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.

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.

    Rob Considering the relatively short time you have been playing, plus the added pressure of the dreaded 'Red Dot', your performance was excellent.

    That's what I keep telling @Nightowl too 😁

    Serge88
    Very well played! It's a very relaxing piece to listen to.

    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.

    diretonic

    I wish I could make such a great recording last minute! Thanks for sharing!

    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.

      Rob

      That's a beautiful composition Rob! Very elegant and delicate, like the image you created with AI.

      • Rob likes this.

      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".

        • Rob likes this.

        TheBoringPianist

        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!

        lilypad

        I have that all the time, that my recordings get progressively worse. But I often delete my recording before starting the next one, and then I have no recording at all. I'm glad you didn't, because it's a great recording, you played this piece beautifully!

        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 πŸ™‚

        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!!

          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/JanÑček/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."