Debussy, "Des pas sur la neige"

[rachfan]

From Preludes, Book I

[baron_von_heimlich]

This was pretty bad.

Sure you played the right notes, but granted that's not to difficult a task in this piece for any pianist of intermediate level or above.  Looking at your other recordings, it's obvious you have a good technique beyond that of an intermediate level.

But the point of this piece isn't to just play the notes.  Something tells me you have never really seriously studied this, you just sightread it a few times before and said "what the hell, I can play it let me post it for everyone."

You play this far too loud and harshly.  Listen to a decent recording of this, and you'll see that you should be getting hushed tones, and a delicate contour.  This is "Footprints in the Snow", not "Stomping Snow into Mush".  This is one of the HARDEST preludes to pull off in performance or recording, because it ends up either sounding too harsh and callous, or aimless and wandering.  I got a sense of both in this recording.

When the G major sonority comes in near the beginning (revealing the Dorian tendancy of this), it should sound refreshing and tender, a even a little surprising.  It seems like you just play through this part without any consideration of the musical meaning.  If you really want to play this, you seriously need to study this beat by beat, measure by measure and analyze the tones you are producing, because EVERTHING sticks out when someone plays this, there is no room to gloss things over.

But I don't think you're a bad pianist at all.  Like I said before, you have good technique, and even better a knack for looking for good repetoire.  But instead of just posting every piece you can sightread up here in the Audition Room, why don't you just consider posting a few pieces that you can play REALLY well.  That way, people will have more respect for you.  As it stands, you are FLOODING this area of the forum and not giving anyone else a chance to post things near the top.  We get it, you can sightread, whoohoo, but seriously, this isn't a competition.  People would appreciate your playing more if you didn't post so much here.  It wouldn't matter if you were the greatest pianist in the world - this isn't supposed to be a place to show off for everyone about how large your repetoire is, you post here to get feedback about your pieces and critiques.

If you continue to flood the Audition Room, people are going to stop coming here to this part of the forum, because they'll be thinking "What's the point, there's just going to be a hundred posts from rachfan."  I think it's pretty obvious people are getting annoyed with you, no one comments or even looks at the things you post!  I suspect most of the views and downloads are your own.

Like I said before, please don't take this the wrong way!  I have nothing against you and you are a fine pianist.  But please stop taking advantage of this roomv and leave some space for other people.

[pedroarvy]

I gots ta agree baron_von_heimlich. You gots not thought dis here piece out. Listen ta Nightscape's recording here, it is fine. You gots not captured da sad desolate quality o' da piece at all. What 'chew thinking man? 

[rachfan]

Dear baron,

Thanks you for your candid comments.   And believe me, I don't take them the wrong way, as you presented a balanced view of my playing, and make some fine suggestions on this Debussy prelude.  I do admit that I did not study that piece as long as I should have, so, quite honestly, your perception is correct.  I do value your critique and suggestions on how to approach the piece more thoughtfully and with greater artistry. 

I would like to respond to a few of your other points though.  First, my intention has never been to "flood the forum" with postings.  And yes, while people like to obtain critiques of works in progress, I believe there are others who come here simply to listen to good music as well.  Keeping that purpose in mind, there are definitely some under-represented composers here.  So I was pleased to post Rachmaninoff Preludes other than the perrenial Op. 23, No. 5 in Gm (yes I recorded it, but did NOT post it, as it is too commonly heard).  Faure and Ravel also seemed to be in relative obscurity here, and, surprisingly, even Mendelssohn.  So I was glad to fill that void somewhat.   

My feeling right along has been that if another pianist found one or two of my recordings that they particularly liked, and it helped them in studying and/or performing the piece, exploring that repertoire more, or simply enjoying my playing, then that is all the reward I needed.

I do perform the music of certain composers better than that of other composers--probably not unlike many pianists.  I'm also an amateur and do not pretend to compete with highly accomlished artists here of far greater ability than mine in terms of talent, technique and interpretation.  I respect them and greatly admire their playing.  But although my career is in business and not music, I have still gotten some very favorable comments, which has been gratifying.  I have greatly appreciated that feedback.

Finally, I can assure you that I do not have dialogues with myself in this forum!  I cannot imagine where you got that notion.  You can easily enough send messages to those who have replied to my postings to verify their existance quite apart from my own.  I assure you, I do not have any "evil twins" here.  So, frankly, I do resent that particular assertion which is patently untrue.  Nor do not have the time or inclination to download my own stuff which I already have on tape, CDs, wma files and mp3 files.  Moreover, I'm on dial-up, not DSL or cable modem, and doing that would tie up my PC forever.  It takes enough time to upload pieces, and I'm not the only one that needs time on the family computer.  I must say, that was an unkind and unwarranted remark.

Once again, while I have rebutted a few things you have said, I also acknowledge your positive comments and ideas.  I will cease posting any more music here effective tonight, as it was never my intention to be controversial in any way. 

David 
 

     

[baron_von_heimlich]

Haha, well you don't have to cease posting here because of me!  Just mabye consider letting some other people get some stuff in every so often.  You could also try putting more pieces in a single post (like a thread for a collection of Songs Without Words).  You can get around the 4 piece limit by replying to the thread and adding additional music.

And thank you for not getting upset!

[zong]

I must agree with the baron. Since more than 50% of the posts come from the same source I tends to check in the Audition Room less and less frequently. And definitely, there is no reason why the Chopin and Rach preludes, for example, could not be bundled into one post; it would improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the page and produce fewer zero response posts.

[rachfan]

baron,

P.S.

I neglected to say above that I would rate my sightreading ability as being no better than average.  Your assumption, therefore, was far afield.  None of my postings here are recordings made during sight-reading sessions--not a one;  rather, they are drawn from recordings made over a seven-year period of study.  I readily agree that some are better than others.  But any pianist could make the same observation about their recordings as well.   

David

[dss]

This was pretty bad.

Sure you played the right notes, but granted that's not to difficult a task in this piece for any pianist of intermediate level or above.  Looking at your other recordings, it's obvious you have a good technique beyond that of an intermediate level.

But the point of this piece isn't to just play the notes.  Something tells me you have never really seriously studied this, you just sightread it a few times before and said "what the hell, I can play it let me post it for everyone."

You play this far too loud and harshly.  Listen to a decent recording of this, and you'll see that you should be getting hushed tones, and a delicate contour.  This is "Footprints in the Snow", not "Stomping Snow into Mush".  This is one of the HARDEST preludes to pull off in performance or recording, because it ends up either sounding too harsh and callous, or aimless and wandering.  I got a sense of both in this recording.

When the G major sonority comes in near the beginning (revealing the Dorian tendancy of this), it should sound refreshing and tender, a even a little surprising.  It seems like you just play through this part without any consideration of the musical meaning.  If you really want to play this, you seriously need to study this beat by beat, measure by measure and analyze the tones you are producing, because EVERTHING sticks out when someone plays this, there is no room to gloss things over.

But I don't think you're a bad pianist at all.  Like I said before, you have good technique, and even better a knack for looking for good repetoire.  But instead of just posting every piece you can sightread up here in the Audition Room, why don't you just consider posting a few pieces that you can play REALLY well.  That way, people will have more respect for you.  As it stands, you are FLOODING this area of the forum and not giving anyone else a chance to post things near the top.  We get it, you can sightread, whoohoo, but seriously, this isn't a competition.  People would appreciate your playing more if you didn't post so much here.  It wouldn't matter if you were the greatest pianist in the world - this isn't supposed to be a place to show off for everyone about how large your repetoire is, you post here to get feedback about your pieces and critiques.

If you continue to flood the Audition Room, people are going to stop coming here to this part of the forum, because they'll be thinking "What's the point, there's just going to be a hundred posts from rachfan."  I think it's pretty obvious people are getting annoyed with you, no one comments or even looks at the things you post!  I suspect most of the views and downloads are your own.

Like I said before, please don't take this the wrong way!  I have nothing against you and you are a fine pianist.  But please stop taking advantage of this roomv and leave some space for other people.

[dss]

baron:  Your reply to rachfan was mean-spirited and petty. Come down off the high horse you ride and treat people appropriately.  I for one enjoy the recordings and discussions and have no difficulty making a selection from the bottom or top posts. 

Please excuse my error in making a double quote.

[baron_von_heimlich]

My response was neither mean-spirited (as I have nothing against him) or petty.  In hindsight, perhaps I should have left out the first sentence, that is the only part I would consider harsh.

I also am not in the habit of riding so-called 'high-horses' or whatever, perhaps you are the one who should step down?  After all, you are the only person besides the original poster to disagree with the mean old Baron.  How noble of you.

And, as others have pointed out here, the excessive posting was in fact causing the audition room to become less popular with forum-goers (not everyone can be as patient and forgiving as you, my dear.)

[dss]

Baron:  I stand by my comments and please don't call me "my dear".