Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital 38 --- General Discussion Room

10. Newbert - Perhaps Love
Very well played, nice song!
I must say though that your DP setup was way way way too bright for my taste.

11. Anita Potter - Tambourin
That was good! Happy! The rhythm is so "different", seems hard to play for me.

39. PaleBlueDot - Von fremden Laendern und Menschen - Whatever the speed you play this is a great achievement IMO. It's a beautiful piece and I think you manage very well getting the melody of it. Nice job!

40. jotur-Cathy Turner - Weeping Willow - I always look forward to your pieces, Cathy. I love Joplin but I never had played any of his pieces and I think you know how to keep the fell of Joplin. This is very enjoyable to listen to. Great work!

Thank you CarlosCC for your feedback. Actually, I'm not very happy with my recording, that too is work in progress. I just found your YouTube channel and am inspired to try an Einaudi piece. Your video of Indaco sounds and looks amazing.

Which one would you say I could tackle on my own? Thanks again.

25 Sinophilia

Molto bene, Loved the slap at the end. Whenever Berthoven crops up in my lesson books I shudder so far, tricky to make it sound good for me. A job well done.

26 Ladypayne

Beautiful piece and well played, and I a nice recorded sound out of that pianissimo plugin too, I recall trying an earlier version with Mixcraft some time last year. Amazing considering it is only 250 MB and so cheap what Acoustica managed to do with it.

9 Monika K

Really peaceful music that you handled with great sensitivity. Your piano has magnificent resources . . .you used them well.

10 Newbert

Don`t remember this song. Your octaves give it a ring, and the duet part kicks in with the harmony towards the end. Reall nice listen!

11 Anita Potter

A lively, lovely rendition dating back a long time, I imagine! Your piano looks formidable . . . Have fun!

12 Copper

Don`t know this one either, but it was good. Very relaxing and enjoyable to listen to/

13 Pianogrinw

Wow! This is really classy and so well performed. Loved the delicate passages. I did a piece by Inglesias from a film for the last recital. Spanish music and films are first class.

14 Dynmamobt

Lovely work on this flowing complex piece. This deserves a film score to really set it off imo. Well done!

15 noob pianist Excellent job here! Looks like you worked hard on this . Loved the harpsichord type trills. Really true to form.

16 Wouter79

This stuff ain`t easy. I`ve forgotten my Joplin already. A splendid all round performance, man.

17 Riddler

Listening to this, one realizes one is not getting any younger . . .Very nice playing indeed, with a lovely ending. There is a very quiet part in that I believe . . . when it goes down to a whisper (didn`t forget that part ha ha)

18 Jazztpt

Not every little fella has a tune written for him! I reckon you`ll be writing many more in the future! Heartwarming wonderful stuff. But why do babies all have to look like Winston Churchill? (minus the cigar)

This is a great idea, whatever the format. I was thinking about this, and wondering if there's a way to secretly replace old recital pieces, because I have been reworking some pieces from a few years ago, including my very first ABF recital Nocturne, which I think was 2013. I hope it's better now, or at least different! So, I'll take you up on "Recitals Revisited" if you start it, or maybe I'll have to be the pioneer whenever a new recording is ready. The pressure is on!

Thank you
Well, I would say you have to choose the pieces you really like first... there are so many you can try, but don't wast time with pieces you don't fell something special. Then, let me know this short list and then I can advice you what is the best for you to try.

The best pieces choose you.

This is a wonderful recital. Well done to everyone.

I'm surprised and embarrassed by the reactions to my Clementi. Thank you so much for that.

I'm struggling with time and logistics at present but here's a selection of thoughts that I hope I can add to later.

01. AZ_Astro - Prelude #22 in Eb Minor by Robert Vandall
You've acquired a wider dynamic range since the Grieg and put it to good use. There's very little indication of 'beginner' in this piece so really well done for crossing that threshold. I'd still like to hear a piece from you that required a faster tempo.

03. torquenale (Alessandra) - Allemande from French Suite n. 6
This is a really lively performance with no shortage of confidence in the playing or delight in the listening. If you want to spend time improving it I would focus first on the trills. If you're using Bach style rounded fingers for these you may be better off lengthening them to a more Romantic style to pick up a little tempo just for the ornaments. All they really need is a softer, more relaxed tone and that can be developed from very slow isolated practise over a long enough period for the muscle actions to develop - brief bursts on a daily basis not long hours into the night.

If I were going to improve this I would tackle the left hand. This can be done more quickly. Once you get the new playing style in a short section it should filter in to the rest of the piece with little effort. You might start with a more legato touch to soften the overall effect and allow more phrasing to develop in it then go back to the non-legato touch when the hand is no longer just accompaniment.

I know Bach is excruciating to get right but you've jumped all the hurdles now and can sit back and start to enjoy the piece. Are you smiling when you play this yet? You deserve to. It's a real delight.

04. Medden (Simon) - Opus 28-Prelude No 20
The Kawai really sounds good in this. There's a good crescendo at the end of the middle section but in the first and third there seems to be a bit too much - as if it's added on after the phrase instead of a conclusion to it. You have a wide dynamic range here but the transitions in the first and third sections could be smoother.

This is supposed to be an easy piece, for one of Chopin's, but it's still a challenge for your time at the instrument and you've done a great job with it for that.

05. SwissMS/Doris - Nocturne in C# Minor
This piece, and your playing of it, is a far cry from the Kuhlau pieces. You exam preparation has matured your touch markedly in the space of a year. The overall volume seemed a bit big and may have affected my hearing of it but the opening could be a little softer - as if a secret is about to be revealed rather than a 'hear ye, hear ye' - and the first trill might benefit, because of its position in the piece, with a more solid execution, though it may of course just be a quirk in this recording. The trill at the start of the second iteration is a corker so you have it in you. This is a great submission from you, well done.

07. verqueue - Ballade F minor op. 52
I wanted to add something more than the wows and wonderfuls you've already had but you've just not left room for improvement. You have all the notes, as you say, you've got all the dynamics, brought out all the voices and even the details between phrases and sections have been attended to.

I thought perhaps the ends of the of the groups in M152-162 might have been less abrupt or the passage from M169 might have been more leggiero in the LH and the RH melody picked out a little more but the crescendo from M187-202 was really well paced and left me breathless.

If you're waiting for this interpretation to grow up much further you may have a long wait. It's already standing on its own feet. And meanwhile I'm left with little more to say than wow, that was wonderful!

30. Ganddalf - Rondo a-minor K.511
This is a lovely piece, Ganddalf! I was torn between this and the Adagio in B minor but the Adagio won for me - for now - and I'd love to be able to play that as well as you play this. Your turns in this are terrific and your touch is careful and precise. There are a few passages, M112-114 and M122-124 where the LH is a little overpowering but the last page was fine so it may just be the low register on your AvantGrand and you may need to listen more to it.

You may be an amateur but this wasn't amateurish. I was kept interested throughout the performance and really enjoyed it.

I think you're right. I re-listened and the tempo is pretty consistent. The rhythm cheating is consistent throughout, though... what often seems to happen is that you pause to hit something and then you rush to catch up. On this last listen-through, I 'conducted' your performance and what I was finding was I needed to rubber-band between various beats.

In short, I'd slow this down for a while and square up the beats by knowing exactly where you're going and then up the tempo to your current, very good, level.



You must have mistaken me for my teacher!

I don't know Einaudi that well. I don't know his music enough to produce a list. However, my favorite is this (unfortunately there is strings in it, so I don't know if it could be done with solo piano):

I'm listening to it all again!

I like your song, Russ. So nice!

Richard (rft90), yours is a pleasure to listen to.

Hello, and Thank you very much my friend Carlos and my many other friends here. Your gracious comments are immensely appreciated. Thank you all for listening.

It is great to see many regulars sharing excellence in craftsmanship and noticeable progression at another great recital. The Bach contributions by torquenale (Alessandra) and noobpianist90 I thought were both outstanding. There are many other excellent examples, with varying durations of experience. I also thought the feedback provided was fair, similar to what I may have suggested if I knew how to say as well, and helpful. I'm very thankful to you that provide this feedback and general comments of appreciation. Indeed they make the recitals better.

Have an outstanding holiday weekend for many. We experienced this in Canada last weekend, but it was far from a holiday for me. As relatively new home owner (close friend in same boat) there are projects on the go and more awaiting. Unfortunately thus, not all wine and roses all the time. I've one third left of listening remaining with this recital which I've reserved for this weekend. Make it a great one and enjoy music.

24. Peyton - The Climb
This is very emotional, Peyton. The story itself is moving but the cold and unforgiving hostility of the weather is really well brought out. The video, the story and the music go very well together. It's difficult to put in words the pleasure we get from immersing ourselves in such tragedy without it sounding perverse but I really did get enjoyment from exactly that. Fabulous!

34. ElaineAllegro - From Holberg's Time, Opus 40 (I, II, V)
This is a thoroughly enjoyable performance of music not often heard in its original piano form so kudos on your choice of music. I think you've caught the spirit of this music well and your comfortableness with it that only time confers is very evident in the playing.

36. WimPiano - Op. 68 Album for the Young No. 16 - Erster Verlust
This is a deceptively difficult piece and many people in the 40 piece challenge thread are finding similar parallels in their own 'easy' choices. Your achievement in this for less than two years playing shows a lot of potential. You have great control over your touch and are ready to start making use of that in realising the music.

There are just two things I'll point out to make this better in the future. First is pedalling and second is accentuation. The pedal in this recording takes away the breaks in the phrases so they all merge into one breathless stream, like speech in a reverberant cathedral. We need pauses to assimilate and understand what we're hearing. The pedalling is quite demanding in this piece compared to the finger work but the breaks in the legato in, for example, M5-8 or M13-16 need to be without pedal.

The first eight notes here are equally weighted but there should be two beats in each bar, the first quaver strongest and the third a little less so. It's worth exaggerating the accents while you're learning the piece so that when you subdue them later the music is already imbued with them. Because the first and third quavers aren't automatically brought out it gives excess weighting to quavers two and four giving a slightly syncopated feel to the music and in M5 and 6 you've given beats two and four extra dynamic weight as well so it's difficult to pick up the rhythm of the piece.

The second half raises the bar a bit and the phrasing marks overlap in the hands, which makes pedal really quite unnecessary before M25/26. It would be worth practising and listening to each voice separately here so the phrasing is brought out and the dynamic curves adjusted appropriately before mixing them together.

It's difficult playing for four years, let alone less than two so a fine effort and another piece ticked off in your growing Schumann collection.

31. Peterws/ Peter - Schumann 82 1 Eintritt
This is simply splendid, Peter! Your spontaneity is a real asset but hearing you present a piece you've obviously put a lot of time and love into is an absolute bonus for us.

37. BillM - A Time for Love/Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Great to have you back, Bill! A very touching and tender rendition and a very fine finish. Your appreciation of the music is very clear and you appear effortless in your performance - a sure sign of hours and ability.

Totally agree. This piece is not easy, and for someone at level 3-4 playing standard, I would not choose this piece as it took me more than 5-6 weeks to learn it to my teacher's satisfaction when I was at level 3 playing standard. Certainly that is too much time to spend on a 40-piece a year activity unless you are at level 5 or 6 playing standard and now reading it again. It is a wonderful piece of music.

OTOH, it is definitely appropriate as a recital piece for anyone at level 3 playing standard. It was the first 'recital' piece I played for anyone, exam situation, unfortunately for me, I blanked in the middle and couldn't recovered, a lesson I never forgot.

I don't think the time spent learning a piece has anything to do with whether or not it should be chosen. A performance isn't judged on how long it took it to rehearse.

For an adult pianist I think this is the sort of piece that should be chosen as learning material instead of the fodder doled out in method books where the hands are used more than the brain. Zen thought: we don't play piano with our hands. Look how much more musicianship can be learnt without overtaxing fingers unused to the work. How much time is given to the typical exam piece? How much longer is a piece like this going to stay in one's repertoire (at the piano or away from it) compared to the fare we're offered in a typical method book? This music is good enough to withstand a lot more than five or six weeks of study.

The average time for a title in the forty piece challenge is around nine days multiplied by the number of pieces worked on each day. Working four pieces a day means 5-6 weeks is close to perfect for the challenge and if it took double that then three other pieces will need to take 3-4 weeks - now there's a better use for method book material!

The last set:

41. Tom Christian - Minuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115 I will confess to being one of those who sees the harpsichord a necessary evil on the evolutionary path to the piano! However, you performed this piece admirably. It can be hard separating the voices on the harpsichord but you brought them out, the ornamentation was good and overall it was a great performance!

42. Sam S - Fugue in D Major WTC 1 Don't you know these fugues are just too hard?! I really liked this performance, thudding bass especially! You did a great job with the different voices, the piece flowed nicely and there was some wonderful dynamic contrast.

43. Shirley Christian (TwoDot) - Minuet en Rondeau You wait for 40 pieces for a harpsichord and then two come all at once! This is a lovely performance of the Rameau; good tempo and great control. You kept the voices separated which is harder on the harpischord than piano. Good stuff!

44. Yamana G3&P-80 Mike White - O soave fanciulla Nice performance, you captured the dramatic nature of it but kept the melody singing where it should be.

45. Dru Morgan (drumorgan) - Love Me Tender / Edelweiss / Rainbow Connection Three pieces after just three months - well done! All the pieces were well played. As you improve try to phrase the lines a little more, subtle variations of dynamics and so on. Yes, there are pauses but as you improve with the pieces this will get better. Thanks so much for submitting as a complete beginner - you just did the hardest recital!

46. Andy Platt - On the Playground Thanks for the kind words; to clarify, this wasn't "sight reading" as I know it (at first sight) but it was reading (not memorized.) But yes, not much practice and this gives me confidence for future recitals where I have nothing planned!

47. ajames - An Old Valentine This is a beautiful performance, very tender, very lyrical. You really phrased it wonderfully and it was totally enjoyable.

48. timmyab - Moonlight sonata mvts 1 and 2 I'm not sure Schiff would have a problem with the tempo of the first movement or not. I'll admit I like it faster but this was a teeny bit too much. But you did a really nice job of shaping it, voicing it and giving it a convincing direction. The second movement was well controlled, again the voicing was very well done. It kept an overall shape but really it needs something after .. now you know you really WANT to do movement 3?!

49. SandTiger - Con Te Partiro Good job arranging this yourself, it is well done. I think the performance overall would benefit from being a little smoother. It's a vocal performance so let the lines sing a bit.

50. Cat_W (Katharina Wittfeld) - Nocturne - for left hand alone I really should do some left hand pieces, it's definitely a weak area for me. It was so impressive, it really sounded like a two handed piece - are you sure you didn't cheat?! There was a lovely tone, I loved the feeling of the different voices. Shame about the hiss in the recording though.

51. blackjack1777 - Greensleeves Congratulations on your first recital entry, and a wonderful performance it is too. There is a lot of dynamic range, it's very steady and controlled. As you progress you can work on smoothing the melody and shaping it more. Thanks!

52. outo - An die Zugvogel in Suden op 11-1 This is a beautiful song, you play it in a way that really lets the melody sing. It is beautifully phrased, there is a nice sense of tempo; very nice!

53. Piano_ Primo_1 - Stairway to Heaven Wayne's World: "No Stairway!" I preferred the piano solo - I'm not a fan of synth strings. It was a nice performance, with good voicing and a nice control of the melody. Obviously some bits are more polished than others and they are really very good.

54. Jytte - Menuet in F Congratulations, this is great after 5 months! You have some nice phrasing in there, there is a wonderful separation of the melody from the accompaniment and it is nicely controlled.

55. Alexander Borro - Bye Bye Betelgeuse Wonderful composition, very ethereal, simple but effective. And your playing too matches it exactly (probably natural with your own composition.) Loved it!

56. Pathbreaker - Sonata in F major, K. 533 (1st mov) Mozart is tricky; you do a nice job with this movement, you have it well phrased and mostly under very good control. I think the overall shape on the movement is something to work on, there wasn't always a clear direction. I have the same problem with a Haydn piece right now! But overall I really liked it.

57. LadyAugustina - Open Sky It really was too difficult to hear this properly, what I heard sounded well played but it kept cutting out. Sorry.

58. stumbler / Dave - Miniature This is a lovely composition, played beautifully. There was a lot of interest, melodically and harmonically. Thanks!

59. AndyMc - Floral Dance This is a nice piece. The voices "crossing" with interplaying rhythms sounds really tricky but you pulled it off nicely. There was a lot of control and shape to the performance. Shame about the hiss.

Thank you, AndyMc.



Thank you Richard for your comment. You're right about this leggiero, I'll work on it. I also hear melody in this section as more shining, but I still have a problem to do it . In a section M152-162 I wanted these passages to be kind of sharp, but maybe I exaggerated this, I'll think about it. I really appreciate your comment!

WOW, thanks for the constructive advice. Is there an example you can point me to to understand "try to phrase the lines a little more, subtle variations of dynamics" a little better. My musical vocabulary is not up enough to fully grasp this advice.

And, do you mean that the "first" recital is the "hardest" recital for everyone?