Fantasy in D minor K. 397-----------Mozart

[matterintospirit]

ALL FEEDBACK MUCH APPRECIATED AS I HAVE NOT PLAYED FOR ANYONE IN A LONG TIME SAVE FREINDS AND STUDENTS. I LACK FROM NOT HAVING THE INFORMED FEEDBACK OF OTHER PIANISTS/MUSICIANS. thnx! PLEASE EXCUSE HOME RECORDING ON HAND HELD DIGITAL WITH CHEAP MICROPHONE. A SHAME BECUAUSE THE PIANO IS REALLY SOMETHIN'!

[pianowolfi]

ALL FEEDBACK MUCH APPRECIATED AS I HAVE NOT PLAYED FOR ANYONE IN A LONG TIME SAVE FREINDS AND STUDENTS. I LACK FROM NOT HAVING THE INFORMED FEEDBACK OF OTHER PIANISTS/MUSICIANS. thnx! PLEASE EXCUSE HOME RECORDING ON HAND HELD DIGITAL WITH CHEAP MICROPHONE. A SHAME BECUAUSE THE PIANO IS REALLY SOMETHIN'!

if you would stop yelling I would even hear myself commenting

Anyway, a very thoughtful and interesting interpretation.  Thank you for posting

[prongated]

...I think...

1. Have a closer look at the music.
2. No rubato! This disturbs the flow and beauty of that descending arpeggios in the first section, for example.
3. No tempo changes! (major section)
4. Short notes too sharp and/or short and unrefined - in groups of staccato notes, at the end of slurs,...

I find the major section to be nicely played, although come short notes it becomes rather rough.



What piano is it btw?

[matterintospirit]

if you would stop yelling I would even hear myself commenting

Anyway, a very thoughtful and interesting interpretation.  Thank you for posting

thank you.

[matterintospirit]

...I think...

1. Have a closer look at the music.
2. No rubato! This disturbs the flow and beauty of that descending arpeggios in the first section, for example.
3. No tempo changes! (major section)
4. Short notes too sharp and/or short and unrefined - in groups of staccato notes, at the end of slurs,...

I find the major section to be nicely played, although come short notes it becomes rather rough.



What piano is it btw?

Thank you for your thoughts. yes my tempo is usually a bit steadier. the rubato, perhaps too much---not sure--will re-evaluate. the agitato perhaps too much---not sure. i'm often told i'm too much in general! i don't really see the peice as quite "refined" though. the end, i usually play a bit slower and more relaxed , but honestly it's very different for me each time i play it. the piano is S&S NY B 2005. 

[counterpoint]

2. No rubato! This disturbs the flow and beauty of that descending arpeggios in the first section, for example.
3. No tempo changes! (major section)

prongated, I really would like to hear your own interpretation of this piece. This comment is so absurd, I would really like to hear, how you play it 

[pianistimo]

i hear tempo change in the mid-section.  i'm sorta agreed about the too-short staccato endings.  i guess it's a matter of interpretation.  some like mozart to be played as though you were playing on a clavichord.  but, if you want to change that - simply add a little more pedal or hold slightly longer.  it's not a big deal.

overall - i thought it was played very cleanly and mozartianly.  as you keep practicing it - you can keep lightening it and 'flavoring it.'  your piano must be nice if it's only 2005! 

i'd like to hear the piano tuned in a mean tuning.  i always hear regular tunings as dead in the bass and treble.  esp. the high treble where you want to hear those sparkly notes. 

[matterintospirit]

i hear tempo change in the mid-section.  i'm sorta agreed about the too-short staccato endings.  i guess it's a matter of interpretation.  some like mozart to be played as though you were playing on a clavichord.  but, if you want to change that - simply add a little more pedal or hold slightly longer.  it's not a big deal.

overall - i thought it was played very cleanly and mozartianly.  as you keep practicing it - you can keep lightening it and 'flavoring it.'  your piano must be nice if it's only 2005! 

i'd like to hear the piano tuned in a mean tuning.  i always hear regular tunings as dead in the bass and treble.  esp. the high treble where you want to hear those sparkly notes. 

Thanks for your feedback. it's the first time i recorded it and it's an eye opener. i think the agitato is too much, staccatos to short, and the more i listen to the recording, the more it gets on my nerves. also the accompaniment to the opening melody, i usually play more legato, but this time i played them detached and slightly staccato, and i thought, hmmm, i'll go with that---sort of propels the melody forward like a little "motor", but i don't like it. i'm anxious to rework it icluding some of the tempi. i realize recording myself is essential. soundz sooo different to the ear when you are playing! i'll take your advice on the tuning, thnx 

[prongated]

prongated, I really would like to hear your own interpretation of this piece. This comment is so absurd, I would really like to hear, how you play it 

...it's not about interpretation...it's about the style.

...aside from the occasional notes that are unsynchronised, I find Gavrilov's performance of this rather good; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uhkXpba8UA

...while personally I'm working on a different Mozart fantasy...so maybe in a more distant future ^^

[counterpoint]

...it's not about interpretation...it's about the style.

Style? Whattya mean with style?? It's a Fantasy! It's like a spontaneous improvisation. Do you know CPE Bach's Fantasies? It's not that style of "music box-Mozart", that some seem to think of as the "classical style", which never was the classical style. Never!

Thank you very much for the Link to the Gavrilov video! He plays wonderful, with much rubato and many tempo changes. Just as I like it 

[matterintospirit]

...it's not about interpretation...it's about the style.

...aside from the occasional notes that are unsynchronised, I find Gavrilov's performance of this rather good; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uhkXpba8UA

...while personally I'm working on a different Mozart fantasy...so maybe in a more distant future ^^

it's about both. this performance makes me feel that i am going in the the right direction but not far enough. trurh is that no matter what interpretation you have, some will like, some not. true for musicians and true for audience. you have to be satisfied with it for you in the end because , in the end, "you" is all ya got. i can't beleive he took those upward arpeggios with two hands---slacker! i liked the perofrmance very much and will keep listening to it. thnx even though you sent it to tell me i don't know what i'm doing 

[matterintospirit]

Style? Whattya mean with style?? It's a Fantasy! It's like a spontaneous improvisation. Do you know CPE Bach's Fantasies? It's not that style of "music box-Mozart", that some seem to think of as the "classical style", which never was the classical style. Never!

Thank you very much for the Link to the Gavrilov video! He plays wonderful, with much rubato and many tempo changes. Just as I like it 

I think people tend to forget that the great composers were by and large, rule breakers, and if not at first, eventually somewhere in their development.  in most cases their music was rejected by the public, other musicians, etc., if not at first, eventually. to me, the cornerstone of art is innovation. not saying to do "whatever" you feel lie. that's jive.
   and on another note, much of the public, and also non classical musicians tend to think that we just read music---there is not much creativity involved because the music is already written. they don't realize what it takes to "breath life into the the music"---clueless. to me the closest association to be an interpreter of classical music, is an actor. you are given a script. you need to comprehend this script, this character, and bring it to life in a meaningful and convincing way.
   i just can't get that damn accompinament figure right. nor decide how to play that f**kin' detached note--keep going back and forth---can't stand it!

[matterintospirit]

Style? Whattya mean with style?? It's a Fantasy! It's like a spontaneous improvisation. Do you know CPE Bach's Fantasies? It's not that style of "music box-Mozart", that some seem to think of as the "classical style", which never was the classical style. Never!

Thank you very much for the Link to the Gavrilov video! He plays wonderful, with much rubato and many tempo changes. Just as I like it 

oh yeh good point counterpoint. music from the classical period is the most cherished by people who feel a need to cling to rules in order to avoid chaos. only problem is that art "springs" more or less from chaos. form emerging out of nothingness.

[counterpoint]

oh yeh good point counterpoint. music from the classical period is the most cherished by people who feel a need to cling to rules in order to avoid chaos. only problem is that art "springs" more or less from chaos. form emerging out of nothingness.

Finally someone who understands my view of musical art 

I'm very pleased 

[prongated]

Style? Whattya mean with style?? It's a Fantasy! It's like a spontaneous improvisation. Do you know CPE Bach's Fantasies? It's not that style of "music box-Mozart", that some seem to think of as the "classical style", which never was the classical style. Never!

Thank you very much for the Link to the Gavrilov video! He plays wonderful, with much rubato and many tempo changes. Just as I like it 

...shame the Revolutionary Etude isn't as accomplished...

thnx even though you sent it to tell me i don't know what i'm doing

>< sorry...didn't mean to lavish that impression upon you! ><
I link it merely to give some idea of what I thought was quite a good performance of the work...and it certainly is not there to suggest your playing is bad! Far from it!

[prongated]

prongated, I really would like to hear your own interpretation of this piece. This comment is so absurd, I would really like to hear, how you play it 

...and please read my comments within their respectful contexts. Comment no. 2 will not make sense without reading no. 1. If you do that, no. 2 essentially reads: "No tempo changes unless warranted by the music"

[pianochick93]

I thought that the first bit was too fast. Some of the notes could've been less staccato, where they weren't marked as staccato that is. I think the first Presto Agitato bit could have had a bit more pedal top make it more smooth. Ditto with the second bit, and the chromatic I thought was a bit too slow at the start. The left hand of the last page for me was a bit too staccato. Otherwise It was very well played. Sorry if I nitpicked a bit too much. I have a firm idea in my head of how it should sound, and I should let go of it a little.

Don't think I'm saying you are bad at playing, you definately aren't, but I just though you interpreted some bits a little strangely.

[matterintospirit]

Dear pianowolfi, prongated, pianistimo, counterpoint, pianochick93,
    Thnx for taking the time to listen and comment. All feedback was xtremely helpful. now have much better ideas. Still retaining my overall concept, but working on much clearer definition of themes via more consistent and definitive phrasing, more sensitivity, steadier tempi particularly the finale, etc. etc. First time I am starting to feel good about the peice as a whole---before it was just parts that I liked.  Listening to a recording of myself revealed a lot of inconsistencies and some undesirable"effects" that I had not been aware of.
   Just for the record, I see the piece as a sort of "psycodrama"---a play. After the brief overture, the curtain goes up. Enter three distinct characters. One whistful and resigned, one agiatated and questioning, one authoritative. The dialogue unravels with no particular resolution. Then the sun comes out alla "Magic Flute" and all is well in the world.