Schumann/Liszt - Widmung

[donjuan]

Ok, this is my first recording for the forum.  Sound quality is pretty bad and you hear computer clicking noises throughout.  As for the playing...well, for some reason, my touch sounds more annoyingly percussive in the recording, compared to how it did sound... but anyway, no more excuses! comments and suggestions, please! 
donjuan

[steinwayguy]

It's nice, I don't really know the piece very well. What kind of piano are you using? And recording device? The playing is very good, but the piano/recording device kidn of ruin it, unless of course you have really harsh tone.

[donjuan]

Yeah, now the more I listen to what I did, the more I hate the tin can recording quality.  It really hurts my ears, what I hear in the recording.  For some reason, the microphone doesnt let the sound ring, but it quickly dies out - the result: the touch sounds really abraisive and sound gets disrupted.  I think I will try a different recording arrangement another day.  It might also be my touch, but until I get a better microphone we cannot really make a fair evaluation from the recording.
The piano is a 5'8'' Yamaha C2, but the recording device is just the built in microphone on my laptop.
Thanks for the feedback

[jlh]

You've got a nice touch!  This is actually the first fairly difficult Liszt piece I learned, and I love it.

Be careful in the opening few pages that you don't rush the melody.  Up until the key change to E major the piece sounds a lot like the accompaniment to the song Widmung, so it shouldn't be blazed through.  Milk that melody for everything you can.  In other words, it may be more effective at a slightly slower tempo.  If you get a chance to listen to a recording of the song, you'll see what I mean -- the words alone suggest raw emotion.  One other minor thing is that when you're doing those Eb dominant 7th arpeggios in both hands, make sure the hands work together.

Great job!  Too bad the recording is not as good as your playing!

[tds]

what a tremendous musicianship: very artistic and honest! i am willing to pay good money to each and every concert of yours. warmest regards, tds

[donjuan]

Thanks for your responses!
Jih, I can see you know what you are talking about.  When I played this piece in a competition, the adjudicator said pretty much the same thing.  It's weird how I hear opposite suggestions.  One person tells me to express the melody and think about the phrasing, and then another suggests to not play with too much rubato so the audience doesnt get lost and to make sure I pay attention to the rhythm so it sounds more noble rather than sad.  I guess I just have to find a medium everyone can understand. 
Yeah, those Eb major arpeggios keep falling apart on me.  At slow speed, it's no problem, but they are hard to control at a pace any faster.
Thank you for the suggestions, I will try to apply them.

And thank you tds!  That means so much to me.
donjuan

[lostinidlewonder]

I have to agree with the comments from jlh. When you play anything from Schumann you have to remember he was one of the greatest melody writers of all time. This means you have to bring out the melody so much more than you normally would with other pieces, being over the top, exaggeration, is good. I found this really tough when I was told by my teacher while practicing Schumann to force the melody out so that it stands totally seperate from what supports it and itself. Then bring it under control when you have the piece closer to mastery.

Maybe it is the mic, but I think if the melodic lines in this peice where louder voiced the presentation would be overall much better, a smoother sound. The music sounds sometimes a little "choppy" yes because of the mic, but also i think because the melodic lines are not brought out enough and given full length and character so that it stand out from the supporting lines but still lets itself interact with their sound.

Nicely played though, got better as you went along i reckon!

[jlh]

Thanks for your responses!
Jih, I can see you know what you are talking about.  When I played this piece in a competition, the adjudicator said pretty much the same thing.  It's weird how I hear opposite suggestions.  One person tells me to express the melody and think about the phrasing, and then another suggests to not play with too much rubato so the audience doesnt get lost and to make sure I pay attention to the rhythm so it sounds more noble rather than sad.  I guess I just have to find a medium everyone can understand. 
Yeah, those Eb major arpeggios keep falling apart on me.  At slow speed, it's no problem, but they are hard to control at a pace any faster.
Thank you for the suggestions, I will try to apply them.

And thank you tds!  That means so much to me.
donjuan

I think that it the melody is properly phrased musically, the audience won't get lost.  There is a fine line to walk when playing pieces like this, but as lostinidlewonder said, the melody is very important in this work, and once you've mastered the technical aspects of the piece, it's much easier to bring it all together in a musically satisfying way.  It sounds like you're at that point now, so good luck with it!