Brahms - Variations and fugue on a theme by Handel

[fnork]

https://www.kyrkan-storage-01.com/files/audio/mw/mw38.mp3

First time on concert, from a pianofestival in Trelleborg (southern Sweden) this summer.

My teacher speaks a bit in the beginning. All concerts from the festival will be uploaded as videos later, some good stuff there - Vladimir Ovchinnikov had a great solo concert with a fantastic Rachmaninoffs moment musicaux etc..Some of his students from Moscow conservatory were playing there too - I can let you know when the videos have been uploaded.

[fnork]

hmm, maybe I should've listened to the recording myself before posting it here  Some not good moments, quite a lot of them actually...I remembered feeling not too bad about the performance after the concert though, but it feels quite different listening to the recording now afterwards...a few other pieces from the festival went better though - Nielsen chaconne, berg sonata etc...will post those later. And perhaps remove this one 

[pianovirus]

hmm, maybe I should've listened to the recording myself before posting it here  Some not good moments, quite a lot of them actually...I remembered feeling not too bad about the performance after the concert though, but it feels quite different listening to the recording now afterwards...a few other pieces from the festival went better though - Nielsen chaconne, berg sonata etc...will post those later. And perhaps remove this one 

Thanks for sharing the recording! It must be a great feeling to play this gorgeous piece live. So far, I only had time to listen up to (including) var. 5 (want to listen more later though). So far, really, really great playing!! May I ask of the "not so good moments" you refer to - is one of them in the beginning up to var. 5 (except from a few wrong or missed notes, which don't matter)?

I like the way you set up the theme in a relatively quiet mood. Very nice articulation! (very subjective preference - I would like the trills a bit more "crisp", especially the first two of them). It's just a personal taste - but I like a somewhat sharper contrast after the theme by starting very energetically into var. 1. On the other hand you leave more room for building up by starting the 1st var. more in the mood of theme. I like your playing in that var. a lot, too.
Then, var.2: Bravo!!! I like your shaping of the voices very much here. Very good  polyphonic playing.
Var. 3. A tiny bit static? but I guess that's deliberate and adequate before var. 4.
var. 4. Bravo again! Energetic sforzati. (a few wrong notes don't matter - it's the "human factor" of an unedited live recording)

As I said, I hope I can listen more later. But I thought to give a brief applause for what I listened so far, given that you seemed to have some doubts.

P.S. Your teacher seemed to have made a little joke in the beginning. People were laughing a bit at one point. Would we have a little laugh as well if we understood?

[fnork]

Thanks for the comment!
In general, it's just a big piece and of course, you can't expect everything to work in a first performance - especially since MOST of the program for the festival was recently-learned pieces performed for the first time...But I felt that some of the variations lacked character, too much misses here and there since I wasn't in best shape and, a stupid memory-lapse in one of the last variations - ironically, a "easy" variation which I didn't practice - this is what happens when you mostly/only work on the "difficult" variations 

[fnork]

There wasn't too much of a joke perhaps - he just said that Brahms wrote lots of piano music and music with piano, and that towards the end of his life he did the very boring 51 excercises which, my teacher said, we all have practiced a lot...
And about trills, agreed - maybe my hands were cold or something, I anyway managed to make it work better after the first two.

About the other comments in the variations..I remember going on stage wanting to have a very spontaneous approach to the music, ie not just make things sound sponaneous but at times try things which I didn't even try before in the practice room, which is always risky. So, some things worked better, others did not, I guess.

If anyone's interrested, I have recordings of Vladimir Ovchinnikovs concert and other concerts too from the same festival - PM if you're interrested, but as I said, everything will be uploaded as videos quite soon anyway...

[ramseytheii]

Theme - I have never been a fan of the trend to overshorten notes, one of the principal abusers of today being Andras Schiff.  Especially in this Baroque, gracious and elegant aria, it makes the music sound so glib and ironic.  String players tend to play Baroque music like this today too, with excessively square gestures, and complete absence of vibrato.  I urge you to reconsider this aria, in a more direct and sensuous way.

Var. 1 - The tempo should be the same as the aria.  And no need to rush!  When you make the aria sound more beautiful, this will also sound like more of a contrast.  As it is, it sounds exactly the same quality, but faster.  And you end in a very matter-of-fact way!

Var. 2 - Nice sound!  I think you should think deeper about the voicing.  There are a lot of voices and layers, which I don't hear.  This needs to be more interesting in terms of voicing.

Var. 3 - It sounds like the hands are not using the same articulation.  I would listen critically to how you use the pedal, and use less of it.

Var. 4 - Nice spirit!

Var. 5 - Brahms distinguishes between a solo melody (with counterpoint in the left hand), and the entrance of fuller chords.  We need to hear this more.  Right now, it is so top heavy, that one can't hear the "orchestration."  Also in the second half, the left hand has interesting passage with the thumb in the sequential bit, but we can't hear it (esp. the A-natural)

Var. 6 - Tsk tsk!  Watch your legato!  This in my mind, is a good pedalling etude.  Think how the pedal can affect our perception of legato, and try and use it in a more artistic way, congruent with the music's atmosphere, more than with the literal rhythm.

Var. 7 - I like this very much!  The only thing that is missing, is more extreme dim. at the ends of each half.

Var. 8 - This is promising, it sounds like you have hit your stride.

Var. 9 - Watch the long line. 

Var. 10 - You can obviously play it.  Keep practicing!

Var. 11 - Second half needs more interesting voicing, it's all top voice.  Where's the counterpoint? 

Var. 12 - Definitely more articulation in the second half, with the slurs.  !!  Frankly it sounds like you weren't even trying!  I like the sound quality.

Var. 13 - I've never understood this one as much.  I suspect it needs a grander character.  It's definitely not jolly, but you play it in a way, that if it was major, would sound downright jolly.  I think you should make the inflection, and the rhythm, match the character of the music more.  But as I said, I've always had trouble with this one.

Var. 14 - I think the bass line should be much more apparent, esp. in the first half.  When you practice consecutive sixths, imagine the voices are crossing, not going consecutively.  For instance, when you have, D-F C-Eb Bb-D C-Eb D-F, I think of it in these two voices: D Eb Bb D and F C D C F.  It has the effect of making consecutive double notes, more secure, by keeping the hand supple and relaxed.  If this is confusing, I can type out some music on PDF and publish it here, to show you what I mean.

Var. 15 -  I think this, and the variation before (you did well to match the tempi), should both be a bit slower.  They should be in a word, more robust.  Right now they sound a bit rushed, and thin.  They should be thicker, slightly more heavy, like heavy-footed Austrians clomping up the Untersberg.  Don't think of these as virtuoso pieces, but as grand orchestral dances.

Var. 16 - Is there a fermata after 15?  I can't remember, but it seems to me, the momentum should keep going.  I could be wrong.  This is also too fast, but if you do the previous two a bit slower, this will be in the proper tempo as well.

Var. 17 - I still disagree with your staccato.  I think it should have the cushion of a woodwind sound, not the brittleness of a xylophone.

Var. 18 - Pedalling!  But it is still beautiful.  You see, you can play beautifully!

Var. 19 - I appreciate that you do the mordants on the beat, rather than before.  Most people play it before, but this sounds much more lovely.  That said, I don't think you are totally consistent.  But you've got the right idea!

Var. 20 - Longer line!  Also there are other interesting voicings which you can explore in this creative variation.  Don't be satisfied, with top voice alone!

Var. 21 - I think you missed the point of this variation.  We can't clearly hear the grace notes, which is where the melody is.  This is what I mean about getting caught up in the top voice.  Sometimes that is all us pianists notice, but the truth is not always located there.  In general, you should explore the music more.

Var. 22 - Where are the accents?  It's all top voice.  That's not what Brahms wrote, plain and simple.  I sympathize with your memory lapse, this variation can be slightly confusing with all the V - I, I - V, going to the E-flat, going to the F, etc. 

Var. 23 - It's slightly square.  I think it needs a more threatening character, which you will get from making more wave-like crescendos on the upwardly mobile triplets.  It is a short amount of time to crescendo, so it has to be extreme, to be registered by the ear.

Var. 24 - A little dry to my taste, but that is a personal taste.  Also needs more extreme character.  The character is slightly Czerny like, because of the dryness you use, and also the crescendi are not that perceptible.  It has to be more extreme, for the listener to understand it.

Var. 25 - More robust!  More grand!  It sounds like you are not really having fun with it, but just playing through.  It's not even really a question of, being too fast, though I think it is too fast, it is a question of this overjoyed, exultant character, that doesn't need to rush through anything, someone just wants to throw out their arms in joy and take in the world!  that's missing.

Fugue - Something sounds wrong with the rhythmic inflection, it sounds like you are placing downbeats, where they are actually offbeats, in the opening section before the dynamic change.

When the register gets lower in cons. sixths, change tone quality.  Then when it moves to thirds, change again.

nice crescendo into the minor key theme entrance...

nice transition into the flat major appearance... And good job with the voicing!  Why dont you do that, more often?

When the music gets louder here into forte, sequencing into more tempestuous harmonies, watch the legato in the LH.  When you get short notes, it sounds like little drops of urine tinkling in the water.  It sohuld be a fuller stream, like a man urinates.

Listening ahead.. to the syncopated passage... sounds good... tho watch legato...

When you transition to that pedal point-like passage (pedal point is in the RH) , don't let the momentum die entirely.  i don't think it is good for the overal structure.

Theme simultaneously in original + inversion... I recommend pracitcing sixths as I mentioned above...

At the "bell tone" pedal point section (octave Fs) thirds should be practiced in the same way as cons. sixths..  should be more pedal, more robust, more grand.  When the RH goes into octave scales, and LH gets more complicated with the theme played twice in diff. registers and in inversion, don't let the music sound crazy.  This is not a Lisztian climax where all hell breaks loose.  It's easy to play that way because it is hard.  But control the tempo, control yourseklf, and don't play like Liszt

The end needs to be much, much much more grand and robust.

Sorry, was typing all that in real time while listening.  i hope it makes sense.

I think you've got a good grip on it and keep practicing.  For some of it I think you need to rethink your conception.

Thanks for posting this marvellous piece!

Walter Ramsey

[fnork]

About voicing - everyone has different ideas about how to do it, some like to highlight certain voices while playing the "main" melody softer - Pletnev and Moischewitsch for instance, they do that a lot in this piece. Others don't, it's just a matter of taste. My take is that I'm not sure "highlighting" is that necessary in this music as long as all voices are heard clearly, which they are - for most part - in my recording. Tell me, what voice in var. 2 didn't you hear for example? Perhaps your ears expected a certain voice-highlighting which I didn't do, I don't know...But all voices are there, they are clear.

"Is there a fermata after 15?"

Yes there is.

[ramseytheii]

About voicing - everyone has different ideas about how to do it, some like to highlight certain voices while playing the "main" melody softer - Pletnev and Moischewitsch for instance, they do that a lot in this piece. Others don't, it's just a matter of taste. My take is that I'm not sure "highlighting" is that necessary in this music as long as all voices are heard clearly, which they are - for most part - in my recording. Tell me, what voice in var. 2 didn't you hear for example? Perhaps your ears expected a certain voice-highlighting which I didn't do, I don't know...But all voices are there, they are clear.

"Is there a fermata after 15?"

Yes there is.

I don't mean highlighting in the sense like a Cherkassky or Moiseiwitch might do it, but I think your performance would certainly benefit from more counterpoint.  To me, it's too top heavy, in that you deny the inner parts a certain presence and continuity.  I don't mean, now this should be the loudest; now that; now this!  But that there has to be viable counterpoint, and not so much weight concentrated solely on one voice.

Although everyone has different ideas, one still has to consider first and foremost what's in the score.  So for instance, in Var. 22, Brahms has accents on the inner, repeated notes, not on the melody.  I'm not making the statement, that those have to be louder, but they have to be heard all with equal accentuation, and I can't hear it in your performance!  All I can hear is continuity of the top voice; but all the parts should have continuity, and the proper accentuation.

In Var. 21, the voicing also is not a question of subjectivity.  The melody lies in the grace notes, which are not the top voice.  I don't hear a continuity to that line; I hear a few of them coming out, a few not.

In Var. 11, there is imitative counterpoint with the RH and LH, and the whole lines need to be heard, as imitation, including (perhaps especially) that drop of a fourth!

In Var. 5, it is a texture issue, using the voicing to distinguish between solo melody, and one with accompanying chords.

In var. 2, it is also mainly a texture issue.  I wasn't clear in my original analysis, but what I meant was that the voices have to be better differentiated.  It sounds now, to me, like there is a top voice, and the other all blend together.  But they are so beautifully written in counterpoint; one voice goes down, then holds a note, while the other voice then moves down; then they move together; then this, then that.  They all have to be differentiated better, in my opinion, and you can accomplish this mainly by making sure the longer note values sound for the entire written value.  That way, we will be able to hear the voice which come to a rest, and those which are moving.

Also, I think that the touch you use in the left hand doesn't help to differentiate the counterpoint.  Each voice in the left hand, must have a more different touch.

Var. 2 has to sound very free and phantasy-like, which you get when the triplets sort of float around, and underneath them is this highly organized, but free-sounding counterpoint.

I hope this is more clear!

Walter Ramsey

[pianovirus]

About voicing - everyone has different ideas about how to do it, some like to highlight certain voices while playing the "main" melody softer - Pletnev and Moischewitsch for instance, they do that a lot in this piece. Others don't, it's just a matter of taste. My take is that I'm not sure "highlighting" is that necessary in this music as long as all voices are heard clearly, which they are - for most part - in my recording. Tell me, what voice in var. 2 didn't you hear for example? Perhaps your ears expected a certain voice-highlighting which I didn't do, I don't know...But all voices are there, they are clear.

I fully agree regarding the voices in var. 2; I found that beautiful and just right. It's certainly a matter of taste, but I would leave it as it is in this case.