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Greetings, everyone!

This is my first time sharing my playing for the forum, and I'm kinda nervous about it but I figured I could do with a little bit of shameless self promotion. Below is a link to a playlist of my master's recital from last November at Cal State Northridge.

The program:
J.S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in b minor, WTC Book I
Messiaen - Vingt Regards I and XI
Liszt - Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H
Schubert - Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYB2YorkZFQ&list=PL4LDCaC-MGT4eXP5bN6WNoKVFp8WGc6Q7

I hope you enjoy!

I certainly did!


No need, and I hope you'll be sharing much more.

You are excellent, and you played a wonderful recital. The only piece I've played, and actually the only one that I'm familiar with at all, is the Schubert. (I don't even know the Bach!) I just 'skimmed' through the Bach and Liszt, listened to most of the Messiaen, and a lot of the Schubert. I love the program, and I love how the repertoire itself seem to characterize you even before you play a note (and your playing bears it out).

Just a couple of mild criticisms:

From what we might call an "audience standpoint," I don't know if that's the very best order of the pieces, although I don't easily come up with a better one. The Bach is a pair of pieces that are (broadly speaking) sort of the same feeling and tempo (or same-ish) and also on the slow and quiet side; and while of course the Messiaen is a contrast, in terms of basic feeling it's sort of more of the same, especially the first piece but the other one sort of also. Obviously this isn't strictly true; I'm talking broadly, about the basic feeling of the pieces. For a Master's recital it's fine, but from an "audience standpoint".....I would try to avoid starting a recital with several pieces that can be felt as broadly of that type. (Nor would I do 4 pieces in a row that are 'fast and loud'!)

About the playing itself, I can hardly criticize anything. You have a nicely expansive sense of rhythm and pacing (and you picked great repertoire to show that!). You always "wait long enough," and seem to revel in it, as well you should. Nice and comfortable stage presence too. In the Schubert you bring out the voices well, which harkens back nicely to the Bach. And you handle all the deceptively hard technical things perfectly....well 99% of the time anyway. You're entitled to miss a chord now and then; it's way better than playing those things overly cautiously, which a lot of people do. The only criticism I'd offer is that it seems you pounced a bit too aggressively on some of the chord passages, especially where there are leaps. Some of the chords in the Schubert, especially in the last movement but also a little bit in the first, seem too harsh and without enough differentiation of the voices, sort of block-ish. I'm guessing you just got a little carried away with the passion, maybe also there was some nervousness in there.

By the way, didn't it kill you to skip the repeat in the 1st movement and miss out on that great 1st ending?
If I performed the piece I'd probably do the same thing, but it would gnaw at me to leave that out.

Congratulations on such a fine recital, and good luck!

Hi there, mountain man! Thanks for an excellent recital; certainly hope you've obtained your Master's degree with flying colors! I particularly enjoyed the Messiaen; that to me was the best showcase for your mature, complete pianism in all phases. A nice well-managed rescue from your memory lapse in the Bach Prelude; that's a very important aspect for a professional performer of solo piano classical music.

You seem to have a very well-rounded and secure grounding in classical piano, both technically and musically -- I'd be curious to know what your professional goals are. Would it be in teaching, or performing solo piano literature, or serving in a broader capacity within the classical music world? From my perspective, it does seem like we have a "glut" of solo pianists, all of whom are spectacular in their varied ways; and so it strikes me that, as good as you are, you would have to have 3 - 5 alternative ways of securing an income. Just curious.

I listened to your whole recital some time ago and I like it as a whole. It was a very good recital. I like your touch of the piano, it seems so powerful. Sometimes maybe to powerful or it could be the recording - in ff the sound was sometimes too harsh. I think you can also work more on your piano dynamics. But it could be the quality of the recording.

Congratulations!

Mtnmanchuck - thanks for posting your recital. It sounds like you had a decent sized audience too, which is always nice to have. I agree it is a bit intimidating to post stuff here, but I've never gotten poor feedback from it.

I thought your Schubert had a great sense of forward motion throughout, as well as a good differentiation between the characters. If I could make one suggestion, it would be on the second movement. It's really just a small thing, but it was something that stuck out for me. There are a few places where the LH is suddenly brought out (for example at 18:24-30, and a couple times in 18:45-55). I think it would come of better if you would gradually make the LH louder until you get to the part you want to bring out so that we hear more of the line that organically fits into it instead of a "listen to this little LH part, isn't it great?" Hope that makes sense.

Mtnmanchuck - I listened to all of your recital so far, except for the Liszt. Well played! I enjoyed everything. Please post more here! In the meantime I may check out your youtube channel.

I have a special passion for the Schubert. I last played it in concert perhaps 20 years ago, and your performance is causing me to strongly consider working it up again and performing it. In your performance throughout, you masterfully carried through a singing tone. I did feel like you could have "breathed" a bit more in the first two movements. It seemed like you weren't as comfortable or relaxed as with the other pieces. However, you absolutely nailed the last two movements! The scherzo was nice and light, but with an appropriately dark trio. The last movement had a great sense of forward motion and very nice color changes.

Again, well done! Please post here again.

If I played this well, I don't think I would get nervous. I really enjoyed the Liszt Fantasy. I will certainly listen to the rest when I get a chance.