Mozart K332 Allegro

[daniloperusina]

First movement from the F major sonata. It's work in progress, including mistakes...
Any comments very welcome!

[piano121]

Work in Progress? I think it´s quite cool. Your piano does sound very nice to. The part around 1:12, is very good. nice stacatto sound, the contrast is great. Very suitable for Mozart. Actualy, despite very very tiny thinks, such as clarity in a few fast spots,  it sounds very close to a final recordig to me.  Keep up the great work!

[daniloperusina]

Thank you very much! Very glad you liked the staccato section. It's very tricky isn't it? A sort of melodic and structural staccato which is very difficult to play well, and I'm sort of biting my tounge there in the recording, and I'm not perfectly happy with it yet.

[teresa_b]

Hi d,

I got sidetracked yesterday, but finally managed to listen.  Very nice! 

It doesn't sound quite as polished as the andante, but as you said, it's a work in progress.  (It's still excellent!)  And yes, it is quite tricky.  I don't take it quite as staccato myself, but I like your interpretation. 

Now, how 'bout the 3rd movement?
Teresa

[daniloperusina]

Thanks Teresa! Actually, another topic somewhere here about pedalling in Mozart made me try that section without pedal, whereas I used to pedal the sforzandi before. I kind of liked the sound this way, to control the sustain there with fingers alone. And it can be held longer than I do too.

[rachfan]

Hi daniloperusina,

"Work in progress" or not, you do a very fine job with this Mozart sonata.  I particularly like your careful articulation, the etching of the lines, voice leading, the incredibly judicious pedaling, and your even playing of the Mozartian "strings of pearls" as we say.  Very nice indeed!

And... the piano is in tune!     (In case anyone is wondering, this is a inside joke.) 

I haven't played Viennese Classical era music for years, as my hands are too large to execute all the intricacies that you do so flawlessly.  (I do play Beethoven and Schubert, but consider them more as transitional composers reaching into early Romanticism.)  So when I can listen to someone like you play Mozart seemingly so effortlessly, I'm impressed!

This piece is nearing recital pitch, so keep up the good work!

[daniloperusina]

Rachfan, I'm very happy for your kind compliments! Thank you!

I learn to tune myself. This is one of my first aural tunings!
(May I recommend this type of study for you too? )

I have big hands too and cannot perform on all pianos. Luckily, this Steinway is from the '60s, and has rather thinner black keys, so I have no problems of playing between them. But I sometimes come across pianos where my fingers can't get between the blacks. Highly irritating!

[rachfan]

Hi daniloperusina,

Actually, I do keep a tuning lever on hand to take the curse off a note here or there between tunings.  I have tuned pianos before, usually as a favor to friends who have less expensive, old pianos where I can't do much harm.  But I prefer to have my own piano done by the tuner. 

I had an interesting experience though a couple of months ago.  While the new strings were stretching on my Baldwin, one note in the high treble slipped.  When I attempted to turn the pin (the new pins one size larger are TIGHT), the metal alloy (a cheap tuning lever) in a nanosecond shattered!  The sudden release of torque threw my hand against the plate, but I wasn't hurt, and was just glad that a fragment hadn't flown up into an eye.  I recovered one large fragment quickly, but the other one eluded me.  Then, after making the Bortkiewicz recording I posted here (on page 2 now), I heard an odd "ping" sound on the recording.  Having perfect pitch, I knew right where to look on the scale, but at first detected nothing.  Then with a high intensity lamp, I saw a recessed area underneath a plate strut, and there was the elusive fragment lying on top of the waste string of the note I suspected.  I got tweezers and very gingerly fished it out, as I didn't feel like having it drop down into the action.  Had that happened, it would have been ok, as I've taken the action out a million times, as I do almost all regulation myself, depending on the tech only for the really esoteric stuff.  So I still could have retrieved that fragment, but with the additional inconvenience and aggravation.  Needless to say, I then bought a high quality tuning lever!    

On large hands:  My technical routine is to do all scales major and harmonic minor working downward by thirds, then the next time upward.  Same with arpeggios.  There are a couple of scales that give me fits for the reason you mention--getting fingers stuck between the black keys especially if I'm sitting a bit too close. 

Speaking of sitting, I got a new Jansen artist bench today to replace my 23 year old Concerto artist bench.  The Jansen is superior, and I love it.  So comfortable!

I'm surprised with large hands that you do so well with Mozart.  Usually it's the pianists with small hands who really excel at it.  My hat is off to you!  I could never play Mozart like that.

[daniloperusina]

Never heard about a tuning lever breaking before. That's a good warning though! I should invest in a better one too...

Glad that you do your own regulation. I do too, and it strikes me that many more pianists should be able to do that. Firstly because if a piano we have to play on gives us a problem, it might be easily fixed by ourselves. Secondly because we can improve the pianos we have, as wear and tear inevitably will throw the regulation off as time goes by.

What do mean with waste string? Non-sounding part of the string, or do you have an extra string per note, like Blüthner?

I always sit on a chair, otherwise my back would kill me!

Again, thanks for the compliments!

[rachfan]

Yes, the waste string is the very short non-"speaking" segment immediately behind the pinblock and before the agrafes.