[Journal] Brahms g minor piano quartet performance readiness
Workshop: Day 3
Just one rehearsal session today instead of two (usually two 75 minute sessions split by a coffee break), because we're on a bus headed to another country for a concert given by the coaches! (It's only an hour away 
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I kept being off at the end of the fourth movement and couldn't figure out why even though I played it slowly by myself looking at the score (I memorized that section because I had to). The coach followed it and turns out the pattern changed and I missed a few notes!
And then when I was doing slow practice on a section where I kept being off from everyone I realized that the pattern also changed and I added a rest at a page turn! Haha it would have evened out in the end but they were several pages apart 
I'm doing a lot of metronome practice these days!
Harpsichord update: she has two 9 foot ones (one built from a kit by someone else, and one built by a music professor; that's the nice one). And she also has a fretted clavichord kit, still unassembled! She said she feels like she is the temporary caretaker for these instruments
Looking up what a fretted clavichord is now.
twocats Looking up what a fretted clavichord is now.
Not a fan of the sound. Guess building that kit is not in my future! I don't think I want to ruin the aesthetic of the finished basement by adding a massive harpsichord but if I can get a nice one for cheap I'm still thinking about it... I would want to at least give her what she spent on it. She spent a few hundred dollars on the nicer one and also had it evaluated by a professional at one point.
In other news I'm up early because we're in the morning session for the next few days and it just started to rain 
Because of road construction we have to take a long detour through a park and I hope I don't get all muddy!
Workshop: Day 4
Today we rehearsed the 2nd and 4th movements, and then I practiced quite a lot on both the performance hall piano and the old Bösendorfer. The performance hall is not big, like the name would suggest, and the piano looks like maybe a 5'8' August Förster. It could be a little bigger than that but it's definitely not a large piano. It has no bass and it's slightly difficult to play. It has been very humid and the school gets very hot so we have windows open all the time to help cool the place down. Possibly that's contributing to the sluggishness? Anyway, not easy to play and I'm pounding on the bass but barely anyone comes out, at least from where I'm sitting. The Bösendorfer is a slightly bigger piano and the bass is huge! It's very satisfying. And it's extremely easy to play.
Anyway, I practiced so much and I think it's all coming together, at least for those that movements. Our coach is having us go crazy fast at the end and I'm sure I can do it, hopefully with mostly the right notes at the performance! I really never thought I would be able to play the 4th movement well but I think it's going to be pretty good!
Tomorrow we're back to the 1st and 3rd movements. The first movement has so many bits that are challenging in other ways, including the super hard part where I've just been falling apart. The third movement has other challenges where I think if I had more time to memorize those sections, it would be ok, but I ran out of time.
I may take a break from practicing for the performance tomorrow, because I put in so much work today. I'm going to do some "free play" with a violinist and we'll play the Beethoven Spring Sonata. And the two women in my group are going to read through the first movement of the Arensky Trio No.1. I have been obsessed with this piece ever since I heard it last year and the melody section is surprisingly readable.
Is this not one of the most gorgeous things you've ever heard?? Played by the Beaux Arts Trio:
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Oh I forgot to mention, I probably talked about this before, but last year playing the Dvorak quintet last page of the first movement, at one of our rehearsals the coach was like "faster! faster!! Go go go!!" and we were going so fast that it was like tumbling down a hill. And I could play it!! It was seriously the most fun I've ever had playing piano! But after that one rehearsal we never got the energy or courage to go that fast again.
Well same coach and we're flying down the hill at the end of the Gypsy Rondo. It's so thrilling to be able to play it like it should be played!! My fingers mostly know where to go now and they just land in the right place even if there are jumps. I really hope I don't bomb the concert!! Hopefully on Friday I can solidify everything before Saturday.
Normally August Försters are good pianos. We have had a lot of rain in Europe since July last year. I'm afraid this is what our new climate is going to look like.
Workshop: Day 5
Today we rehearsed and then for the second half of rehearsal after the coffee break we played through the entire thing all at once and got to have that very exhausting and authentic experience. I was so tired.
Did a bunch of practice on the Arensky trio during lunch so that I wouldn't bomb completely during sight reading but we all sounded horrible. I also played Beethoven's Spring Sonata (the only piano-violin piece I can play) with a very nice German violinist I've been walking to the school with, and he's very good and we both felt that we had the same musical sensibilities. He said he wished we lived closer so that we could play together. Me too
I'll see him at the spring program and that is one more person I know to potentially sign up with in the future! Maybe he and the German cellist friend for future quartets??
Anyway, tomorrow is the last day to cram and I really want to go to bed early tomorrow to rest up for the concert on Saturday. I also want to go with my husband to go on a castle tour in the afternoon so maybe I'll practice in the evening.
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Workshop: Day 6
It's the day before performance and we're the morning rehearsal group. I'm bone tired and want to fall asleep on the keyboard I missed some of the entrances, missed a repeat, missed notes... it's so bad.
But we are in coffee break and I just took a 15 minute power nap and feel better. I am already thinking I'll skip dinner and take a melatonin and be in bed by 8 or 9pm. But I need to practice, too, and I'm so tired! And I don't want my husband to miss his chance at taking a tour of the castle.
Better after nap, and the good news that we're last in the program (they want to end with a bang!) which means the final playthrough in the hall isn't until after noon and I get to sleep in!!
But the middle range of the piano is extremely sluggish and the fast runs in the left hand are going terribly. I can even see the keys bouncing back slowly 
I practiced for almost 2 hours. Part of the problem is the piano but more of the problem was me, because I came in and played this insane piece without warming up! So I need to do lots of that tomorrow!
There's a group playing the famous Ravel string quartet and recording it and they sound fabulous!! And another group practicing the Dvořák second piano quartet and the pianist is so good. The crazy thing is that he's also a cellist! Sometimes he does the workshop for piano and sometimes for cello 
I think I'm meeting some pretty wonderful musicians and going forward I'll know who I'd be interested in playing with!
@Pallas and @Ithaca, thank you, it is very nice to have a remote cheering squad!! Also, next year I'm switching to the spring workshop (flights to Europe are half the price!) so there will be another journal Maybe I'll also be preparing the Arensky trio for next summer (mostly because my violinist friend would love to do another workshop and California is much more affordable, and also it's less likely that they'll let me do a trio here because of economic reasons).
I practiced for maybe another 2.5 hours on the performance piano and I'm about as ready as I'm going to be. Some of the jumps that were "pray for it" before are pretty consistently solid now!
It's close to 9pm and I'm planning to be in bed in the next hour or so, and tomorrow morning I'm setting my alarm for 9am so that I get plenty of rest but can still get breakfast. They have very good coffee here and I've been having a cappuccino every morning. I'm very sensitive to caffeine and normally don't have more than a couple sips of my husband's coffee, but I've been so tired that it's had no effect on me!
This Brahms is the most difficult piece I've ever played. I thought the fourth movement was going to be the killer one when I started but it's actually the first movement. It is so freaking hard!! Each movement is challenging in a different way. I'll be very glad to take a break and work on some easy to moderate pieces for the spring. And hopefully with Dr. Molly's help it will be very efficient! I plan to use her schedule for the Dvořák and just run through the two Beethoven cello sonatas (learning them to play with my friend for fun) once a week and see if they get learned by February.
Thanks for sharing your journey with this magnificent work. It's absolutely one of my favorites and I appreciate it quite a bit more thanks to you sharing your process of preparing it for this workshop performance.
I'm sure it's much too late for this now but I wonder if you considered moderating the tempo in that first movement. I don't mean below performance tempo, but my favorite version of this piece takes that first movement a bit slower than in your complete playthrough that you did before traveling.
It's by Domus for the album of Brahms piano quartets 1-3. After you're done with all of this and assuming you're not entirely sick of the piece by then, I wonder what you think of this version and the tempo in that first movement. I didn't do any kind of granular analysis so I can't say for sure that the tempo is much slower throughout but it seems like it is to me.
Your playing in all of the videos you have shared is quite excellent at least in terms of your approach and the sound and expression that you're able to achieve is quite admirable. At this point you should be proud of where you are with this piece and just do what you've been doing when it's time to perform it.