Gaspard de la nuit - Ondine

[rabbidrabbit]

Here is my Ondine! Appreciate any comments; no teacher last few years so I learned this with little guidance. Some of my comments: opening figure needs to be lightened up; no rushing on 8th notes in melody; no accents in weird places in melody. Pretty solid accuracy wise.

Also, I put the mic directly under the piano. What do you think of the sound there?

«Écoute!—Écoute!—C'est moi, c'est Ondine qui frôle de ces gouttes d'eau les losanges sonores de ta fenêtre illuminée par les mornes rayons de la lune; et voici, en robe de moire, la dame châtelaine qui contemple à son balcon la belle nuit étoilée et le beau lac endormi.

«Chaque flot est un ondin qui nage dans le courant, chaque courant est un sentier qui serpente vers mon palais, et mon palais est bâti fluide, au fond du lac, dans le triangle du feu, de la terre et de l'air.

«Écoute!—Écoute!—Mon père bat l'eau coassante d'une branche d'aulne verte, et mes soeurs caressent de leurs bras d'écume les fraîches îles d'herbes, de nénuphars et de glaïeuls, ou se moquent du saule caduc et barbu qui pêche à la ligne.»

Sa chanson murmurée, elle me supplia de recevoir son anneau à mon doigt, pour être l'époux d'une Ondine, et de visiter avec elle son palais, pour être le roi des lacs.

Et comme je lui répondais que j'aimais une mortelle, boudeuse et dépitée, elle pleura quelques larmes, poussa un éclat de rire, et s'évanouit en giboulées qui ruisselèrent blanches le long de mes vitraux bleus.

[rachfan]

Hi rabbidrabbit,

Just so you know, I've not studied Ravel's "Ondine"' other than playing through many parts of it at home.  My sense is that you've hit your first major milestone in getting the piece fully playable through your fine technical abilities.  Excellent!  But there's much more work to be done. The poem you quote of Aloysius Bertrand speaks of the pleading entreaties of the beautiful water nymph trying to entice the poet to go and be with her in her realm. In the end he declines and she weeps, but ends the encounter on a whimsical note by playfully splashing water against his window panes and disappearing into the water.  

At the moment the rendition focuses mostly on what I call the "mechanics"--notes, meter, articulation, smooth execution of short cadenzas, etc. etc, all of which is indisputably the foundation for playing "Ondine".  Now you need to shift focus, in my opinion, to using your musicianship to polish musicality.  Right now, as you point out, the opening RH figuration (congratulations on getting that down!), which continues throughout the piece, is well executed, but too loud, intrusive and overbearing.  More leggiero and dolce!!!  Also you need to carefully differentiate foreground melody from accompanying filligree, even when both melody and accompaniment are in the same hand.  Recall, that the continuous lyrical cantilena of the water nymph is actually a vocal texture in this piece, and must soar above all else.  Sometimes at present it's getting buried by the accompaniment.  This will take judicious rebalancing of the hands, more control of touch, following voice leading, etching lines with the pedal for clarity, etc.  This water nymph is superb by the way.  She could sing the operas of Wagner and Debussy easily.  So you need to allow her lyricism to be predominant at all times.  Also let the piece breathe more!  At the moment it's jailed in a tight corset as if driven by a tyrannical metronome.  Please, more rubato, more gentle and lovely nuances.  Also, see if you can widen your dynamic range to help effect all that.  Yes, this is impressionistic water music of Ravel, but it's also late romanticism, the two styles being combined into one.  And recall the imagery: The nymph is doing everything possible to seduce the poet, so bring that element into your vision, musical intent, and playing.  Let your playing be seductive as you play the long vocal line which is ultra-romantic.    

I don't know if these thoughts are helpful or not.  This is such a masterpiece, and so difficult to play well.  Again, you're on the right track, and I'm impressed with your progress on it so far.  You need to toil on the refinements to make this music fully convincing.  Keep on going!

On your question, I don't like the mic under the piano.  Although sound does indeed drop from the soundboard onto the floor, mostly it reflects off the lid, over the rim, and out into the room.  Your best bet is to place the mic out in front of the curve of the piano rim at a distance between three to eight feet out that best works for you.  (Don't bother with "close-in" recording techniques.  That is for jazz and pops and does not benefit classical music.)

Like you, I too teach myself at this stage.  So I can appreciate your progress all the more.  

[rabbidrabbit]

Thanks for taking the time to write that rachfan! Your comments are quite helpful and I'll try and work towards it.

[lontano]

Wow! All that rachfan said is very good advice, and I can't advise on technique as I have none. But some intuitive advice might be, now that you can play the work all the way through in one take, try playing it a bit slower, allowing the RH to be soft and gentile while the melody speaks and cries through Ondine's soul. I believe this is the fastest (and loudest) take I've ever heard!

I've recorded a lot of pianists playing a lot of piano music on a lot of pianos over the years, and maybe only once or twice have I placed the mics on the "the bottom" of the piano. First, what type of piano is this? I'm guessing by what you say that it's a grand, and you have the mics on the sounding board???
Probably not the best solution. Also, I don't know what you are recording with. What kind of mics? Reel2reel, DAT, cassette recorder??? The sound on this cut is very tinny and the base vs treble balance is not good. A lot depends on the acoustic of the room and the options you have for mic placement. Try different placements, because this isn't working well. And again, slow down, relax and play softer, but definitely keep working on it!!!

Lontano

[etudepatetico]

For getting the touch on this piece, I spent hours late at night playing it as quietly as possible and at about 1/2 to 2/3 of the final speed.

Even when I had learned all the notes and I could get through the piece that was a long way from a finished product (which I'm still yet to reach).
I find it useful to go into individual sections of the piece, completely break it down again into constituent parts then build it back up, slowly and concentrating on the melodic phrasing and the exaggeratedly light touch.
It is an extremely difficult piece to play well, have had complaints from the neighbours over my repetitious practice of certain bits (i.e. Balancing the tune within the main climax is nails).

Keep pushing yourself though, your rendition is currently well on the way and from personal experience, studying this piece in minute detail has helped with my technique immeasurably.

[birba]

What a piece.  Another love of my life.
I agree with most of what Rachfan has said.  If there's any programme music for the piano, it's Gaspard de la Nuit.  You must first memorize the Bertrand poem.  In your native language.  This is picture painting in the most lucid and pristine sense. 
I don't agree with Rachfan about the tempo question.  Ravel is very specific in his tempi indications.  Those water figurations at the beginning have to be metronomically perfect.  I don't hear the particular rythm that Ravel has used to create this accompaniment.  There has been discussion about whether Ravel wanted the r.h. figuration to change in the sixth measure.  I myself love that change in the rythm.  At any rate, I think you have to go a little bit slower to bring this out.  All in all, I thought your tempo was a bit rushed.
The glissandi at the end are SLOW glissandi.  Or at least you have to give that impression.
When ondine reaches from the deep to pull her lover down at the descending thirds passage, lighten up the thirds and bring out the bass.
You did great technical work, all in all.  And you were able to control the sound better as you went along.  The piano and pianissimo here are SO difficult to achieve on any piano.  Because there are so many notes playing at once.