Hello, here's my second recording:
Rachmaninov - Prelude in C# minor Op. 3 No. 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?xblmttecvm4
(scroll down for newer recording)

Low-fi recording on an mp3 player from digital piano Roland HP-201.

This is my 6th classical piano piece. Been playing piano for almost a year (years of keyboard/synth experience before that).
Ofcourse there are some miss-hits. I just can't get it perfect at this point. Maybe this was a bit over my head, but I really, really, REALLY wanted to play it.
Don't hold back in your comments and thanks for listening.

Well done! How long did it take you to learn it? Did you memorize it?

Thank you. Took me almost two months, on average 1 hour a day. I auto-memorize everything when I practice enough.

One of my students just got first place in a competition with this overplayed piece.

You are well on your way. Here are a couple suggestions.

Could use a little more melody at the beginning.
Perhaps a little structural rubato at the beginning. The rubato was there, but it did not really accomplish anything...it seemed haphazard

Your dynamics were good!
You could use a little technical development in your 4th finger...you know where I'm talking about.

I could sense a lot of emotion in the playing...but only a few components of focused expression.

What's the difference between the two?...another topic, another day.

babama, you have a lot of natural talent. I hope you work to take it to the next level.

Thanks so much for your comments, really appreciated.
I just came back from holidays and it was a great pleasure to sit down and play this again.
Now that I can play the chords on 'autopilot' I can focus on improving other things, such as the points you mentioned.

New recording in good quality:

http://www.mediafire.com/?jllq3y7ja8v

Comments welcome!

3 things :

- You're using the damper pedal too much. A lot of chords and especially the lower notes become muddy as a result.
- You're hitting the chords way too hard in the Lento section. Most of them need to be tapped, not hit.
- The last part with the chords has to be faster!

But I'm seriously impressed with your progressed. I'm self-taught and have been playing for a bit more than a year and finally decided to tackle this piece along with Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.1. I went through the 1st 2 pages of the Nocturne and the 1st 6 bars of the Rach Prelude (just started a few days).

Keep at it. You're definitely talented.

Yeah the pedalling is kind of improvised, although personally it doesn't bother me this way. I think the low octaves shouldn't be 'interrupted' for the most part. I'm open for suggestions how/where to improve the pedalling.

I agree the chords of the first part should be more subtle. It's hard to play really soft chords on this digital piano.

I think the tempo of the third part is a matter of interpretation. I've heard different versions from various pianists, some go really fast others take it a bit slower. I do play it faster than the first part. The score actually says 'tempo primo' which means back to original tempo (?).

Thanks for listening and your suggestions!

The whole purpose of proper pedaling is that you *know* where to cut it. Right now, as it stands, the bass is so muddy that it blends with previous bass notes. It's not a question of whether you care about it or not, but since you posted this for other people to listen to, we're informing you that your pedaling needs some major work.

It's up to you to take our advice, but remember that it would be rather ironic for you to ask for comments and then disregard them. We, as your audience, have a different sonic perspective than you might when listening to your performance.

As for the subtleties on a DP, I'd suggest configuring it so that the touch is set to "Heavy," in which case, there should be a bigger gap between a key being struck hard or simply being tapped.

Regarding the tempo, I don't think you understood what I was referring to. It's not a matter of interpretation, but rather of execution. The piece has an emotional arc and you're hitting the climax, but you're playing it like an intro. This is where the intensity has to go full blast! It's something you'll see every single pro do. The tempos are given in very broad terms. For example, "Lento." And they're all relative. You can still play the 3rd section at a speed that's considered "Lento" but that is nevertheless faster & more intense than what you're playing.

If you don't believe me, listen to how Rachmaninoff himself played this composition of his and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Some things are debatable, but the points I brought up are not. To summarize, your pedaling technique (for now) is poor. It's not a knock on you ; it's merely an obvious observation and it is something you need to work seriously. The hard chords at the beginning are the DP's fault for the most part and I sympathize with that. I doubt you'd have the same problem on a real piano, so that's fine. And the last section of this piece has to be faster and harder than what you presented here.

I'm afraid I don't have specific piano-related exercises to show you, but I'd suggest requesting them from your teacher.

You definitely have talent, but need some guidance. Saying however that your shortcomings don't bother you will forever handicap your development and you'll likely stagnate as a result. You'll be rewarded with much better-sounding performances and praises by your audience when those kinks are ironed out, I guarantee it!

Good luck & keep playing!

Setting keyboard touch to heavy seems to have good effect, at least for this piece. Thanks.

What I meant to say was that the way it sounds doesn't bother me personally. Of course I'd like to improve pedaling, that's why I asked for suggestions. I appreciate your feedback.

But let's get more specific. In the recording I posted I release the pedal where the lowest octaves start over again. That's at the start of each measure.
At measures 7-8-9 I also release at the start of measure 8 since the lower octave at 7 is linked to the next measure. And then again at the start of measure 9.
The second part I hold the pedal the entire measure for the repeated motif at measure 15&16, 19&20, 28&29, 32&33. Again because they are linked over the entire measure and because I want to hold the bass notes. The rest of the second part I release the pedal for every half measure. For the downward chords at the end of the second part I hold pedal the entire time. Maybe not a good idea.
The third part is similar to the first.
So that's basicly how I did it.

Thanks again for your constructive criticism.

babama, just had a chance to listen to your recording. Fantastic!! Can't beleive you've only been playing a year. I don't know the piece well enough to offer any advice but I can tell you, I really enjoyed listening to your playing and you make me want to go out and get the sheet music.. That's what counts.

Thank you
In my first post I put between brackets that I've played keyboard/synthesizer before. I had weekly lessons from age 7-14. After that I just played for fun sometimes, messing around, not learning anything.
One year ago at age 26 I started piano. So that part is true, but it's fair to mention the whole story because I could never have done this after 1 year if I had never touched a keyboard instrument before.

Babama. I listened to your Rachmaninoff/ Thanks for clarifiying that your had keyboard background, but recently got more serious about the piano. I am in no position to critique your playing except to say that when you said you had been playing for a year and this was your 6th classical effort, well, I felt like chopped liver. But this aside, there were portions of the piece that felt a bit lumbering whereas like the measured walk of say an elephant, whereas I would go for more flow, like a river. It will be a while before I could pull off this piece. I thought on the whole you played quite well. Keep at it.