I worked a ton on the second movement of the Dvořák today; so much for interleaved practice! 😂 But it's just so gorgeous with the cello solo and I found a new-to-me recording that I love and I was playing along with it. It's all starting to feel easier already!! I am feeling good about the Dvořák and may end up having time to properly work on the Beethoven cello sonatas.
Here's the new recording that I prefer:
A funny thing is that a friend of mine said the Dvořák is not hard, but that the fourth movement is fast. I was very surprised that she said that. I definitely think the first movement is tricky but the rest of it doesn't seem like it'll be so bad once I can figure out the notes. I think what she meant is that there isn't anything that's technically a huge challenge?
An interesting thing is that today I decided to sight read the Brahms piano quintet (which is often compared in difficulty to the G minor quartet which is what I played last year) and also his quartet in C minor, and both of them were pretty easy to read. No funky chords or weird progressions to dissect. There were definitely places where I was like "oh this will be tricky at speed" but I could mostly play them just from reading it. So I think when I perceive something as difficult (aside from things are are just obviously hard) it's that I find it challenging to figure out the notes and have to work to semi-memorize them and get them into my finger memory. Both of these I felt like I'd need far less than a year to feel confident with them. It feels so good that things are getting easier! 😃