rachmaninoff etude op. 39, no. 9

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i can't believe im posting this!  :-X

i need to fix this in the near future...

[jlh]

It's too loud too often.  What do I mean?  Even when you have molto marcato and FF in the beginning chords, there needs to be a hierarchy in the accents.  Beat 1 needs a good accent, beat 2 not so much, beat 3 almost as much as 1, and 4 is less than 2.

I'd do a little dim. right before the mf of meas. 6.  The downbeats of meas's 14-17 are your target chords, so don't stop before reaching them -- play through to those chords.  Meas 34 has a wrist action of down on the 1st beat and up on the 2nd, that will give you the appropriate amount of distinction between accented and unaccented beats.  Same thing for measures 36-37... except now it's down on 2 and 4 and up on 1 and 3 -- the accents fall in different spots now.  You cresc. in meas 37 when it's marked dim going to a P -- why?  That spot in meas 38 is much quieter than you play it, especially the RH.

Moving on to measure 67... why so loud?  it's marked pp and you're playing it like it's FF.  It doesn't get to FF until measure 79 -- 12 measures later.  take your time and do the cresc poco a poco.  You can make some things accented, but don't force the volume.

This is not an easy one to pull off, but be careful not to give away all your power too early -- the fff doesn't come until the very end, and you need to have some energy for that.

I recorded this one several months ago, and the file is attached.  Did I do everything on there that I said here, no, but much of what I said I did do.  So listen to the file if you'd like, find what works for you and realize that what I said here is just my opinion.

There were a lot of very good moments in your recording, so don't think I'm saying it's a bad performance, but you asked for comments, so these are mine.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

thanks for the help. i need those ideas for my review of this piece. i sounded really like i was out of control, and i never thought i'd post it... but i need help because im planning to play it as an encore for my recital next year.  ;D this recording was like 3 years ago.

yeah, actually the way you played it is something which i had in mind already for the next time i play it, except for the dim before the mf.  ;D i'm planning not to do the same tempo i did, but maybe a lil slower. i gotta fix my rhythms too.

that recording was also influenced by only one artist, Horowitz (rediscovered album) he played it so badly coz of old age, but people still loved it. not that mine sounded like his recording, but somehow it had a lot to tell me. i failed to listen to others, but now i've heard a lot, plus yours too, and i think i have a different concept now. i hope it'll work.

idel biret's was good too.

thanks again. will post it in the near future. :)