Recital - Chopin and Liszt

[soderlund]

I'm having a recital tomorrow, and thought I'd record the programme, mostly as practice for myself. This is the grand piano I will be playing on, it's a really nice Steinway.
I recorded the pieces exactly as I will play them tomorrow, I did not do any new recordings if something went wrong, and only gave myself one try. I play this all from memory, which might be stupid if I get lost, but it is much more impressive without the notes, and I don't think I would use them anyway. So, here's the first take, all recorded at once:

Chopin:
Prelude no. 4 in e minor
Prelude no. 3 in g major
Prelude no. 20 in c minor
Prelude no. 22 in g minor
Etude op. 25 no. 2 in f minor
Etude op.10 no. 12 in c minor (revolutionairy study)

The second part is:

Liszt:
Consolation no.2 in e major
Liebesträume no.3 in Ab major

Chopin:
Mazurka op. 6 no. 1 in F# minor
Fantasie Impromptu in C# minor

Extra pieces:
Poem by Zdenko Fibich
Prelude no.11 in B major - Chopin

As you will hear I am not a very technical pianist, yet. I am working hard on my technique now though, many Chopin etudes. I lost myself in Liebesträume, sorry about that. It won't happen tomorrow though, I usually never miss that part.

The recital tomorrow isn't very important, but it is my first major performance ever. About 50-60 people will be listening, and I will be the only one playing. I will probably be very nervous, but I hope I can keep somewhat calm and think about what I'm doing.

Please give some comments, everything is welcome.

Jonathan

[piano121]

Well, I just listened to the whole thing. It´s Preety cool, man! You put togheter a very nice repertoire! congrats on that. Your first part programme is very well done, pretty respectable playing. The etudes are great, The preludes very good as well. Only as a personal preference, I would like to listen the prelude 3 a little faster, it´s a very nice prelude, and you are doing it very well, very clear and all, it´s very beautifull. That was only a personal coment.

The beggining of the second part with two lirical pieces is very adequate, both for the audiences ans for you as well, to get some rest from the fast etudes. It´s nice because it sort of grows from consolation, then Liebestraum kid of buids the climax to the Chopin pieces. Finishing with FIis also a very good choise imo. Very good arrangement on your recital, and you play the pieces very well to.

About the Liebestraum, I think it was a pretty good recovery man! I mean, you manage to get back to the road very well, I bet lots of people on the audience won´t even care about it.

on FI you got a little noticeable slips, where I would be more carefull, but overall, it´s a quite correct performance.

the extra pieces are nice to. The prelude 2 is such a beautifull little piece. Isn´t it a wonderfull way of finishig a recital? I love it.

I don´t agree you are not good technicaly. You might not be perfect, but your playing is very clear and sounds very solid. I´m shure your recital will be a great success. You play very well, and the instrument is great to. Good luck and all the best. Hope to find more of your stuff here!

[jlh]

Cool idea... I haven't listened to it yet, but I'll try tomorrow when I'm not so tired. 

Did you record your recital?  Would be cool to see how it went!

Josh

[soderlund]

Thanks for the comments, piano121, it was nice reading. Perhaps now, if I get the opportunity to record on the piano, I would dare post some more. What I can say about the recital... It went really well, much better than I had expected or hoped for. I played better than the recording, definitely, although I was pretty nervous.

Okay, about the pieces. The third prelude, in g major, and the f minor etude was the main reason I said that my technique wasn't very developed yet. Listen to Ashkenazy's recording of that prelude, it is a lot faster, and the left hand is played less forte. I can't do it though, I know how I want it to sound like, but I can't play it faster and keep good rythm, and I find it hard to play it lighter. The f minor etude, should also be played lighter with more dynamic variation, and if you listen carefully, my left and my right hand aren't completely together, I miss the beat quite often. I figured it was to late to do anything about this for the recital, and most non-musicians don't think about those things at all.
About the FI, I know there are a few slip like you said, and this is because I've played it too much I think. I ought to go back and practice it slowly again, but I consider it finished now after the recital, and in a year when my technique is better I'll get back to these pieces.

I did record the recital, on a video. It is pretty old, so I'll be having some troubles with transferring it to the computer. When I do, I need to cut it, several minutes are completely uninteresting. When that is done, I might put it on youtube. I'll let you know if that happens.

Thanks a lot,

Jonathan

[piano121]

Well, I think you are doing pretty good. So, what are you doing about technique? I have been studying Brahm´s exercises, wich are great. Its´helping me a lot with the technique. I´m doing along with moszkwsky petit etudes, and starting to work on some chopin etudes. But, i think, along with the pieces, the exercises are very important to keep the fingers going very evenly and controled. Tell me what are you doing specificaly.

[soderlund]

A good answer to that, piano121, needs a bit of explanation.
What you need to understand is that I've been selftaught for a long time. I started taking lessons in Septembre, a bit more than half a year ago. I have been playing the piano for about two years. Well, the first time I sat down at a piano with the actual intention of learning something was a bit more than two years ago, but I started practicing seriously about one and a half year ago. It might seem impressive to build this kind of repertoire in that amount of time, but it isn't very special. Since I was selftaught, I didn't bother about proper technique very much, I didn't know what it was. Therefor, I have missed several essential things, especially playing relaxed (I am very tense) and using wrists to play legato. Overall, I use too much finger strength instead of wrists. Now, I have a really good teacher that's helping me to overcome these technical issues.
What I am doing is building a basic technique. Through scales and arpeggi, exercises in thirds, etc. Perhaps not a very interesting answer. I am working a lot with Bach right now, because it helps me develop proper rythm playing in strict tempo, things I have never really bothered about before. I am working on the first and second movement of his f minor concerto, and the C minor prelude and fugue from WTK 1. Chopin etudes I am doing right now are op.10 no.1 and op.25 no.9. Others that I am working on now and then, but don't really have time for, are op.10 no.9, op. 25 no.12 and the second of the Trois Nouvelles Etudes in Ab major.

A friend of mine filmed some of the recital. I put it on youtube, the quality is poor, but at least it's something. Listen especially to Liebesträume, I did that one quite well, better than the recording at least.

Revolutionary study:

 
Fantasie Impromptu:

 
Liebesträume:

 
Poem:

[counterpoint]

Great musician - and the technique is not bad at all!

Hope to hear more from you!