Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital 39 --- General Discussion Room

Thanks MaryBee! I am so glad you enjoyed it.
I continue to work on refining this.

I have noticed that using the pedal in digital mode is a lot easier than in acoustic mode, where I sound a bit muddy.

Sorry for the delay in getting to my last batch of comments. What a great recital this has been, full of gems at all levels of experience.

51. Schubertian - Nocturne, B Major, Op 62 # 1
I'm listing to this one right now, and what a pleasure it is on a Sunday morning! I aspire to being able to perform Chopin with such musicality (these are not empty words - I am starting with a teacher in a couple of weeks and this is the kind of thing I have written in my notebook to discuss with him)

52. noobpianist90 - Divertimento in G Major Hob. XVI:8 - 1. Allegro
This is lovely. I don't think of myself as a huge Haydn fan but actually when I take the time to listen there is so much to appreciate. I really enjoyed this, and your ornaments were great (written by someone who is feeling daunted by all the ornaments in the pieces I have selected for next Spring's Baroque recital and expect to be spending a chunk of time between now and then trying to improve how I play them!).

53. doctor_S - Chopin Prelude op28 no1
Gorgeous, I love the rippling effect throughout

54. Piano_Primo_1 - ROMANCE
I like the piano version, not as sure about the version with strings, but that maybe just because of the context. Lots of interest, very nice!

55. Dru Morgan - The Entertainer
Very good - sounds like you had fun with this!

56. Moonsh1ne - Little Prelude In C minor BWV 999
Lovely!

57. 8 Octaves - Minuet in G Minor
I liked your delicacy with this, and good use of contrast. Interesting to read about the attribution also

58. AndrewJCW - Triad Blues
This is great - lively, bouncy and sounding confident (whether or not you felt that way!)

59. BillM - Every Breath You Take
A really good performance, and you imbue it with the creepiness the lyrics suggest. Love it!

60. raubucho, real name: Ralph - Colorful Sonatina: I. Sunshine Yellow, II. Dreamy Sky Blue, III. Happy Red
These are lovely little pieces. You open in no. 1 particularly strongly, and play with lovely fluidity throughout, No. 2 was really nice and delicate, and No. 3 also very strong throughout (despite your notes that you hadn't much time to prepare this one!). Very well done!

61. Pathbreaker - Intermezzo in F minor
This is super, you make it sound effortless!

Thanks again to all that listened and commented on my playing. I know the piece was a bit out in left field and perhaps difficult to listen to for some.
I have one last little interesting fact about this Gnossiennes (#7). When Satie died (after years of heavy drinking) and friends went into his apartment they found amongst the chaos two grand pianos, one stacked on top of the other. In the top piano they discovered piles of compositions thought lost or totally unknown. This Gnossiennes was amongst those compositions.

Thank you everyone for the kind comments

I've been without a real internet connection in the last few weeks, but I managed to download the recital files so I could listen: a great recital again, with different genres and levels represented. I miss when I'm not part of it!

Thanks to everybody for sharing your love of music!

50 lyricmudra

A lovely work on a pure soundin` piano. So meolious, a real treat for the old ears . . A great piece for developing style and expression.

51 Shubertian

One try, one complete take . . .I wish! Now this ius so fluid and accomplished, there`s only one avenue open to you now. Rock and Roll . . . .

52 Noobpianist

This Haydn piece was well played with a wonderful precision, complete with expressive feel too. The way to go . . .

53 DoctorS

A wonderful prelude, wonderfully played. What else is there to say . .

54 PianoPrimo

I`m not a Rach fan, his stuff takes up too much o` my time and brain capacity. I am short on brain capacity . . This was a terrific attempt at this piece, which is far from easy. Nice light and shade . .

55 Dru Morgan

You made a fine start on the entertainer. It is a swinger, and you`ll soon have the whole tune movin` . . . .

56 Moonshine

Bach little prelude is a fine piece and a wonderful training tool, too. You played it steady and well, on a fine sounding piano. I liked it a lot.

57 8 Octaves

This Bach sounding piece is a great listen, and you made it that way. Dramatic dynamics! Well Done!

58 Andrew JCW

Hey! A blast from the past, most welcome! Basic rock and roll (which I haven`t learned) which will take you into incredible places . . . soon by the sound of it!

59 BillM

Never thought of that tune in the Stalkers way . . .mind you, I never really listened to the words. You did a wonderfully expressive job on this, Bill. Good to hear you again . . .have fun!

60 Raubuchp, Ralf

I reckon a music teacher would be happy with what I just heard. You`d be on your next piece. Great progress, this was very competently played.

61 Pathbreaker

Complex and beautiful LH and RH on this. Not heard it before, but absolutely love it and the way you handled it.

Must thank the organisers for this and other recitals. If not for them, there`d be a big black hole in my life . . .Give me THREE CHAIRS for these guys. Hope they`re not sitting on `em . . THANK YOU everybody!

Have ye lots of Piano Fun!

ElaineAllegro Sounds beautiful to me. Sorry, I don't have any suggestions. If I could better hear where playing needs improvement, I wouldn't need my teacher!

Andy Platt Wow, Andy, that is different from your usual style. Sounds like you're really comfortable with it. Great job on a new genre!

Inlanding - Glen I don't usually like Einaudi very much, but you something about how you approached this made it really interesting. Oh, I just read your notes -- maybe it was your improvisation at the end. I could listen to more of this!

daveindenton What an interesting version of Danny Boy. Never heard a jazzy take on this Irish tune. I like it!

lyricmudra This is beautiful. Thanks for introducing me to this composer!

You must have a very good digital mode then. When I got my acoustic piano and switched from a digital, I couldn't believe how much better the pedal sounded. The digital seemed to make it mushy, and just couldn't let it sing.

noobpianist90 Great Haydn-esque feel to this. You got it just right!

doctor_S What a great achievement on the memorization. Very vibrant playing, too.

Piano_Primo_1 I liked the second half much better. I could hear your playing more clearly -- and it deserves to be heard.

Moonsh1ne Very nice! Well-controlled.

8 Octaves I enjoyed that! I really liked the dynamics -- makes it very interesting.

AndrewJCW Whew -- what energy! Love it -- I want more!

BillM Good to hear your singing again.

raubucho Nice job. Sounds like you're doing very well, even without a teacher. Keep it up!

Pathbreaker Beautiful.

I've been listening to the recital while making a quilt for my daughter as a wedding present. It has made the time fly. Thank you to everyone who submitted a piece and helped make it such a good recital.

I listened to all, some of them several times. I am amazed with the music and the excellent detailed comments. So nice.

Elaine

I wanted to thank you for the close listen and the comments. Just to be clear, when you say "note values" you don't mean pitch (i.e. wrong key) do you? Just wanted to be clear. As for mistakes in the duration of the notes (i.e. the rhythm) I know there are problems there.

These pieces from the French Suite go back to from before I started working with a teacher. My approach initially was to use the score to find the right keys and use repeated listening to get the rhythm, basically kind of a Suzuki approach. In the last year or so I have learned more how to read music (I mean aside from what note is which) and done some metronome work, but not on this piece. I've mainly worked on simpler pieces.

I've never tried the metronome set for 16ths. I will give it a try, though I suspect it will have to be reallllly slow at first. But it is a good suggestion.

About the LH being too strong in spots--yes! I notice that too when I listen to the recording. Hoping to make progress on that...


Also, finally made it to the end of the Chopin Mazurka Op 63 #3. Whew! I very much appreciate your comments about which hand does what. It gets interesting. I will look at your video again and maybe send you some more questions. Thanks.

[Probably too much use of quotes, but just to be clear what refers to what...]
Brian, yes, "note values" was meant to refer to rhythm, not pitch, and it sounds like you are aware of the issue. It's always more difficult correcting things than learning with a teacher from scratch, but this piece is so worth it! The "metronome in 16ths" idea IS slow going but I find it helpful on everything with rhythm challenges (definitely the Mazurkas).

I'm glad to hear you made it to the end of 63-3 -- a rewarding accomplishment (but every end is a new beginning, so now you get to add style and figure out your own interpretation). For some very different ways of playing it, try the energetic Vera Gornostaeva (at 9:02 min in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBK5dR8d8I) vs. this comparison of Pachman, Horowitz, and Rubenstein at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nXlh0O3mmU. Cortot (also somewhere you YouTube) even adds his own cadenza, probably a no-no these days.

Yes, the last bit is tricky and probably everyone divides it differently depending on hand size. I figured out a better approach to make that section smoother after the ABF video. I'll be happy to answer questions, especially after master class mid-month. Have fun practicing!

I'm way behind, the result of being off-line for some weeks now, culminating in a 5-day horse pack trip to the headwaters of the Bechler River in southwest Yellowstone. Unless you're a fly fisherman you've probably never heard of the Bechler. The river is not accessible from any road, and you can't even get to the trailhead from any of the park's interior roads. Only one large furry encounter on the whole trip and it was totally benign -- even somewhat humorous. But now I'm back and with all fingers intact, so back to work!

Now let me try to catch up. I owe thanks to a lot of people for listening to and commenting on my recording. The suggestions have already had an impact on my playing.



Thanks, Ellen, this is really helpful. I'm coming to rely on you for that!

Actually, my edition has more staccato markings than that. One thing that seems to be in common with all editions, however, is the semi-legato ("portato" or "mezzo-staccato", I now discover) marking in measure 11. I played it as legato simply because it sounded best to me at the time, but now as I make the notes more detached it seems to be an improvement.

For measures 18-20, I'm afraid you've got me. I had attempted to build to the E, but as others have noted my dynamics could use some more work. A slight measure-to-measure ritardando seems to work well here, too.

Dynamics criticism for measures 21-23 noted. I'm also experimenting with rubato for this section, gradually accelerating after the final arpeggio until back at the original tempo for the restatement of the initial theme.

I plan on incorporating all of these changes for our piano teachers' October adult student recital. It will be my first ever -- should be interesting.


Yep, quite sure it's less than two years. My piano adventure began at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 (first lesson, ever) so I'm still nearly three months away from my next pianoversary. True, I had played clarinet and guitar before, but I really am a beginning pianist.

Looking over the score, I think my dymanics in the first two sections were pretty weak. I'll be working hard on that in the next few weeks. I made a real effort on the last section to follow the marked dynamics, and that seems to have paid off.

Any LH/RH balance issues are all me -- no excuses. I used only the integral microphones on the Zoom recorder, and it was placed right next to the bentside with its nose pointed at the soundboard.


This is clearly a reference to dynamics, and as noted before it's one of my greatest "opportunities" for this piece. Thanks!



















Thanks to all. I really do enjoy playing this piece. Fell in love with it the first time I heard it! As almost everyone noted, the melody is quite playful and I'm delighted that that came across in my recording.

Regarding the recording, both my current piano teacher and my previous piano teacher (who remains a personal friend and still insists on following my progress!) are of the opinion that the recording was fine and (by implication ) that I'm being hypercritical. So, I feel better about the recording -- but I'm still going to explore ways to improve my recording technique!

This is probably an appropriate time to thank my piano teachers for their contribution. Quite simply, I couldn't have reached this level without their help and I'm deeply indebted to them for it. From understanding basic theory to learning how to press piano keys to produce music rather than sound, it's been a tremendous and pleasurable learning experience. And it's continuing on: the piece I've chosen for the November recital represents a big jump in complexity and we're already hard at work on it. Stay tuned!

42 Tom Christian

Count me in Tom. I very much enjoyed that joyful little piece, very nice, great stuff

37 Barbaram

Lovely, I always enjoy the Pachelbel Canon in countless versions and enjoyed this one. I can imagine a rainy day in Ireland while playing that. I know what it is like in Kerry, been there a lot

Thanks for the kind comments Peterws , ElaineAllegro, barbaram, MaryBee and Albunea.

To ramble somewhat ---Lately I’ve been busy painting the rooms in my house with “not the best” paint and the chore is keeping me in muddled chaos with having to move furniture back and forth.
So ”no piano for me” until it’s settled .
I gave into the fact that walls are walls, not work of art and that settled the painting issue too.
The streaks are there, and…. “ so what”.
Also I made a Murphy? bed that I decided I don’t like, so that was wasted work …..
Now I need to clean, polish, rearrange, hang some curtains, doors, that kind of thing you do that feels like piano practice---once you know the piece.


Anyway, while painting walls and listening /watching old tv shows, I noticed the uncanny resemblance between Henry the 8th and Orson Wells,,,,









Except for the nose, an almost extraordinary familial .resemblance.
Then I looked it up and they’re cousins !!!!! 13 tines removed ….
Fam Tree


I think understand Citizen Kane better anway. Maybe “Hamlet” too
Not because of the info here though
….. age does give an edge.

Back to piano…….
Soon I’ll get my PX piano “reset “ up and can start practicing.
Maybe something like Debussy “ Girl with the flaxen hair”….
Here’s my robin egg blue room, ignore the ac unit it’s coming out…..
… or cleaned.

I feel so overwhelmed by the high quality of this recital. It's so fantastic that I found this site and could be part of it. And it's great to hear other people around the world playing instead of listening the whole time to my own practice program.
Sorry for starting with comments so late but summer holiday and a business travel came in my way. I have listened to most of the pieces already on my mp3 player. But I also like to read what you wrote and watch the videos before commenting. So please be a bit more patient with me. :-)

So here's my first batch of comments.

01. Peyton - Gnossienne No. 7
Very well played. Interesting piece with different moods. Haven't played Satie myself but my teacher suggested it to me before the summer holiday. So we might begin with a piece some time soon. Thank you for sharing the YouTube video. It matches the piece wonderfully.


02. MarieJ - In Principio
Great you joined this recital too. Nice relaxing piece and very well played!!!


03. wouter79 - Waltz for the pianoforte in e minor B.56
This is the first waltz of Chopin I started to learn seriously. I'm still not "ready" with it so most of the time I play only the first half of it. You are doing a very good job and are on a great way with the piece!
There a several tricky passages in this piece like right in the beginning the arpeggios in the LH and the jumps after the first dolce part. A good fingering for the RH helped me a lot here.
The two dolce parts could use some more "dolce" for my taste but overall you are doing great! Especially loved the groovy part after the second dolce part. :-)


04. johan d - Clowns
What a nice funny piece! Love it. You play it in a really refreshing way.


05. SwissMS/Doris - Sonata in G Major K283, 1st Movement - Allegro
Well done! You already came really far with this piece. Keep up the good work!


06. PikaPianist - Piano Sonata in A minor, K.310, Mvmt 1
It's a true pleasure to listen to you! Love the piece and your performance. Thank you! I wish I could this piece too!


07. Richard (zrtf90) - Impromptu in Ab, Op. 90/4
Simply love it. The piece and your performance. You capture the moods in a fine way and the work on this piece was so much worth it. :-)


08. peterws - All of Me
Well done! Very relaxing to listen to you.


09. Anita Potter - Minuet No. 3
You are really doing great for only 9 months of learning! Keep up the good work!


10. Monica K. - Ora
Never played Einaudi myself but I think it must be quite difficult to make such a long piece with repeating themes interesting. You are really doing a fantastic job here using a lot of dynamics to show phrases and moods! Great!


More to come!

I'm still listening to Recital 39--wish I had time to do more comments, but here is something overdue: the Einaudi pieces:

02. MarieJ -- In Principio
10. Monica K. -- Ora
25. Medden (Simon) -- Dietro Casa
45. Inlanding - Glen -- Indaco

I had never heard Einaudi before this, and all are wonderful. Especially like Ora, it just slowly builds and builds. What amazes me also is just the sound of the piano. All of these just sound so wonderful. The recordings are obviously done well, but the pianos are all very nice sounding. I had to go back and check, if I am reading the entries right, three out of the four are acoustic pianos, all with such amazing sound!

Years ago, when I was in college, (late 70s/early 80s) new age was just getting started and I was a big fan back then. Saw several concerts of George Winston, at least one was on campus of University of Washington, in either 1980 or 81. This music is like that but almost even more essential and simple. Over the years I kind of lost my passion for that style of music, and I guess the whole idea of "new age" kind of came and went since then? Not sure, I have not kept up with it, but certainly there are some similarities there.


These recital pieces have excited me to try some Einaudi, but even maybe more basic, to work on some simpler practice pieces and focus on basics of sounds production, mechanics, etc. Though I think it would be hard to sound as wonderful as these examples on my $200 used upright But listening to these recordings has given me something to shoot for!

Thank you to all who commented so generously on my piece, especially Peyton and Glen who've been reminded of their dad's, that touched me very deeply.

I know I'm a bit late to the party. Life has dealt an awkward hand these last few weeks and I'm now struggling to make my GAS commitments.

I've not finished listening to all of this recital yet, I'm afraid, but I've cherry picked a few to comment on.

27. chopinoholic (Paul de Koning) - Prelude op.28 no.2 A minor and no.17 A flat major
A very controlled performance of the A flat prelude and a good listen. I felt you lost your way a little towards the end of the A minor. The voicing is quite difficult in the LH because of the stretching and the required delicacy but I would try and focus on the middle voice, top note on the beat and bottom note off the beat.

Take advantage of the repeat at a fifth of the melody in M8-11 and swell the intensity a tad as you close allowing you to come down again for the dim. without slowing too much.

The Ab was great, I really enjoyed listening to it. It's one I've targeted myself in the not too distant future and I'd be proud to do as well as you have here.

01. Peyton - Gnossienne No. 7
This piece is a much more desolate place than Satie's usual locale and I felt immediately a continuation of your last entry. You brought out the mood well and I really enjoyed listening to you. A very sincere performance.

20. sinophilia - To a Wild Rose
This is a beautiful performance, Diana. It's so hard to get the dynamics right when you've so few notes in the piece and so few years at the piano. If you work further on this, and it sounds like you will, I would exaggerate the dynamics more so that when you let them go they're still there but more subdued. You might listen to Julian Lloyd Webber's version of this and try to emulate the down and up bowings to bring out the beat notes and non-beat notes.

12. Pianogrlnw (Ellen) - Prelude in C# Minor, Op 2 No 3
It's difficult to listen objectively when you're also learning the piece and I have to distinguish between my own interpretive decisions and someone else's. Here I felt M27 and 28 were stretched out to five beats because of the very strong accent on the low C#'s as well as the top E's, like 'fur easing in here' instead of 'fuh-reezing in here'. The tempo didn't drag anywhere so your speed is fine but the accents need to be brought out more in the climactic passage so the listener can better follow the rhythm through it. I think it will sound faster, as well, instead of rushed. But this is a good performance of a challenging piece. Well done.

13. Greener / Jeff Green - Love theme from "Les parapluies de Cherbourg"
Well handled, Jeff. Even when your fingers weren't totally sure where to go you never lost the musical sense and it was easy to follow. Your long experience on the instrument and your musical surety paid off here.

21. Ganddalf - Song without Words Op.62. no.1
A little faster than I'm used to, a bit windy, perhaps, for a May Breeze, but very secure in your fingers. I would still try to bring out the melody more, by softening the LH, but this a fine performance from a very experienced hand.

18. Whizbang (Chris) - Weeping Willow
It's so good to hear you in these recitals, Chris. It's so good to hear you. A fine performance of a very popular rag.

08. peterws - All of Me
It's so easy to hear your enjoyment here, Peter, and it's catching. A gentle bounce and smiles all through. Some deft finger work in there, too.

30. CASINITALY (Cheryl) - Morning Prayer
The piece is still young in your fingers, Cheryl, but you have all you need now to let this piece blossom. Your tempo should pick up as those tricky changes become more comfortable and the advice others have given will help the second half to flow more. It's worth playing just the melody every so often to establish a more natural tempo and it will help you to not lose sight of it when the number of voices increases.