Sgisela That is some truly inspired editing I wasn't looking closely at first so I thought you really did have some holiday things mounted on your piano.
PianoTell Recital #1 Is Now Live!
hebele Thankfully I haven't seen Downton Abbey so I wouldn't know what the tempo is 'supposed' to be. This sounded really nice to me!
11. thepianoplayer416 β Air in D minor
Great playing! I've played this piece before, from Melanie Spanswick's Play It Again! method books, and there she indicates that the accompaniment in the left hand should be detached notes rather than legato. Maybe it's a Baroque thing? I tried playing it both ways and just that small change resulted in a very different impression. Still not sure which I prefer.
12. BicBic β Prelude in B flat minor - No.16 from Op.34
I have to agree with the other comments - you absolutely killed it! One day I hope to be as confident with large jumps.
17. Calavera β Chrono Cross - Scars of Time
I agree with you on orchestral arrangements doing video game music justice, but there's an art all its own on capturing the nuances of a composition in a solo piano arrangement. More than technical ability, arrangement is the number one skill I want to work on.
Sophia
Thanks for the comments. Don't think the score has tempo indication. Made v1 at a slower tempo and decided to record the final version at a faster tempo, just a few beats per second. The final version worked out.
rogerch
Thanks for your comments.
This piece (Air in D minor) was a gem waiting to be discovered. A lot of students would play "Minuet in G" from the "Notebook for Anna M Bach" or Bach "Prelude in C" from WTC-1... anything with the Bach name. By definition "Air" is a piece with singing qualities. However, in the 17th & early 18th century the keyboard instruments were clavichord & harpsichord. Some would play the notes well articulated (more separate) like a harpsichord. My approach is to let the piano sing and the notes connect like piano playing.
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plop_symphony
When making the recording I thought about whether to play the notes detatched or legato. By definition Air is a composition with singing qualities. The keyboard instruments of the day: clavichord & harpsichord were not capable of sustained notes. Since I'm playing piano, I should let the phrases connect the way a singer would than try to make a piano sound like a harpsichord which a lot of people do.
Here the piece sounds like 2 melodic lines (counterpoint) common in Bach's music played on an organ.
20. iternabe β The Trout
Great playing! It looks and sounds like you've got excellent control over the force at which you strike the keys.
23. TheBoringPianist β PrΓ©lude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
I love me a good fugue, especially if it's not by Bach. (Not because I hate Bach fugues - emphatically the opposite - but other than Bach and maybe Shostakovich, standalone fugues seem to be quite rare in the piano repertoire.)
28. twocats β Rustle of Spring
Lovely piece. There's quite a lot of these "one-hit wonders" in the piano literature - you can probably count on your fingers and toes the number of people who've played anything else by Sinding - and the same goes for Marchetti whose "Fascination" Sophia performed. "Spinning Song" by Albert Ellmenreich would be another such one-hit wonder.
thepianoplayer416 Yes, there's so much Baroque music out there beyond Bach that's attainable for students. There's more Purcell where that came from, there's quite a few Scarlatti sonatas or sonata movements that are at the level of the Anna M Bach notebook, there's easy pieces from Handel and Telemann and Rameau as well.. etc.
Rob Thanks! I don't know if the original recital suite is still in print, but the entire suite can also be found in the piano collection "Carol Matz's Favorite Solos, Book 3".
I heard this piece for the first time when I read about it in the thread you mentioned, and I immediately fell in love with it. Especially the variation, beautiful piece. I enjoyed your performance, thanks for sharing!
Josephine actually I love the sweetness of your playing! It really has an elegant waltz feel. In the B section you can add a little drama and intensity on the lines with the percussive repeated chords (I think they happen twice, I hope you know which lines I'm talking about) like what Rubens does but I don't think the whole thing needs to be more intense. I think you have great musical intuition for this piece and you should be true to how you feel the music in your heart
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20. iternabe β The Trout
You played that piece pretty much perfect! Good rhythm and dynamics. PS Nice video setup!
21. ShiroKuro β Nuvole Bianche
Very pretty! I'm glad you were able to find something to submit! It sounds like a finished recording, not a practice one. Is there more you want to do with it?
22. lilypad β Manhattan 1928
It took me about half the recording to realize this is kind of a variation of Rhapsody in Blue. Cute song, nicely played. Sounds like your fingers had to jump around a lot!
24. Rob β Sunday Morning
It's really lovely. I got tingles. I listened to it a few times. Reminds me of Debussy's Reverie, particularly at 0:40. Debussy makes me think of Degas, so basically we both have the same image in our heads!
25. diretonic β Borrowed Blues
I love Dr. John! He's on my list of artists that I need to do a deep dive on in 2025. I live in Louisiana and I need that New Orleans sound in my repertoire! This little bit you did sounds like perfect study material. Great job with the transcription.
27. Serge88 β Misty
What a nice arrangement, and well played!
29. navindra β Bluebird
Wow, what a production! Three cameras?? Unscheduled and no sheet music? Piped music in the background? Live audience, and therefore only one take??? You did a great job!!
TheBoringPianist
Thank you for posting your performance !
And super cool that you learned this in 7 weeks.
If you would like to share, how did it go with the competition?
ZigZagStory not to derail the PT recital thread too much but I made it to the final round (15-min preliminary round, 20-min semifinal round, 25-min final round) but didn't place in the top 3. My finals program (which included the Franck) was definitely my weakest set, especially Chopin Scherzo No. 3, which was the piece I practiced the least leading up to the competition because I was too busy trying to get all the other music ready! If you're interested in hearing the rest of my program, I recorded myself:
Preliminaries (Kapustin/JanΓ‘Δek/Price/Moszkowski)
Semifinals (Haydn/Russell/Prokofiev)
Finals (Franck-Bauer/Clementi/Chopin) (the clip above is from this)
"You're a smart kid. But your playing is terribly dull."
TheBoringPianist not to derail the PT recital thread too much but I made it to the final round
I personally would love it if you started a thread about your experiences participating