Tchaikovksy's October, from the Seasons

[wzkit]

Here's a rendition, which I suspect will be way to slow for most, but feels just right for me in order to bring out the melancholy in the music. Comments would very much be welcome.

[chozart]

it's a beautiful touch, but I do think it is in fact too slow.. I know you want to show more emotion by playing like this, but in fact, it'd work in your favour to play it a bit faster and with more movement ~ you'd do him justice to play it more strictly, actually..
this, along with June, is my favourite of the Tchai seasons, and I've always loved Tchai ~ you seem to enjoy this work too, and may get more out of it to play it differently

nice job though

[wzkit]

it's a beautiful touch, but I do think it is in fact too slow.. I know you want to show more emotion by playing like this, but in fact, it'd work in your favour to play it a bit faster and with more movement ~ you'd do him justice to play it more strictly, actually..
this, along with June, is my favourite of the Tchai seasons, and I've always loved Tchai ~ you seem to enjoy this work too, and may get more out of it to play it differently

nice job though

Thanks. I think I will try working on a faster interpretation that speaks to me. The problem is, many of the faster interpretations simply do not speak to me. I might have been too hooked on the slow interpretations of Mikhail Pletnev and Vladimir Tropp, so now you know where I got some of my ideas from. Somehow only they can make the music work that slowly. I would have loved to hear Richter play this piece.

June is a wonderful piece which I have learnt, but not had the time to record. I think Richter played June beautifully, though very slowly too. Perhaps if you have recorded this music, you can post it up here!

[allthumbs]

Greetings

Here's a rendition, which I suspect will be way to slow for most, but feels just right for me in order to bring out the melancholy in the music. Comments would very much be welcome.

You played it beautifully and it spoke to me. I agree with you that the tempo felt right to bring out the melencholy of this piece.

I'm inspired to learn this piece starting tomorrow.

Cheers

[wzkit]

Glad you liked it! Fortunately, notes wise this piece isn't too difficult...the difficulty lies in , getting the voicing, phrasing and the colours right, bringing out the feeling to its fullest intensity, without causing it to drag or become sentimental (something which I have some difficulty obviously). Do post a recording here when you've learnt it!

[allthumbs]

BTW wzkit, what piano did you record the piece on and what equipment did you use. It sounded professionally done.

[wzkit]

BTW wzkit, what piano did you record the piece on and what equipment did you use. It sounded professionally done.

It was recorded on a 7 foot Ibach grand, can't remember the model name. The recording was done using a Tascam DAT recorder, and 2 AKG condenser mikes (can't remember the model name), which I had purchased, together with two other mikes and a mixer, on the day of this was recorded. This recording was actually meant to test the recording equipment we had. Had my friend, who is trained as a recording engineer to do it for me. Glad that you found the recording professionally done. I'm sure my engineer will be glad to hear that!

I'll check up with my engineer on the equipment and get back to you on this.

[wzkit]

Another recording of the same piece, using a different (4 mike instead of 2 mike) set up, done 10 days later. Although the basic interpretative framework is the same as the earlier recording, I find the execution somewhat more deliberate.

[wzkit]

It was recorded on a 7 foot Ibach grand, can't remember the model name. The recording was done using a Tascam DAT recorder, and 2 AKG condenser mikes (can't remember the model name), which I had purchased, together with two other mikes and a mixer, on the day of this was recorded. This recording was actually meant to test the recording equipment we had. Had my friend, who is trained as a recording engineer to do it for me. Glad that you found the recording professionally done. I'm sure my engineer will be glad to hear that!

I'll check up with my engineer on the equipment and get back to you on this.

Here's the list of equipment that we used for the first recording of October
2 AKG C4000B condenser microphones
TASCAM DA-P1

For the second recording, in addition to the above, we also used:
A stereo matched pair of AKG C451B mics
and a Mackie 1404 analog mixer

Hope that helps

[didier_brest]

So beautifull...
I like the supplement of definition got with the 451s. How do you place them with respect to the instrument ?

[kreso]

Very, very beatifull sound...
I can hear that you like to play those piece.

[wzkit]

Very, very beatifull sound...
I can hear that you like to play those piece.

Thank you. I hope like me, you love this music too. It is simple in the notes yes, but extremely difficult to produce the right sound and musically very challenging. Do you play this piece yourself?

[kreso]

Thank you. I hope like me, you love this music too. It is simple in the notes yes, but extremely difficult to produce the right sound and musically very challenging. Do you play this piece yourself?

Unfortunatly-no. But one of the first CD I got was Richter's performance of the Tchaikovsky pieces so I really have his pieces in my hart (althaught Richter doesn't play October..), and for me, those things are like a sweet chocolate candies, which I listen whit great love
(This is also the case with your performance..)

[wzkit]

Unfortunatly-no. But one of the first CD I got was Richter's performance of the Tchaikovsky pieces so I really have his pieces in my hart (althaught Richter doesn't play October..), and for me, those things are like a sweet chocolate candies, which I listen whit great love
(This is also the case with your performance..)

Sweet chocolate candies - that's quite a nice analogy, but at the same time, there's quite a bit of depth of feeling despite its apparent simplicity. Indeed, I think the simplicity and directness lends a feeling of sincerity. This is music that comes from deep in the heart, no less.