Scriabin - Op. 32, No. 1

[anekdote]

I figured I should put up a recording of myself playing this piece on the internet for some feedback. Any criticism or advice is welcome.

And please ignore my squeaking bench, squeaking pedal, and poor recording quality.

[Nightscape]

You must be a Scriabin fan - his music is amazing, isn't it?

ms 6. - You really shouldn't accent this g# in the rh so much,  remember this whole section is to be played 'dolce'.  Try and aim for a more 'vieled', gentle sound in this section.  It sounds a little harsh as it is currently.  To me, this piece is very daydreamish.

ms 9-10 - make sure and really get off of each of those sixteenth notes before playing the next one.  No, you don't want them 'staccato', but you want them light, and fleeting.  Think of a flute playing a pianissimo (notice the pp under the notes) up a scale, light as a feather.

ms 11 - instead of smashing into that D#, try and 'press' into it.  Since it is the high point of this section, it should certainly be given emphasis, but don't make it sound like a knife piercing a heart.

The next section, marked Inaferando, seems to have a lot of wrong notes in them.  Some of them sound 'intentional', which leads me to think you may have learned the wrong notes to begin with.  Either that, or the piano is badly out of tune.

Also, don't bring out the lower voice in the RH so much, it should be more like a supportive rest for the melody above it (they really seemed to stick out when I listened to this).

Overall, you have done a good job getting a grip on this piece.  However, it sounds very harsh to the ears.  The sound coming from the piano seems very forced.  Overall, this piece needs to be at a much lower dynamic level.  It sounds like you are 'hitting' the keys, rather than caressing and pressing into them as this particular work requires.

[anekdote]

I did have some wrong notes. I didn't know that those x's meant double-sharps (cut me some slack, I'm self-taught). I thought something sounded wrong! So now that's fixed.

I've pretty much considered this piece finished. I have a new and better recording now (recorded on my iriver).