitting around on my old classical repertoire, bored out of my tree!

Monday and Melodia Africana are going well, they suit my mood at the moment and roll so nicely off the fingers. I really enjoyed mastering the complex bit in M/A, has anyone else played this one before and how did you find it?

Whoops I accidentally fell onto the Book Depository and bought Best Of Einaudi. The next 2 weeks is gonna be torture!

I spotted your glowing review of it too, Monika

Yay! Musicnotes.com changed the error in the sheetmusic for Melodia Africana IV!

Now it can be all pretty in my scrapbook without my pencil marks all over it LOL.

Nice to know they take feedback seriously though, and it won't catch anyone else out in the future.

Wow, that's cool!

BTW (re your earlier comment) I Giorni was also the piece that got me hooked (thanks to Monica, because that's how I first learned about Einaudi).

Also, did any one see my question a few posts back about Nefeli? About how to "play through" that dramatic rest mid-way through the piece? I'll try to write out what I'm playing and post it later, I don't really like it, but I don't want to play that rest, so I'd love some feedback or other suggestions.

Hi Shiro! I just got back from spring break and am only now catching up on PW. I will confess that I actually *like* the abrupt pause in Nefeli. When he talks about the piece in the liner notes, he says he wrote it for the small daughter of a family friend. I like to imagine the energy of a toddler/preschooler who goes full force ahead with hustle and bustle and cheer until they collapse abruptly into a nap. Then they wake up and head off again.

That being said, Mr. Super-Hunky would be applauding your effort to improvise on the arrangement, and heaven knows Einaudi himself introduces variations of his pieces in concert. So I say you should go for it!

p.s. to Marie: Welcome to the forum, and the Einaudi thread in particular! I love to think of what Einaudi would do with a spiral bound copy of this thread. "Perplexed bemusement" is the phrase that comes to mind.

Jessiebear, don't put the white-out away just yet. My copy of the Einaudi - The Best Of album, bought a couple of years ago, has exactly the same typo in Melodia African IV. I'm glad it's one of the pieces I've yet to tackle. I'd be interested to know if it has been corrected in your edition. (Short break while everyone turns to Page 92 to check theirs.)

And Monica - your phrase could almost describe my thoughts when I first opened that same album, flicked through the 175 pages, and came to the sudden, horrible realisation that I had bitten off far more than I could ever chew.

Hi MarieJ,
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be treble cleff on both staves though, as it duplicates that later on in the piece. And sounds bloody awful as it was. I feel so sorry for that poor girl I watched doing it the first way, cringe!

Monika welcome back

SQUEEEE!!!!!

My 'Best Of' book just arrived!!! I'm absolutely giddy with excitement of what to play next!

Settled for Africana III as it's similar to the IV I've just learnt, then maybe La Linea Scura?

Oh the choices!

Yes! La Linea Secura is wonderful, I highly recommend it!!

I just started Nuvole Bianche, it's a lot "easier" than I expected -- I put easier in quotes because it's not that the piece is easy, but it's very easy to work on. For example, compared to another piece by Rocherolle that I've been trying to get into my fingers, it's not much different in terms of difficulty but when I just practice it, it's very unpleasant... whatever that means, sorry I'm not feeling very articulate today!

In any case, congrats Jessie, that's a wonderful book isn't it!

Ok, so I've been meaning to post this forever, but I finally got around making and uploading the photos.

So here is the part of Nefeli that I don't like (Sorry Monica! I have no doubt you can pull it off, but I can't!

Edited to add (in case someone didn't see me earlier post several pages back) -- I don't like the forte moving into the aburpt rest, when I play it I feel like it sounds like a mistake. And since I hope to record and share this with friends and family (who don't know Einaudi's music), I don't want to have to include a disclaimer "hey, you know that part that sounds like I got lost, that's actually how its written..."
So my solution has been to play through that rest. Anyway, here's the original:



What I've been doing is taking that one measure rest, and having the RH play and hold the A, and the LH plays the part that's circled here below, so two measures:



Oh, and I should mention that I do a ritardando in the two measures before the rest, and then I play my added two measures softly and sort of ease into the return to the intro theme. So, it works ok... But does anyone have any other suggestions? I thought maybe I could use the RH/LH parts from the section that starts in measure 69, but I couldn't get anything that I liked.

Or, if someone would be willing to try it as I'm playing it, and tell me what you think, that would be awesome

So, again, any comments, thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

Hi Shiro, thanks yes I'm stoked. Just a shame I can't play straight from the book as it would ruin the spine having to flatten it out.

I definitely see your issue with that bar in Nefeli and I think that is a good way of approaching it. I will play it and report back

eta: yep that sounds nice with the extra bit in the rest.

(Now I'm curious to play the rest of the piece, dammit! lol)

I know what you mean! I copy all the pieces I want to play and leave the book without my markings and all that. I just copied Nuvole Bianche and am getting ready to do my score-thing so I can have it all laid out with only one page turn (a challenge since it's 8 pages!)



Oh, thanks for playing it!! It's good to know that at least someone else doesn't think my adaptation sounds awful.

I would say Nefeli should be very easy/accessible for you since you've tackled Oltremare (among others!) (Also isn't the score in Best of? or maybe Islands? I can't remember which one I got it from, now that I have both).

Also, if anyone is interested in Nuvole Bianche, it's very accessible. I've only been playing/practicing it for a few days and I am already working through the first 5 pages. If you've play a few Einaudi pieces, this one just fits right into the fingers like you already know.

And, anyone else who wants to try my Nefeli adaptation, please do!

Yes you're quite right- there are similarities running through many of his pieces, 3 against 2 for instance and the Africana theme.
Nefeli is in Best Of, so that's good hehe.

Oltremare remains one of my favourites. I managed to do it justice playing for my wee concert for Dad's birthday recently. You know when a certain piece just gets under your skin and you feel a connection straight away?

I just saw this video by Carlos on Facebook, of him playing "Indaco" for the BESTalent contest. It's a gorgeous video--very professional and well done--and Carlos's playing is impeccable. I did a quick search and couldn't see that he had posted it anywhere in the forum, but it sure belongs here on this thread. Bravo, Carlos!!

[video:youtube]pmfjdR_KJig[/video]

OMGosh, that's just wonderful!

Wait, that's a talent contest for the company Carlos works at??? Why am I not working there also!