[Journal] Dvořák Piano Quartet 2 & Beethoven Cello Sonata 2 & Chopin Ballade 1

twocats · 2024-07-18T18:02:03+00:00

I had a journal to document my final stressful weeks of preparation of the Brahms g minor piano quartet for a chamber music workshop. It was fun to document...

twocats

keff I usually run a dehumidifier in the summer but somehow I never got around to setting it up this year...

twocats

Dvořák Quartet 1st mvmt - Day 8 (Dr. Molly Schedule)

Today I practiced "good practice" practice! I had bookmarked a bunch of places and I only worked on those bits today and didn't play though the whole movement from the beginning as I usually do. I broke the trouble spots into sections no more than 4 bars long (mostly 3 bar phrases) and practiced them until they were more comfortable and I could do 3x clean repetitions, followed by a 10 second micro break, followed by 3x clean repetitions and another micro break. Then I made the video playing the whole movement and in the process identified many more pages to bookmark. But today was really good! It really forced me to focus and get the trouble spots into my brain.

I think this stage of my learning is a good time to do this. At the beginning I think I just want to familiarize myself with the entire piece and if I practiced this way I would never get through the movement in a single practice session! And the earlier I familiarize myself with the whole thing the more time my brain has to process it. And then after a few sessions some parts will hopefully be ok by then but others will obviously need more focused work.

I should probably just order Dr. Molly's book. My library doesn't have the ebook yet and then I can get all the information directly instead of absorbing bits and pieces from everyone else 🙂

Pallas

twocats I found the book really easy to read! I'm very interested to know if the change in practice strategy will yield significant results for you! Thanks for sharing your videos.

twocats

A lot has happened since my last post 10 days ago. We had guests on short notice, and then I had jury duty and was selected for a case (which was so exhausting that I was in no condition to think about piano), and then today I found out that the workshop organizer messed up and we don't have a third group member and our preferred coaches are no longer available!

I've decided to skip the spring workshop and go in spring 2026 instead, to play Dvořák's second piano quartet in E-flat Major. I am not finding his first quartet very inspiring and mostly chose it because I figured I could be ready in 6 months, and at least it's not boring.

So I'm abandoning the current quartet and will start the new one soon. I want to get back to working on the Beethoven cello sonatas as well! After I recover from the utter exhaustion of the past week I'll be ready to start the new project-- this time without pretending that I'm following a schedule that I can't keep 😅

rogerch

twocats Sounds like you have been through a lot! I hope you recover quickly and get back to enjoying music again!

rsl12

twocats aww, after all that work! You don't sound that upset, but I would be! I hope you get your preferred coach.

twocats

rogerch thank you! 🙂

twocats

rsl12 actually, I think it's for the best! 🙂 I wasn't feeling inspired by the Dvořák quartet that I was working on and we have a long international family obligation trip coming up. Flying to Europe from the East Coast when I was in college was an adventure but going from the West Coast now (and not from a major airport) is exhausting. At the time I made the plans I didn't want to miss out on a year of going to the program but now I feel like I need a break!

My cellist friend is still going (he lives in Germany) and if my local violinist friend doesn't want to sign up with us, the cellist can try to find us a good 3rd group member. And next time we'll know to follow up with the organizer to confirm earlier in the process! He does so much work and I'm not surprised if things fall through the cracks.

I am very excited about the second Dvořák piano quartet and am glad to have extra time to work on it. It seems so long and overwhelming right now!

twocats

Chopin side project??

I haven't practiced since I decided to ditch the first Dvořák piano quartet. But last night I saw Garrick Ohlsson play Chopin and today I dug out some old books to read. I don't know if this is silly (because if I'm going to learn Dvořák's second piano quartet I should get started) but I ran through Chopin's second Scherzo and was reminded of how much I love it. But then it just seemed to go on forever and I remembered that it's why I never learned it. And then I read through the second Ballade which I had started to learn at some point, and it seemed like a great project (it's not very long, and I love it, it feels like a lovely calm day and then suddenly there's a huge dramatic thunderstorm, and then it blows over and goes back to being a calm day). But then I went and read the first Ballade. This was a piece that I was totally obsessed with about 9 years ago and learning it why I ended up upgrading to a grand piano, because I felt like I was finally held back on an upright. I worked on it really intensely for 1.5 years and it was in pretty solid shape but I never tried to record it because I'd always slip up somewhere in the Presto, and now years later I can't even play this Ballade anymore. All that hard work, gone!!

Well, I'm a better pianist now and the Brahms quartet had a similar section with octave jumps that in my opinion is harder than the Chopin Presto. I think I can get the Ballade back and probably play with more ease than I used to! I think if every time I practice I do 1-2 pages it'll come back to me. And this time I'll record it even if I can't get through it without mistakes!

twocats

Ok, I'm officially changing things up! Going to work on the Dvořák quartet in E-flat Major (ditching the D Major quartet for good), the Beethoven cello sonata in g minor (still want to eventually work on the A major sonata, but later), and going to revive Chopin Ballade No. 1 a few pages at a time. I moved the Chopin to a digital score without all my markings and realized that there are multiple places where I had semi-memorized it with wrong notes! 🙈 Also I want to do a drier pedal in general. I've been listening to Kate Liu and her Ballade interpretation is not my favorite but overall there is something so magical about her playing. I want a lighter sound, less muddiness.

MRC

twocats I've been listening to Kate Liu and her Ballade interpretation is not my favorite but overall there is something so magical about her playing. I want a lighter sound, less muddiness

There are so many different interpretations of this ballade to listen to. If you're looking for clarity of sound, try Artur Rubinstein or Murray Perahia.

Since you're coming back to this piece and you said you'd learnt some wrong notes, do double-check everything before you fix some wrong stuff in your memory. In the extract you posted, there's a wrong harmony in bar 19 and a wrong rhythm in the melody in bar 34.

I know it's hard to resit the temptation to keep playing when it would be better to stop. Keep relaxed, practice short sections until they're comfortable and I'm sure you'll be fine!

rsl12

Good luck! I spent a few months on that ballad until I got to the point where the rate I was learning new measures was equal to the rate I was forgetting old ones. You're more experienced with these kinds of epic pieces, maybe it won't be a problem for you.

twocats

rsl12 You're more experienced with these kinds of epic pieces, maybe it won't be a problem for you.

This was my first epic piece (actually the only epic solo piano work I've learned). It took me 1.5 years of practicing just this to get it worked up, and it was harder than anything I had ever played. My neighbors were probably so sick of hearing the same thing over and over. It's coming back though! I'm trying to do good practice techniques with breaks and just doing a couple of pages a day.

twocats

Chopin Ballade No. 1 - Pages 1 & 2

This piece takes so much out of me and it's very difficult for me to be relaxed on the first page. This recording is not very clean but it's coming back into my muscle memory! I'm playing it a bit differently from how I used to. I guess being away from it for 8 years has clarified some things for me, when back then it took me a very, very long time to decide how I wanted to play that first page. And I noticed I was a little heavy-handed in my left hand on the second page, so I'm trying to make it more delicate.

Going to focus on a different section every practice session so that I'll get plenty of breaks, like Dr. Molly says I should 🙂

twocats

MRC I'll take a look when I'm in front of the score, I definitely played a wrong harmony on the first page and came in too early on the left hand later on, I think.

I don't think I want as clear as Rubinstein but just more clarity than how I used to play it. Will check out the masterclass, thank you!

twocats

MRC wrong rhythm in the melody in bar 34

Oh goodness, thanks for pointing that out, I never even would have noticed it since it's just wrong in my head!

In the next page there are arpeggios where I'm playing them like scale arpeggios but at the end of the phrases they actually skip a note. And in the Presto I had a wrong note (that one I noticed a couple of years ago). I hope you continue to point out any mistakes, whether intentional or not 😂

MRC

I just chanced on this masterclass on the 1st Ballade with Murray Perahia. Certainly worth watching.

Ithaca

MRC Thanks for posting this; I really enjoyed watching it. (Also, about 15 minutes in, I felt exhausted. There's so much information, and the intensity is so high - I think even at my best, I wouldn't have been able to hold up to this kind of thing. Oof.)

twocats

MRC I just chanced on this masterclass on the 1st Ballade with Murray Perahia. Certainly worth watching.

Just watched it, wow, I am definitely hearing some things differently now. It must be so nerve-wracking to be the student!

I really enjoy attending masterclasses as an audience member and Paul Roberts (a wonderful English pianist) usually comes here every year. I took my dad two days in a row one year and I think it may have been the only thing we'd ever done together that we both enjoyed! My dad loved Murray Perahia and I grew up listening to his Mozart concerti.

Pallas

Ithaca What would confuse the heck out of me is that before the master class, I would have spent let's say 18 months with the piece and my regular teacher, and now I'm needing to crack the thing open to understand what the maestro wants me to do. And then remember all of his detailed notes in these huge phrases, and as soon as you respond to one there are five more right on top of it. I wonder if the student just tries to survive, then goes finely over the video later. Whooosh.

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