PianoTell Recital #2 Is Now Live!

navindra · 2024-11-15T15:45:00+00:00

Welcome to PianoTell Recital #2! Click for an index to all the performances: iternabe — O mio babbino caro keff — Over the Rainbow plop_symphony — The Midn...

Gooseberry

keff — Over the Rainbow - A very interesting and spirited arrangement of an old standard. I like it!

keff

Gooseberry Thank you

Gooseberry

plop_symphony — The Midnight Ball – A playful, funny piece. I like the way you bring out the interplay between its two natures - the naughty, grating, dissonant one and the well-behaved, pleasant, harmonious other. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Very well played!

Nightowl

WieWaldi Thanks so much WW, maybe Blues music growing on me, since I've been following your progress on the Blues thread, and watching you and Sophia continue your never ending Blues Duel, where you are both constantly winners! 🙂
As for the length of my piece, I played it a bit too slowly and there were some hesitations, so if those things were sorted out it would be quite a bit shorter! <Maybe I subconsciously stretched it out a bit - just to make it appear more impressive! Not that it worked.> 🙃

I already have my piano bench set at the highest it will go, because I have long legs but a very short body. Maybe it has dropped a little over time - I will check later.

WieWaldi

Nightowl I already have my piano bench set at the highest it will go, because I have long legs but a very short body. Maybe it has dropped a little over time - I will check later.

Haha, I had the same issue with my piano bench. (Cheapo set bench, $40 if you buy it seperately.) Adjusted it once and never checked again. And after some time, I felt pain in my right wrist and then I realized, I am sitting too low. To be fair, another way would be a proper sitting position with a straight back, and not sitting like a question-mark like me.

WieWaldi

thepianoplayer416 — When You Wish Upon a Star
I know Pinocchio since I was a little child. The 1976 TV series was broadcasted a lot in Germany, but this was a Japanese/German co-production and the soundtrack was something very different. Not bad - I was a kid, I liked it back then! And today I have very positive memories about it, especially if I hear the soundtrack, again.

But I must admit, until now, I didn't know When You Wish Upon a Star at all. I guess the 1940 Disney version never made the way to Germany, at least not when I was young.
I liked how you played it. This is indeed a very nice piece, and you got the essence of it perfectly. Now I have listened to the Disney version with the big orchestra, and it sounds likes yours, just with a bigger ensemble. Well played!

Player1

Sophia Edit: now I simply must know the story with the saddle 😃

It's a saddle I had custom made a few decades ago when I was actively riding in the mountains. I have a couple of English saddles (dressage & hunt seat) in another room, along with the breeches/boots/and all that other jazz packed away in totes. I haven't ridden in over 20 years because I got old and so did the horses. Now I just keep the saddles and tack for the memories and home decor. The horses are long gone to that big green pasture in the sky. My last horse was a thoroughbred whose pedigree traced back to War Admiral. We lost him at 20.

I thought it would be a good backdrop for the piece. All I had to do was move the camera to get it into the shot since that's where it normally sits under a saddle cover. That particular closet is used for storage so the saddle rarely has to be moved.

WieWaldi

Schubertian2 — Ballade 4

Wow - this one was really impressive. One can literally hear, you invested a lot of time getting this Ballada to this level. The really nice about this is to know, you did everything from the sheet music, and nothing else. Basically this is stepping back in time, when there were no audio recordings existing.
Music was always live played, and every artist made it sound differently, unless one had been teached and could copy his teacher. But for all others, there was some paper, hard work to make it sound and then it was very unique piece of music.

I still wonder how it is possible, to play something difficult like this for 13 minutes, without mistakes. Excellent work!

Schubertian2

WieWaldi
Thanks so much for your kind words. There is a lot I could say about this piece that I learned just from thinking about the score - but also I had a lot of input from my teacher Alessandro Mazzamuto so it is really a joint effort.
I recorded the piece and sent it in the first day just to get something in thinking I would record something better, but I never did. There are A LOT of errors and lost notes and mushy sounding stuff that I hate. I can play the piece but I still need to polish it. If there is another recital in 3 months I will turn in the final product
I wonder if I could start a separate thread just to go over all that I learned from working on this and my ideas about what a 'ballade' is. It would be much too long here.

ShiroKuro

iternabe Very nicely played！And I love how you have the video set up!

ShiroKuro

plop_symphony What a fun piece, I loved that! And you played it very well!

Gooseberry

Schubertian2 — Ballade 4 – That was admirable! What’s most impressive to me is that it is your own interpretation through and through, that you’ve worked on it only with your teacher and based only on the score. And it does capture the nature of a ballade. Beautiful.

Schubertian2 I wonder if I could start a separate thread just to go over all that I learned from working on this and my ideas about what a 'ballade' is. It would be much too long here.

Please do, I would love to read that!

ShiroKuro

MarieJ that was lovely, as always!
I love it when I can hear something new on the (internet) radio, go buy the score online and starting playing it!

ShiroKuro

Sam that was great! It sounds finished to me 🙂

Also, I have to mention those lovely flowers and vase you have by the piano! Almost as beautiful as your playing!

Sam

ShiroKuro I made that vase. My other hobby is woodworking. That is a segmented vase - cherry, maple, and walnut - hundreds of segments, turned on a lathe.

ShiroKuro

navindra That was great!!! Very well played. And you piano sounds great too!

Also, I love your pumpkin shirt! 🙂

ShiroKuro

Sam I made that vase. My other hobby is woodworking.

I wondered if you'd made it (I have seen some of your other beautiful creations).

It's lovely, and complements the piano so nicely!

ShiroKuro

rsl12 That was AWESOME!! And yes, it was very entertaining! (Somehow, I think your nursing home performances will be a lot more fun than my retirement center concert... 😛

Anyway, I loved it! I didn't hear any flubs either.

BTW did you memorize the music and the lyrcis?? That's quite a feat!

rsl12

Rubens that song brings me back to the original Frasier series. Good job!

When I started working on this, one of my first thoughts was to find Kelsey Grammer's version, since I was sure I had heard it before (or maybe Sideshow Bob singing it) but I couldn't find anything on Youtube. But you got me to search for "Frasier I am the model" and out popped a result! Thank you! I had never heard this before. I wish it were the full thing, but I'll take what I can get!

PS: The Family Guy take is pretty funny.

keff Bravo Major General!

Thank you!

Nightowl your performance was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!! 😃 🤩 😍 The speed of playing was incredible and singing all those complex tongue twisting lyrics at the same time made this even more impressive - my mind is completely blown!!! How do you do that?!?

You're making my ego grow much too much. Thank you! I've been working on the vocal part for two months, so the secret is really just time. First memorizing, then not tripping over the words, then getting faster, then making it smooth and lyrical, and then fixing a bunch of details.

The piano score is very repetitive, so I only had to learn a handful of measures. With experience, the process of memorizing and playing chords and scales, which is what 95% of the score is, is much easier.

Switching between my singing-focused brain and piano-focused brain continues to be a major problem for me, but I think I'm getting better. Thank you again for your very warm compliments!

ShiroKuro That was AWESOME!! And yes, it was very entertaining! (Somehow, I think your nursing home performances will be a lot more fun than my retirement center concert... 😛
BTW did you memorize the music and the lyrcis?? That's quite a feat!

I've been told that retirement communities are a very easy-to-please audience, so that makes it a good goal for us amateurs! I'll be thinking of you at the end of November, as you will be realizing my goal before I do!
Memorizing the lyrics took time--I did about one verse a week to get the initial memorizing done, and then a few more weeks to get the verses smooth. The piano part memorization was much easier, as it's much more repetitive!

BicBic

TC3 thank you, I think ideally the chords wouldn’t be rolled but my hands are quite small 🤣

ShiroKuro

rsl12 on the topic of memorizing… I’ve read various snippets about research on how the brain physically changes as a result of how it’s used. For example, that bilingual people have a heavier prefrontal cortex, or the studies of the physical differences in the brains of London cab drivers…

I would love to know what physical differences would be observed in the brain of someone like me, who hardly ever memorizes and always plays from the score, vs someone who memorizes solo piano music, vs someone like you who memorizes both piano parts and lyrics.

/threaddrift 😅

Rubens

Rob
This is a heartbreakingly beautiful composition. Reminds me a bit of Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla, perhaps because it is in the same mood and key. Your playing is expressive and captivating, and your piano has an exquisite tone, but that's not surprising considering that it's s Kawai ES920, which I used for my own performance 😁.

Rob

Rubens Thank you for your most generous comments.😊
Sadly the ES920 can't claim the credit for the sound. I have only had it for a couple of weeks. I got it to replace my sixteen year old Kawai MP5 (which still works fine, but showing signs of wear)

The piano sound is courtesy of Native Instruments, 'The Giant'. I have had it for several years. I have a few other NI pianos, but still keep coming back to The Giant for it's wide sonic range and playability.

navindra

Schubertian2 Thank you Navindra - what a lot of good work you do!

Thanks a lot for this comment. I saw it before leaving for work this morning and I can honestly say it put a smile on face and made my day. 🙂

Congrats everyone! I've enjoyed everything I've listened to so far and will slowing start sharing my comments. 🙂

navindra

javiercorre Wow! Just wow.

You've been practicing for only 5 years and not only can you play Scarlatti, you can play two whole Sonatas worth from memory. Absolutely astounding. Bravo! 👏

I really enjoyed just how nimble your touch is and your musicality kept me entranced. You're definitely ready for your exam! Good luck and hopefully you can share how it goes! 👏

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