VIDEO - Rachmaninov - Prelude in c#m op3no2

[feddera]

My first video! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlbdvjTCjEc

[aslanov]

good work, i just finished this myself. although my recital recording was horrible cause i got nervous...cause it was my performance. anyway

the first part, Lento seems fairly falt, there's very little going on, if you know what i mean. you need to shape these phrases. for example in the lower register u need to build up some tension in the music but every measure u play it almost exactly the same as the one before. then there's the decending chords in measure 7, the first chord u played loudest and got a little quieter which is good, but the way i....feel it i guess. is you should build up speed and volume then bring start to bring it back down from the beginning of measure 8. the way i like to do it is take more time bringing it down then speeding (and increasing volume) up. so il build up speed and volume quickly then a bit before measure 8 i like to start to bring it down gently. and the second descending chords shouldnt quite reach the same volume or speed as the first.

Agitato; again, awfully flat. if i didnt know any better i'd think that your playing on a digital piano from the lack of dynamics. you should really follow the editing properly. anywhoo, about the tempo here. you should be playing agitato, but not as fast you are were the whole time, it was all the same tempo, this is the tempo you want to build up to half way through. you should play slightly slower and stay at that exact tempo until you reach the 3rd crescendo, which is where you start the accelerando to the speed your currently playing at.  what i liked about your descending triplets is the clarity in the playing. but your playing that whole passage the same tempo, where there should be accelerando, start out fff BUT not that fast build up to the speed you were playing it (and maybe even a little faster if you can manage it).

The last Tempo Primo; although i cant really make comment on this section because i myself am at times lost, i would say one thing. from all the recordings i have heard, even though it does say Tempo Primo, it is still played much faster the the original Lento. and one thing my teacher taught me is that you can hold the pedal throughout the lower chord and the first chord of the upper triplet. and the diminuendo at the end. you shouldnt start those half notes right away at a LOW volume. you should diminish it as you go along because the first half notes are mF, and the second is also going to be slightly f and its at the 3rd half note that you get noticeably...diminished.

best of luck.
and good job.

[feddera]

Thanks a lot for the very detailed feedback, I really appreciate it! You are absolutely right, I have this tendency to memorize pieces quickly and then never look at the score again.  I will have to go through it more carefully.

Cool that you also played this, which other pieces did you play at your recital? I'm working on a Mozart sonata and some two-part inventions, but I'm not sure which romantic pieces I want to do next.

Thank you again for taking the time to write all that! 

[aslanov]

dont mention it.
actually, believe it or not, its the first piece i learned, if u dont count that chopin nocturne because i never fully learned it.
and the prelude was the only piece i performed. i've only been playing piano for about a year now. but right now im working on beethoven's first sonata among other little things im playing just for me. lol

if your up for it you should try rachmaninov's etude tableaux op 33 no 4. or his 4th musical moment or his elegie. lol.
but i guess you could always go the non-rachmaninov route, i personally wouldnt :p, but its all in your taste.

[feddera]

At least you're ambitious, and you obviously have studied the piece thoroughly so I'm sure you play it well. I started playing in March 2007, so we're nearly in the same boat.  (well I had one year as a kid too...)

I will take a look at the pieces you mentioned. We seem to have a pretty similar taste, as I just finished Beethoven's op2no1.  I actually posted a video of the fourth movement today. I used the left pedal in some of the soft part's though, which I now realize I shouldn't have done. It made the melody somewhat blurry, so I may have to re-record later. Anyway, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYppOfMzxfU

[communist]

before the fast part you should do a diminuendo so the fast part will not come out of know where and slow down the fast part and make it more articulated, but otherwise pretty good


and by the way, you should curl your fingers a little more.

[loonbohol]

Just pretty OK

[pianisten1989]

Just pretty OK

Btw, when are you going to post yourself playing?