Benjamin Lees Fantasia for Piano

[msadrienne]

Hi Everyone,

A while back, I found a recording of my senior recital, and thought someone here might be interested to hear the Benjamin Lees Fantasia, since it hasn't already been posted in the audition room.

The recording quality is not great -- the room was pretty live and there is some background hiss, so I tried to clean it up a bit in audacity. If anyone has a tip on how I might improve the recording, your advice is more than welcome! I am very new to this whole mp3 editing thing.

As far as the piece goes, I haven't really played it since 1993, so any comments are welcome, but I may or may not get back to playing this again.

More specifics:

Title: Fantasia for Piano
Composer: Benjamin Lees (U.S.)
Date Recorded: April 6(?), 1993
Location: Northwest Missouri State University, Johnson Theater
Piano: Steinway (not sure of the model -- they have a newer piano now, as I understand).

Happy to answer any questions! I have the score here in front of me now.

~Adrienne

[rachfan]

Hi Adrienne,

This is the first time I've ever heard the Lees piece.  The idiom is certainly contemporary with a brilliant sound, sometimes linear but at other times having thick textures and  some bravura passages as well.  For a contemporary piece, it is readily accessible to listeners, which is a plus.  Although I cannot give you specific feedback on it, not having played it, your rendition sounds very competent and artistic to me.  Great job!

[retrouvailles]

I am not terribly familiar with this Lees piece, nor have I seen the score for it, nor do I care for it much, but I will offer my opinion anyways. I have noticed that it has become rather popular with many younger students (in my experience) for some reason. Many of them don't do it justice, mainly because it seems like something that their teacher forced on to them. However, your playing sounds much more committed than theirs. I would love to hear your interpretation of it today.

[goldentone]

Your playing impressed me.  This is a rare contemporary piece that I enjoy.  As Rachfan said, it is an accessible one.  Welcome to the forum.

[msadrienne]

rachfan ~ Thank you! I had almost forgotten the piece until I found my recording and the score a couple months ago. My octaves weren't especially reliable in the recording, so it sounded probably more 'contemporary' than notated, LOL. I remember that it was a lot of fun to learn and play, and that it involved a lot of visual patterns on the keys, making it fairly easy to memorize.

retrouvailles ~ Isn't it telling when a student chooses a piece, versus when a teacher assigns it? I brought this to my teacher after picking up the sheet music at an old music store in Kansas City, MO. For whatever reason, I was drawn to it at the time. Maybe I'll try it again now, but I don't think I'll have the same level of enthusiasm for all fffs in the score. There are about a dozen things I would do differently with it, though.

goldentone ~ Thank you for the comments and the welcome! I agree with you and rachfan regarding the fantasia's accessibility. It is also one of those pieces that "sounds harder than it is" to play.

[lia04]

Hi everyone, do you have the music score for this piece? Thankss!!