PianoTell Recital #1 Is Now Live!
- Edited
- Player1 — Energico
A nice piece, smoothly played. Awesome job! - rogerch — Improvisation 6
50 years of playing has certainly paid off. A lovely piece of improvisation, very professional. - keff — A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
A lovely piece, played in a very relaxing manner. - Sophia — Fascination
Another impressive recital from someone who oozes musicality from every fingertip. We both play from the same book, but your playing is in a different realm. - Sgisela — Joropo
A crazily difficult piece, played confidently at speed. Respect! - pseudonym58 — Images (5) for orchestra
So far I've only listened to the first piece - a very atmospheric piece which you played extremely well. Your professional musician experience is evident in this performance. - Sam — Perpetual Motion #1
As usual, you played beautifully. This piece was new to me, but won't remain so, as I'm inclined to press the replay button so you play it again, Sam!
I will add more comments once I've listened to further pieces.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
bSharp I had never heard this piece before, thanks for sharing! Sounds very challenging, you played it well.
Thank you! Rustle of Spring is actually not as hard as it sounds because the right hand plays the same arpeggiated chords repeatedly. If you can play arpeggios and chromatic scales it's a fun crowd-pleaser piece to learn!
Apparently it was very popular in the 40's to 60's and several people mentioned to me that their parent or grandparent used to play it 
1. Player1 — Energico
Nice playing of a fun piece! The runs in the right hand sound really good, and the answering left hand gives your playing a nice call and response feel. I like your expressive playing! Also the sCAT part sounds great and goes well with your playing!
3. keff — A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Thanks for sharing your lovely playing of this beautiful piece!
4. Sophia — Fascination
I’m impressed by your confident, expert execution. The boom-chuck-chuck in the left hand and the dynamics in the right hand work well together produce a great waltz feel. Very nice!
5. Sgisela — Joropo
I love this! I was impressed by this for the fast pieces recital and I enjoyed listening again. It’s a lovely piece and your playing is exquisite. This time around I was struck by what a great job you do articulating this piece with sparing use of the pedal so that the individual notes really stand out. Thanks for sharing!
6. pseudonym58 — Images (5) for orchestra
What a huge project to transcribe, learn, and perform these pieces! I am impressed! I remember some of these from your Member Recordings posts and it’s great to hear them again here!
I’m not familiar with the orchestral versions, but your arrangements sound convincing and Debussy-like to my ears. Your playing sounds professional: very clear with great expression and dynamics. The result is great to listen to, thanks for sharing!
My favorite piece from the set is #4: Iberia III. I hear a fun bouncy piece. A great arrangement and I love the way you play it!
I’m curious: when you were learning to play the arrangements, did you go back and make revisions? For playability, consistency with the orchestral version, better sound, or any other reasons?
7. Sam — Perpetual Motion #1
What a great piece! I like how it alternates between really lovely and kind of spooky. Very interesting to have such different moods with the left hand playing the same notes. You play very well and the tempo sounds good to my ears. I’m glad you were able to play and I hope you make a full recovery!
8. hebele — Downtown Abbey theme
You are doing great. This sounds really good! To my ear the dynamics sound good. You emphasize the melody over a subdued accompaniment, and vary the loudness within each phrase. I like the accents on some of the high notes at the end. Well done!
9. MarieJ — Week #7
I like your tasteful, delicate playing of this contemplative piece. The music is lovely and you give it space to breathe. Thanks for your playing!
10. plop_symphony — A Lincoln Tribute
Very well played with lots of great detail! I like the soft repeated bass notes and the dynamic contrast. The soft sections are delicate and subdued, with nice crescendo to the more energetic sections.
11. thepianoplayer416 — Air in D minor
Short and sweet! I’m glad you were able to participate in the recital. Great legato playing, nicely played!
- Edited
Thank you. The triplets were difficult in the beginning even playing them slowly. Eventually I figured out the way to do it fast then I had to learn how to slow down to tempo. I can easily play them as 32nds if I want to.
Besides the hesitations, if you listen to the 2 descending parts and compare the speed of each of them, you'll notice that the higher octave run (the second descending scale) is a lot slower than the first one. I don't know why because they're exactly the same just a different octave. I just have to reach further right for the second one. I tried to go faster on it but my fingers just won't move any quicker. I suspect that it's my tremor invisibly getting in the way but who really knows.
The lesson for this piece was moving the thumb under for faster scales. I had to figure out how to do that AND do the "wrist bounce" with my RH at the end. If you watch other videos of this you'll see a lot of them where the player just uses 4 fingers instead of 3 then tucking the thumb under for the 4th note. The 2-handed SMZ at the end is also missed by a lot of people. Mostly they play both notes with the LH instead of looking at the score and seeing the notation for both RH and LH. Little things but they mean a lot because eventually I'll need to know this stuff to keep advancing.
I haven't recorded anything since this piece. I need to get back to playing. I almost sat down at the piano yesterday but didn't. The desire to play is getting stronger so I will return eventually.
8. hebele — Downtown Abbey theme
Very nicely played, you've made great progress in 5 months - keep going!
9. MarieJ — Week #7
Lovely relaxing music with beautiful shots of your artwork. You are a very talented lady.
10. plop_symphony — A Lincoln Tribute
Great performance after 1.5 years - keep going.
11. thepianoplayer416 — Air in D minor
A very competent performance - well done.
12. BicBic — Prelude in B flat minor - No.16 from Op.34
Confident playing of a tricky piece - impressive.
13. Nightowl — Plaisir D'Amour
My own performance is a bit pathetic when compared to the other excellent performances in this recital, but if you increase the playback speed to 1.25 it sounds much better! 
Apologies for making this pretty piece sound somewhat dirge-like, I defo need to work on increasing the tempo.
14. bSharp — High Heels
Impressive playing.
15. WieWaldi — Rainbow Connection
A delightful piece, played beautifully.
16. SalmonJack — Alia
A beautiful composition, played well, with creative video work. You are clearly very talented in more ways than one.
17. Calavera — Chrono Cross - Scars of Time
A very dramatic and cinematic piece, which seems too good for a video game. You played this piece excellently.
18. rsl12 — Always Chew Your Food
Well played and the lyrics made me smile. I enjoyed the first verse but was less keen on the imagery conjured up by the second verse - it really made me cringe, but no doubt it would make children laugh. Thanks for an entertaining performance.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
rogerch
Thanks for your compliments. I did make quite a few changes as I went along, as I am not a very experienced player on the piano. Most of the changes involved adjusting the voicing and sometimes thinning a texture for better transparency. Obviously I was not going to be able to include everything that was in the full orchestra score, including sometimes as many as 16 (divisi) string parts! I also sometimes had to slightly simplify to make things playable, considering the limitations of my technique. You can find the original score at IMSLP, which is where you can find my arrangements as well. I really hope that others will take an interest and possibly perform and record them.
You're a good player. Your hand and finger dexterity are excellent and let you play wonderfully at your level, you just have to learn to move on instead of trying to perfect one piece to the exclusion of everything else. Once you get more time and experience behind you, you can always revisit these early pieces and play them the way they should be played. At that point it will be easy and simple to do.
@bSharp
Wow, played entirely from memory - that's incredible! Very pleasant to listen to, thank you!
@WieWaldi
That was adorable! I want to learn that piece too eventually ^_^ So far I have only heard you play blues licks or easy sight reading exercises, so this was a real treat... obviously you are a rowlf of all trades 
@SalmonJack
Your description fit the imagery so well... something that is growing, growing and growing and never ceases paint a complete picture. You just add to it until it's finished... and then you just want more of it
@Calavera
Very pretty! It builds up to a nice climax and then quiets down... only to treat us to a second highlight - with an abrupt finish. Well well done!
@rsl12
WOW!!!! For a moment I thought I had entered the movie Toy Story - I love, LOVE, LOVE that theme. Your singing has improved SO MUCH, wow, a HUGE leap from the previous recital. And the piano complemented it so nicely... I could listen to that type of music for hours! Love the lyrics too, did I mention it should be used in a movie? 
And who can help but smile back when a performance ends with such a happy smile... loved it from start to finish!
@TC3
Another piece where you just can't help thinking happy thoughts while you listen... wow TC - you DO put the joy in boogie and blues Loved it, thanks so much for your great performance!
@iternabe
I always enjoyed that piece. In fact our washing machine uses that melody each time it finishes the laundry... and I always let it play right to the end because I never get tired of it Yours is a very nice arrangement too. Really impressed with your 7 months of learning - in your case too, your persistence paid off!
@ShiroKuro
We just purchased new speakers for my PC - and they are actually rather high end, meant be used with hifi equipment. So I could admire the music in its full glory and the quality wasn't bad at all! Thanks so much for sharing... what you call "just a practice recording" is probably the summit of what I'll ever be able to reach... if that
