Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin, Prelude

[gaer]

Comments welcome, recorded on my Clavinova.

Gary

[zheer]

Am very impressed, thats probably the best recording in the audition room.

[wzkit]

Agreed. Very clean and impressive! I only wish I had fingers like that!

[piano121]

Gosh! you are so gifted. That´s a beautifull recording. Thanks for sharing!

[ako]

Gary,

You played very well! I do have some suggestions to an already very good performance. Have you tried using soft pedal at the beginning? Try it and see if you like it. If not, it's ok. In general, the sound is very "notey", especially from M14 to M21 and when it coems back again at the end. At times, I want to bop my head to count the beat. You can soften the sound by doing more sliding from key to key in both the LH and RH to make it sound more melodic and "horizontal" instead of "vertical" if you know what I mean. Great cresc. and shape BTW from M22 on and when it comes back again! I have a question: did you play both the first and second ending the second time around? It sounded confusing to me.

Great! Thanks for sharing.

[gaer]

Gary,

You played very well! I do have some suggestions to an already very good performance. Have you tried using soft pedal at the beginning? Try it and see if you like it. If not, it's ok. In general, the sound is very "notey", especially from M14 to M21 and when it coems back again at the end. At times, I want to bop my head to count the beat. You can soften the sound by doing more sliding from key to key in both the LH and RH to make it sound more melodic and "horizontal" instead of "vertical" if you know what I mean. Great cresc. and shape BTW from M22 on and when it comes back again! I have a question: did you play both the first and second ending the second time around? It sounded confusing to me.

Great! Thanks for sharing.

I'll double check, but I believe I played the correct endings. The problem with the lack of soft pedal is that there is none. Stupid old electric keyboard only reduces velocity, does not change the tone. Newer electronic keyboards do. As stated elsewhere I have no space or privacty for an acoustic piano, and there is also a memory problem—again, old technology. Some notes cut due to insufficient memory.

Gary

[pita bread]

Legendary lo-fi. I enjoyed your recording very much. Nice, clean, and articulate.

[g_flat]

Wow, someone above metioned this is the best recording in the Audition Room. I don't know about that, but I've been browsing around here for about an hour now and it is by far the best recording I have heard tonight. You play this faster than recordings I have heard in the past, but you play is so cleanly and seemlessly that it doesn't matter. Not only that, the momentum is retained much better than other recordings I've heard. Well, excellent job. I envy you.

Can you play anything else in the suite? The toccata maybe?

[mwhite]

Amazing!  I feel like I'm listening to a CD.  It's perfect.  What can I say?
Mike White

[nanabush]

Wow amazing, if you could possibly record the rigaudon or the toccata I would be even more impressed... aka record now! jk, good recording

[troglodyte]

Beautiful! I really enjoyed it Thanks! Are you a professional?

[crazy for ivan moravec]

really really good stuff you have here. wish i could hear you live in concert with an acoustic grand. that would be great! but i also like your attitude towards making music, that nothing can hinder you from doing it, even if it's means having to make do with your digital piano.

btw, i still listen to your rach 2nd sonata until now. wish i could play like that. 

[gruffalo]

excellent, very clean. would love to hear you on acoustic, afterall that is where most dynamic and expressive stuff can be heard, and soft pedal.

[henrah]

I too would love to hear you on a real piano, I think you would sound simply awesome! Please look into it, for all of us here at Pianostreet!

[donjuan]

wow the pedalling was perfect all the way through.  Amazing touch and brilliance in the trills.  The only suggestion I can make is to modify the dynamics a little more --maybe it's a problem with playing the digital-- it sort of took the life out of it.  

Record on a real piano!     

[nonfox]

Does anyone have the sheet music for this piece!?
If so I'd very much like it!

Thx

[rachfan]

Hi gaer,

Ravel is one of my favorite composers.  I totally enjoy listening to your performance of this Prelude!  You display a wonderful overall concept of interpretation, great clarity and fluidity in your playing, flawlessly even articulation (which is not easy in this piece), an extraordinarily delicate touch--including in the ornaments, close attention to dynamics, and expressiveness throughout, as you sustain your sense of direction in playing the long line.  Very impressive indeed!  After the first few measures I nearly forgot that you were playing a digital piano, but, nonetheless, would love it hear it on an accoustic instrument, where you would even better convey your intentions, I'm sure.  Will you be doing the other movements of this suite? 

[lostinidlewonder]

Nice, my only criticism is that it sounds too perfect. If you listen to the notes everything is perfectly even, to my ears it sounds like a computer playing it. Subtle variation in sounds that occur in the arpeggios with humans hands always occur, in this recording every single note is evenly balanced which I never see in human playing. Perhaps it is the clav. Maybe this is a compliment even! But it sounds too artificially balanced and flawless, amazing if it is human hands.

[pianistimo]

i hear the 'couperinish' feel.  the trills and all.  very cool.