Chopin, Prelude in b minor, Op 28, no 6

[m19834]

 

[goldentone]

This touches me as no other performance I've heard of this piece.  The deep, moaning cry reaches me.  The dynamic range is sweet icing for the ears.  You play beautifully, compellingly, and with authority.

I think if Chopin had heard you play, he would have said to you, You said it.

[pianovirus]

Very good! Beautiful playing.

[m19834]

Thank you very much to both of you .  I haven't been working on this piece for all that long and have been working with some specific ideas, some of which I am still wanting to do a better job of incorporating.

It's interesting, I have always had some kind of discomfort with working on a piece as though it will reach a point where it finally becomes "art" in a way that one would hang it on a wall and call it final, as though that is what a performance and/or recording is supposed to be (perhaps this is the main reason I have not developed my drawing and painting more and have gravitated toward investing more time and effort into music ?  hmmmm ... maybe I am missing something ....).  As though every little nuance is all worked out before hand, and the only thing that you do in practice is try to perfect these pre-planned ideas.  Well, I am realizing more and more that there is a need for that (of course !), and these sorts of interpretive structures may provide a springboard of sorts to continue from, but every time a piece is played, it will still be a little different than the last.  There is just infinite discovery I guess, and sometimes it's tough to know how that all relates.  Listening to a recording of any one take, I think it's easy to find still more ideas on how to better express something, or just simply how a particular element would sound better if done a little differently.

I suppose there is always some balance taking place between those things which are structured and those things which are not planned and subject only to the moment of performance.  That very thing has been one of the biggest mysteries of music to me, or perhaps of the human/individual interaction with music.  A computer will not come up with ideas on its own when playing back a piece of music through midi or so, and it won't breathe, but when a person plays it, the music becomes subject to so much more -- it is then subject to everything the person is, which is somehow consistent yet changing everyday.  I suppose there are many ways to "say it" but perhaps the aim is to reach a point when it couldn't be said any better ?  I don't know.

Okay, time for practice, I think  .

[arensky]

This is very good. I would like to hear more variety of tone color; not just dynamic contrasts (these are excellent) but in the shading and texture, it's a little dry for my taste. But it's a good performance, no question about it. 

[m19834]

Hi Arensky, thanks for listening and for your comments.  I was probably a bit hasty in recording this and posting it, but I couldn't help myself  .  The good news is that I will have a competely different take of it (and I am assuming it will be a better take) in the nearish future.  Today I listened to a recording that I made of this right after I took it to a coach a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I have been neglecting some things that he talked with me about (without realizing that I was neglecting these things), and these actually make a big difference in the potency of the tone.  So, even today it's quite a bit different than yesterday.  Thank you for your comments, I am storing them in my cap .

[communist]

i will never be able to play this piece again 

[m19834]

i will never be able to play this piece again 

hmmm ... I am not sure what to make of this !  But, I suppose it implies that you did at least listen and one way or another, you developed an opinion.  Thanks for listening .

[michel dvorsky]

This touches me as no other performance I've heard of this piece.  The deep, moaning cry reaches me.  The dynamic range is sweet icing for the ears.  You play beautifully, compellingly, and with authority.

I think if Chopin had heard you play, he would have said to you, You said it.

Evidently, you have not head Benno's recording. 

[db05]

i will never be able to play this piece again 

hmmm ... I am not sure what to make of this !  But, I suppose it implies that you did at least listen and one way or another, you developed an opinion.  Thanks for listening .

I think your recoding is so good, it discouraged him.
I get that sometimes, too. 

[0range]

Evidently, you have not head Benno's recording. 

Benno?

Linky?