Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Greig)

[winterwind_23]

Please listen and critique!

http://savefile.com/files/3147291

Thanks.

[mwhite]

I love this piece.  Thanks for posting it.  It's on my "to do" list but I don't think I'll be ready for it soon.  I'm still working on Waltz # 2 Op 12 from Lyric Pieces. 
Mike

[kelly_kelly]

We played an orchestra arrangement of this las year at school... it was easy, but the piano version sounds hard. Good job!

[mwhite]

It's not as hard as I thought it was going to be.  I have worked through the entire piece and am in the process of memorizing the parts.

If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever be able to play this piece I would have said you were crazy.  I have always loved classical music and although I play by ear,  I had to teach myself to read music in order to be able to play pieces such as this. 

Thanks for posting this piece and giving me the "thrust" to take it on. 
Mike

[winterwind_23]

This piece is a lot easier than it sounds!

Thanks for your replies. 

[pianowelsh]

Hi Winterwind.  Generally this was really good! and real sense of the special joyous occasion.  One things though be sure that you really count carefully when you go into the alternating chords section.  I wasnt always convinced by that.  You could also work on getting some real momentum and sense of direction into the 8ve work so that you really arrive on those BIG chords that shoot up through the piano. Your middle senction was lovely very poised.   Hope these comments can be of some value.

[pianolist]

I agree with pianowelsh, you play with great verve! You obviously enjoy both the music and the act of playing it. But I agree that the alternating chords section needs to keep going at the same general speed - don't let it slow down, and bring out the tune at the top!

One thing pianists used to do at the time Grieg was writing was to dot their rhythms a little more than we tend to do today. In the main melody at the beginning, and indeed throughout, it gives the music a nice, joyful kick.

I have a recorded piano roll of this piece, played by Grieg himself about a hundred years ago. I just found it a few days ago in the house of a dear pianola friend who died last Christmas. The paper is rather damp, and I should let it settle for a few weeks, but if you are interested, I could make an mp3 of it. Let me know. It's the centenary of Grieg's death next year, by the way, so his music will be a good choice for playing in public, or to friends.

As a thankyou, and to make you smile, here's a picture of me at the age of 18 months. My parents had a twinkly sense of humour, so look at the music carefully! It has something in common with your name.

[alwaystheangel]

I would love to hear the mps version of Grieg playing wedding.  I'm sure I'm not the only one either.   

[pianolist]

Fine - I'll see to it. The roll was in a damp room for many years, and I'm letting it settle for two or three weeks. The paper is very tolerant, in fact, but these rolls don't grow on trees, and I shall no doubt need it for several concerts next year. So it's better to be careful, and I'll put it in this thread when I'm ready.

Grieg recorded six rolls for the firm of Ludwig Hupfeld in Leipzig, as far as we can tell from the catalogues, and three rolls for the Welte Mignon, a competing system. There is an absolutely wonderful photo of him, sitting in the Hupfeld Haus in Berlin, listening to his rolls. All you see is a young man pedalling a Hupfeld Phonola on stage, with Grieg's back in the foreground, as he sits alone in a small concert hall. It's contained in a book published by the University of Leipzig, entitled "Im Aufnahmesalon Hupfeld", which is copyright, so I can't scan and attach it. Nearly all the other photos in the book are posed views of famous pianists at the various Hupfeld recording pianos, but the one of Grieg stands out - an old man, almost in the last year of his life, listening serenely to part of his last musical testament. It's very moving.

The Grieg Foundation at Troldhaugen in Norway has a CD on its "Trold" label, of Grieg playing Grieg. It may be that this will be re-recorded and expanded for the centenary next year, but you'll find the current one at:

http://www.troldhaugen.com/default.asp?kat=480&sp=2

troldhaugen.com is a good site, it seems to me!

[alwaystheangel]

Can't wait to hear it!

[mkljackson]

In my opinion and for the best I think that this song should be played a little bit faster and should sound more bouncy like a dance. Play the slow part with a little rubato.

[joachimf]

I slightly agree with mkljackson. In my opinion you should let yourself more go around 1:00 ("toss it off"), and the staccato's at 1:21 are not playfully enough. I also disagree with your playing at 1:37, I think it's too romantic, but that's my opinion =)

Overall, good playing!