Normally August Fรถrsters 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.
[Journal] Brahms g minor piano quartet performance readiness
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.
- Edited
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 Dvoลรกk 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 Dvoลรกk 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.
Pathbreaker I have heard the first movement slower but it's marked allegro so Brahms intended it to go at a decent clip! I have also heard it start slower and then slowly speed up. I probably won't go listen to the Domus recording right away but I'll let you know if I do! The violinist suggested finding a violist and cellist and performing at a house concert but I said no. I don't think I'll ever be ready for a real performance of this piece and after tomorrow it's time to put it behind me, even though it wasn't really "done" (there is page in each of the first and third movements that were just not ready at all, and thankfully we're not performing them). I really appreciate your compliments, especially as someone who knows the piece
Our coach is having us take huge breaths between sections of the Gypsy Rondo which are not marked at all so I guess it's stylistic choice! In the recordings I've heard, they just play it as written with no breaks. He told me to go as fast as possible leading into the Molto Presto at the end and then I'm literally playing as fast as I can go! Today I made so many mistakes because I was tired but he said it doesn't matter, at least it sounds exciting 
I don't know if I had mentioned this but our coach is playing the viola part! Having our coach in the group elevates our playing immediately and that's why I'm traveling all the way to Europe to take part in this workshop. There's a section in the first movement where piano and viola play together and I take a little time to add drama in that section and he hears it the exact same way and we're perfectly together! It is so magical. And the violin is supposed to lead at entry points but in the fourth movement she's not giving a good signal and is not in my sightline on the cramped stage platform, so our coach is going to lead. He adds so much direction and momentum to our playing in a way that telling us wouldn't.
Anyway, hopefully my nerves make me play better and not worse tomorrow! I brought my little Zoom video camera and hopefully the recording turns out. I can blur out the faces and share the video when I get home
Day 7: Performance Day!!
I didn't sleep well at all. I was so itchy and had music running through my head all night, the Brahms as well as other stuff. I think maybe it was nerves? 
This might be of interest: we did a tour at the castle yesterday and they had a fortepiano that Mozart played regularly during his visits (not at this castle though)! But I took a photo because Mozart played this piano!!
Good luck with today's performance!!
I warmed up for less than an hour late this morning, and we did the run-through and it was ok. 1h20min until the concert starts and we're the last group. I'm also page-turning for the gentleman in the group before us.
Just took a small power nap after we had lunch, not really sleeping but I closed my eyes for a while. At the end of the fourth movement my heart was pounding during the run-through! So at least I don't think I will be tired during the performance, haha.
So much of the piece is in my finger memory now compared to a week ago! It's amazing, I can just play and I'm not thinking too much or struggling. The fourth movement doesn't even seem that hard anymore, which is truly mind boggling to me
People are arriving from next week's group to listen to our final concert! I'm meeting new people and look forward to seeing my friends from last year 
It's done!! The violinist and I bombed a bunch of our entrances but the playing was very exciting and at least we all ended together!! People loved it and keep coming to congratulate me
