Recorded 2 years ago. Comments are welcome
http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,11856.0.html

Very nice.

Do you play this yourself? Did you think it was too slow?

Wow man, I am impressed once again. You're playing and tone is absolutely gorgeous. I usually delete member recordings right after I listen to them and give a critique (no offense..I just have no room on my hardrive :p ); but so far I have two of yours as keepers.

And no, I didn't think the tempo was too slow; although I've never played the piece.

Thanks! Do listen and comment on my Liszt consolation and Ravel Pavane, if you have the time

No, I can't play this piece. I don't think it was too slow at all. The pace it's at really brings out the beauty.

However, I plan to learn it in the near future. Any tips?

Tips...hmm...I think the hardest thing about this piece, from a technical standpoint, is layering of the voices i.e. physically being able to bring out the melodic elements well above the accompaniment. This sounds easier than it is in practice, more often than not because many players have problems keeping the accompaniment soft. Then there are portions where one has to balance 2 voices i.e. polyphony. This is another real challenge!

Musically, you will need to decide if a more "tranquil" interpretation is better, or a more "intense" one, where the contrasts are more fully brought out, and the climax especially big sounding. I personally prefer the latter, but a number piano teachers have also told me that my interpretation is too intense, it is meant to be more placid, I bring out the right hand melody too aggressively etc. In the end it really just boils down to individual tastes I guess. Both interepretations can work, if executed properly, I think. Just takes a lot of experimentation!

Thanks.

I'm just listening to this again, and I find your recording is very beautiful! It's wonderful! I wish to be able to play this piece like you in the future (I'm in the process of learning it, I'm almost one week).

I especially like your accompaniment in the right, the part with the triplets and the melody at the bottom. I love how you can bring out the lower melody. How do you do it so well? That is the biggest challenge in this piece for me, I believe (well, I've only started on 2.5 pages, lol).

I think the trick is not just bringing out the bottom melody (which isn't too hard if you use your thumb wherever possible), but playing the triplets really softly so that the contrast really shows. But in doing so, you also sacrifice the beauty of the triplet melody, which is beautiful in itself.

Basically there are many ways to play this section. Some prefer to emphasise both the triplets and the bottom melodies equally, and others like me prefer to focus attention on just the bottom melody. Either way is fine, I think. Whichever way you feel most comfortable with!

Virtuoso- The best thing I can tell you in playing the piece is to separate the hands before you start working intensely on it. There's little or no reason to overlap so much in the piece. You'll find it much easier to play if you do this early on. (It's so bad in places that I have written a finger in for every single note...and I don't ever write things in my music.)

As for the recording...very nice. Though there were things I do differently, what you did was just fine. I didn't really like how exaggerated your pauses were while you rolled the chords (on the second page...RH triplets). I felt like I had to stop and wait for the melody to catch up every measure. And the only other thing that nagged at me were certain downbeats where you drop the volume when the line doesn't end until after the downbeat. It's quite noticable when there's a crescendo into the downbeat (which you do very nicely) but then drop-off on the last note of the crescendo, which is the downbeat.

If not for those two things, I'd say we have nearly the same interpretation. I tend to milk a little "extra sound" out of the piano when, perhaps, I should stick to a slightly more reserved dynamic marking, but that is the romantic side of me kicking in and emotionally taking over. I know a lot of people who like that sort of thing, and a lot of people who don't...and unfortunately, both sides let me know it. :p

But very nice rendition. I think I'm going to listen to it a few more times just because it's one of my favorite pieces.

Thanks for the comments. I opted for a less conventional, less direct interpretation in this particular recording, and there were some noticeable, if unexpected deviations from the conventional approach to playing it. Perhaps that explains the aspects that nag at you. I think you brought up some valid points which are the little "quirks" in my interpretation which I would not expect everyone to agree with.

I take it you're referring to the second page, where the triplet melody is interspersed with the bottom melody in the rolled chords. The delay between the chords and the triplets is somewhat deliberate. I used to play it more directly, without the pauses. But then my teacher emphasised to me the importance of bringing out the lower melody, and "leaning" on those melodic notes to give them more "weight". And if my intention was to bring out the lower melody (at the expense of the triplets to some extent), then I thought it makes sense to hold the top note of the rolled chords a wee bit longer. I take it that not everyone would agree with this approach, but then as I said..that's my little "quirk"


Are you referring to the last page, where the climatic chord that is marked "forte" is actually played pianissimo instead? If that's what you're referring to, again, that's another "quirk" of my interpretation, a very deliberate one at that. Again, I thought of trying something different, less direct, with the intention to surprise the listener, and not giving the listener what would usually be expected. Again, I must thank my teacher for this interpretative trick (or quirk, depending on how you see it )

Its always interesting to listen to someone else's interpretation of the same work so that I can learn something from it. My own interpretation will certainly evolve with time as I listen to other renditions of this piece. Would you mind posting a recording of this piece sometime soon?

I take it you're referring to the second page, where the triplet melody is interspersed with the bottom melody in the rolled chords. The delay between the chords and the triplets is somewhat deliberate. I used to play it more directly, without the pauses. But then my teacher emphasised to me the importance of bringing out the lower melody, and "leaning" on those melodic notes to give them more "weight". And if my intention was to bring out the lower melody (at the expense of the triplets to some extent), then I thought it makes sense to hold the top note of the rolled chords a wee bit longer. I take it that not everyone would agree with this approach, but then as I said..that's my little "quirk"
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Yep, that part. But you're on the wrong side of the note from what I was talking about. :p I like the idea of holding the top note, and I do it myself before getting to the triplets...but you took a very long time to get to the note (opting to roll the chord over a longer period of time) and that drove me nuts.

Are you referring to the last page, where the climatic chord that is marked "forte" is actually played pianissimo instead?[/b]
There were a couple of places. I think I noticed it the most some 8-9 bars out of (after) the "triplet" section right before the huge crescendo that takes you all the way up the keyboard and then settles into the "melody-single note an octave higher" section.

Its always interesting to listen to someone else's interpretation of the same work so that I can learn something from it. My own interpretation will certainly evolve with time as I listen to other renditions of this piece. Would you mind posting a recording of this piece sometime soon?[/b]
Yup, I love listening. As for my own recording...it's slightly difficult for me to do so, since I neither own a piano nor decent recording equipment. Sometimes I can get my family to be quiet long enough to record at my parents' house, but even though I'm visiting this weekend, tonight will not be one of those times. (We have a bunch of people coming in about twenty minutes.)

I will, however, try my best to make one in the near future. And when I graduate in June, I will be looking for a place to live that is secure enough to keep a piano, and then will be able to make all the recordings in the world (until the neighbors file for divorce :p ).

Ahh...okay. Yes, I personally find it hard to get the rolled chords just right. Either too fast or too slow most of the time. Technical problem maybe. If I didn't roll it at this speed, most likely you'd find a very abruptly played, unmusical version. So between them, I chose the lesser of the two evils

As for the subito pianos, yes, the one sudden drop just at the start of the big crescendo leading up to the climax - that was deliberate as well. As I said, its another interpretative quirk of mine. Just to make the contrast even larger.

Hope to hear your recording soon.