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Welcome to the General Discussion Room for the AB Forum “Beginners and Beyond” Recital #38!!!

Please use this room for any discussion of the pieces in Recital #38 that is taking place in the Main Recital Thread.

Discussions and replies can be posted at-will. Feel free to comment on any or all individual pieces. Some members offer comments on each submission individually; others offer general congratulations. Either approach is appropriate. Feel free to offer more specific, technical feedback if the participant had indicated that technical feedback was welcome.

For those who wish to comment on all pieces, a copy and paste template for offering feedback can be found here:

Recital #38 Response Template

Please use this thread only to discuss recital performances. If you have any comments or suggestions about ways to make the recital process better, please start a separate thread.

Enjoy the music!

40. jotur-Cathy Turner - Weeping Willow

Grace under pressure. You kept that moving forward despite wrestling mightily.

You kept your left hand stride bass quite steady throughout, which anchored the piece. As a result, the structure and intent of the piece came through really nicely.

Enjoyed your ornament in the A section!

Those running thirds in the B section are a pain in the butt, n'est-ce pas?

You did great here. This one needed a little more time in the oven, but you have the hang of it. Ragtime is sometimes dismissed as not being serious music, but it AIN'T easy and you are demonstrating great accomplishment in being able to tackle it.

Thanks, Whizbang! I've been working a lot on where the accents go, and how to be musical, and shaping phrases, only some of which came thru here, of course, but I feel like I've come a long way. Those thirds are one place I put a lot of thought into, and some of it worked. It's been fun to see that work spill back in to other rags I've played for awhile, so all of them are better than they used to be. I've heard this piece be very lyrical, like in the Joplin recital, but I don't seem to be a lyrical personality, so this is a little more rowdy than other versions I've heard. I do really think 90% of what I sometimes have trouble with is 100% in my head, tho But I think there's been progress.

Thank you so much again, for your thoughtfulness and time to comment. I'd love to hear you play this sometime, too. I really do learn from other versions, however much it does or doesn't show up in the execution. I think the seniors have enjoyed this one.

My first participation, and now, my first listening. A glass of wine, and the laptop Chromecast to the TV and this is turning out to be a very enjoyable evening. Thanks for all the hard work. This is really inspiring.

(My wife said, are these people taking that same Alfred's Course??? - they are really good!)

Of course! I love Joplin's music and I love to promote his music. I'll commit to doing this one for the next ABF General, though it's not completely fair, as I have a good handle on it already (not note-perfect)... the effort of a few years.

Joplin is interesting in that he can be played athletically and more lyrically. I tend to be drawn more to the lyric pieces--by bent and due to my teach's influence, but I agree that Weeping Willow supports an athletic interpretation.

I really enjoyed your performance.

38. chopinoholic (Paul de Koning) - Prelude op.28 no.15 D flat major

Not one of my favorite preludes, but thanks again for a Chopin treat! I felt it took you a while to really get going (did I hear a little bit of stress in your playing this time?), but the middle section worked well and overall it was impressive as usual 

31. Peterws/ Peter - Schumann 82 1 Eintritt

So clean!

You can make this perfect, but I'm going to ask you to do something very difficult.

Bring out that pinky melody. This also means REALLY subduing that low-right hand bum-bum response. What's happening is that you are hitting your melody note with a weaker finger and then your stronger fingers in the right hand are whacking sort of an incidental accompaniment to that melody.

I'm simply channeling my teach here, but I do speak from experience in that those lower right hand whacks are physically very satisfying!

Just had a listen to the first dozen or so entries during the train journey to work...
Wow that's an incredibly high standard of playing!
Well done everyone who took part. I'll write some more in depth responses over the next week.

Each recital seems to be better and better, with more diversity, more new people, and more experience evident in everyone. I am really enjoying listening.

Here is my first batch of feedback"

01. AZ_Astro - Prelude #22 in Eb Minor by Robert Vandall I am not familiar with Vandall, but I love this prelude. You did a nice job pacing the piece, and your subdued chordal accompaniment was nicely understated. Your work on the evenness of the chords shows!

02. MarieJ - Dietro Casa You have captured the essence of Einaudi’s music with this sad, wistful piece. Nicely played.

03. torquenale (Alessandra) - Allemande from French Suite n. 6 This does indeed sound difficult. The fast pace and the mix of detached and legato is a challenge. Your articulation was very clean, and your playing sounded very accurate. The voices were well balanced as well. I can hear that you put a lot of work into this.

04. Medden (Simon) - Opus 28-Prelude No 20 You have come a long way with this piece, Simon. Your dynamics were great, and your chords were very even. Great job.

06. CarlosCC - Le Onde This is my favorite Einaudi piece, and as usual, you do a great job with it, Carlos! You put so much heart into your playing, it is always a joy to listen to.

07. verqueue - Ballade F minor op. 52 This is such a gorgeous piece. I like the light, dancing feel that you give the opening. The stormy sections show great control, and the dramatic ending was wonderfully done. Beautifully paced, with lovely expression. You give us all something to aspire to!

08. barbaram - Radio Ballet I am not familiar with this composer. However, it is a beautiful, relaxing piece that you played with great expression. This is a lovely performance. I like the range of dynamics that you use.

09. Monica K. - Tomorrow's Song Another new composer to me. I love the wistful feel of this piece. When a piece is so transparent it is often difficult to control, but you did a lovely job of expressing the gentleness of this piece.

10. Newbert - Perhaps Love Nicely done by ear arrangement! You gave it enough variation to keep it interesting, and you played very expressively with a nice balance between the melody and accompaniment.

I am at no 20. now (during work) and must say that I have enjoyed every piece up till now very much. Good job on the Sonata Richard!!

Wow Cathy, Weeping Willow just blew me away! Now this is music!

My first 10 (although in fact this one goes up to eleven, a la Spinal Tap)

01. AZ_Astro - Prelude #22 in Eb Minor by Robert Vandall
I hadn’t heard of Vandall before, I liked this piece a lot. It is obviously modern but yet as you say a classical ambience too. Very nice performance

02. MarieJ - Dietro Casa
Lovely job MarieJ, I’m an Einaudi fan too. I’ve only learned two of his pieces so far, but will definitely be doing more in future.

03. torquenale (Alessandra) - Allemande from French Suite n. 6
Lovely and lively, confidently played, very good job.
If you are trying to really perfect for a live recital, two things that strike me are the ornaments, where a little more polish and confidence would help them shine without interrupting your flow, and perhaps a little more lightness in the LH on those sections where the LH has quavers against the RH semiquavers. But these are small things, this is great already.

04. Medden (Simon) - Opus 28-Prelude No 20
Really super for the amount of time you have been playing. Good drama and contrast.

05. SwissMS/Doris - Nocturne in C# Minor
Beautiful piece, beautifully played. Your sensitivity here exceeds anything I’ve heard from you before, and my only advice is to go for even more of it.

06. CarlosCC - Le Onde
Always a treat, you really know how to make Einaudi sound Einaudi-ish, and CarlosCC-ish at the same time!!

07. verqueue - Ballade F minor op. 52
Gorgeous.
I agree with your own assessment, with more time you could raise this to an even more sophisticated and sensitive interpretation. It’s already excellent, but you have the capability to make it even more so (well, if you didn't have 300 pieces on your slate right now :-) )

09. Monica K. - Tomorrow's Song
This is lovely Monica, sensitive and delicate. With not so many notes, you have to do so much with expression and that can be more of a challenge.

10. Newbert - Perhaps Love
I have a sneaky fondness for John Denver, and I think you have succeeded very well here. The melody sings out, and when you have two melodic voices they sing out clearly against the LH accompaniment, which is well judged and flows really nicely. Well done!

11. Anita Potter - Tambourin
Great job Anita! For 6m playing this is really excellent.

I really doubt some people's honesty in how long they have been playing for. There is no way some people can have learned to play like that in the time they state.

How I wish you were referring to me! sigh!

Anyway, some people are restarters, some are fast learners, some are young and/or talented and/or very committed, some spend an awful amount of time at the piano, some have great teachers, etc. etc... plenty of good reasons!

My mentioned playing time is indeed incorrect. I have been playing for 1 year and 9 months now. Can anyone update it in the other thread?
I copied the details from my last recital and thought I had updated it.
However, before September 2013 I had not touched a keyboard in 25 years, and as a child had no lessons or anything.
I take it as a very big compliment to my playing if you were talking about me raskdog.
I can only play two or three pieces well, I'm still very much a novice.

My first set of comments - more to come!

01. AZ_Astro - Prelude #22 in Eb Minor by Robert Vandall Wonderfully delicate! I always assumed Vandall was a much earlier composer - I had no idea he was so recent. Thanks for the info.

02. MarieJ - Dietro Casa Welcome to the ABF recitals! Very nicely done. Happy to see someone using an airturn - I've considered it but never made the plunge.

03. torquenale (Alessandra) - Allemande from French Suite n. 6 Love the spirit and energy you bring to this. It doesn't sound over your head at all - well done.

04. Medden (Simon) - Opus 28-Prelude No 20 Nice dynamic changes - very convincing.

05. SwissMS/Doris - Nocturne in C# Minor Loved the sound of your piano - you have a much newer Bechstein than I do! Also loved your sensitive playing - you handled all those extra notes and trills well.

Sam

And I'm very confident that you weren't referring to me, either, raskdog. But after reading your post I checked back through my diaries and oops - my date WAS wrong. To set the record straight, I first heard of Einaudi on 16 December 2011, not 2012. Also self taught - which I forgot to add.

Thank you, SwissMS, barbaram and Sam S!

btw, my "experience" filed is correct: 5 years, 25 weeks. And I'm still a self taught guy (since the first day).

Thanks outo. This prelude is by no doubt the most played. Good and bad. Personally I love it. It's a beautiful piece of music and I hope I do it justice.
And because of it's popularity, there are a lot of experts walking around. sure hope they are gentle in their comments!
My girlfriend also said that about the beginning.. I must admit that I always need a couple of measures to get the repeated note even and under control.
The ghost notes are annoying. I did not get the chance to do a retake on it.


I am listening to the recital every chance I get. I will try to make comments on all of them in the weekend. Great job all!

01. AZ_Astro - Prelude #22 in Eb Minor by Robert Vandall
This was my submission.

02. MarieJ - Dietro Casa
What a charming piece. It sounds like it’s really fun to play and I can imagine your satisfaction and enjoyment as your worked this piece into your fingers over the weeks and months. Great job and congrats on returning to the piano!

03. torquenale (Alessandra) - Allemande from French Suite n. 6
You are doing a great job bringing out the second voice and I thought the pacing was brisk and energetic. Very musical effort! I only know one Bach piece so I know what you mean about it taking ages to get decent. Ha ha! You get a gold star for this one!

04. Medden (Simon) - Opus 28-Prelude No 20
Very impressive effort for the time you’ve had at the piano. Marvelous piece, isn’t it? I’ve loved this piece forever and am envious of you to have it under hand already. Loved the emotion in the piece and I enjoyed the dynamics that you brought to the piece.

05. SwissMS/Doris - Nocturne in C# Minor
Oh my goodness, two Chopin pieces in a row! I am so envious. And I am desperately in love with this Nocturne, as I am sure you are. Great job with those triplets and trills. Yes, keep this one in your repertoire and play it forever! You played with emotion and sensitivity and I loved listening. What a sublime ending. You should be proud of yourself! Wonderful!

06. CarlosCC - Le Onde
My son plays this piece and I have heard him play it often so I know it very well. I loved your impeccable timing throughout and the rubato was just right. Oh how I love that minor section as counterpoint. Your play is very mature and delightful to listen to. Super!

07. verqueue - Ballade F minor op. 52
How long does it take to learn something like this? Seems like it would take years to polish. These Chopin Ballades are so amazing and mysterious. Sigh. One can aspire! More Chopin, all the time, is a long term goal for me. So I greatly enjoy hearing the efforts of others. I thought your playing was quite excellent but the recording/sound track seemed to take some of the life out of it. Not sure why.

08. barbaram - Radio Ballet
What a nice piece to limber up the fingers in the morning! Time to change up the pacing and dynamics and have fun with the piece, as you have it well in hand. Great job!

09. Monica K. - Tomorrow's Song
Hmmm, thoughtful and melancholy. Arnalds has a nice handle on turning a phrase, musically, as the piece is delightful. I was pulled in from the beginning and found myself listening very closely. Great job with your phrasing and timing. Lovely!

10. Newbert - Perhaps Love
Impressive effort of playing by ear. Is this from a lead sheet then? The left hand is sounding a bit repetitive but I can’t imagine creating those patterns on the fly. Sounds like you’ve come a long way with your new approach to piano playing. Great job!