Rachmaninoff Prelude in G# minor

[zheer]

Hey,
I recorded this some time ago, I hope this is slightly improved since then, thanks for listening.

[ramseytheii]

Why do you start this piece with rubato?  This is not the first time I listened to a recording of this prelude on this website, only to hear it start with a strange rubato that doesn't make sense to me.  The opening figuration is a figuration, it is not a beautiful melody.  It should sound misty, fluttering, shimmering, like an enveloping fog.  When you start with a rubato, it destroys the effect totally. 

I think it should be also about twice the speed.  But perhaps you have changed that since you made the recording.

Again I like your sound, but when the left hand takes over with those octaves about 2/3 of the way thru, it becomes heavy and the phrasing is no longer flattering.  Work on that left hand.

Also I encourage a little pedal on the last note.  This figuration, which is so common for Rachmaninoff, is like pinching a candle wick and putting out the flame.  It shouldn't sound comical; it should sound like the light goes out - but the smoke yet rises.  It doesn't have to be a long pedal, but you play it so short it reminds me of a car horn.

Walter Ramsey

[zheer]

A car horn, funny.

[teresa_b]

Hi zheer, I think it's very nice!  I agree with Walter's idea of not putting rubato into the flickering accompaniment, but I totally don't agree with playing it at twice the tempo--Your overall tempo sounds fine to me.  I think you could do more with the section that has the sort of twittering crescendo passage that ends in the climactic chord, and again I agree with Walter about the end--use some pedal and allow it to fade up and away, don't punctuate the last notes at all. 

Keep up the nice work! 
Teresa

[zheer]

Tanx,

This prelude is open to different interpretation, this is my interpretation of this prelude at this moment, the rubato wasn't intentional, I wasn't aware of it, it just came out that way. The rest well I'm not a music analyst.

Thanx and best wishes.

[gyzzzmo]

Hi Zheer,

with some tweaks, i like your performance, even the rubato in the right hand. Ofcourse other pianists usually play the right hand very even, but i think your interpretation can be musically sound.
The tweaks though :
The right hand should be much smoother played and lighter, the music is about the left hand ofcourse. And the rubato you do should be abit less suddenly (wich ofcourse i also mean with 'smoother').
Your car horn at the end could be the right length, IF you play it piano or pianissimo.

I find this interpretation of yours much better than your schubert one even if nobody plays this prelude like you do , good job.

Gyzzzmo

[zheer]

Tanx,

We'll have to agree to dis-agree on the Schubert.

[zheer]

Hi everyone,

I was listening to my own archive of piano music, my early ones were very bad and they got prgressively worse. Of the lot this is the one which I like the most, never-the-less I've improved on it since.
The piano is KAWAI which I happen to love to play on.
 
I hope you enjoy this piece

[asuhayda]

Why do you start this piece with rubato?  This is not the first time I listened to a recording of this prelude on this website, only to hear it start with a strange rubato that doesn't make sense to me.  The opening figuration is a figuration, it is not a beautiful melody.  It should sound misty, fluttering, shimmering, like an enveloping fog.  When you start with a rubato, it destroys the effect totally. 

I do not completely agree with this.  Actually, I have a  couple of different editions of this piece and have heard many recordings of it.  If you listen to Vladimir Ashkenazy's interpretation, he clearly uses a rubato throughout the entire piece.

Personally, I feel that the melody and not the harmony ultimately drives the tempo of this piece.  While I would agree not to get overly carried away with it, I do not believe the OP has done this.  I think his interpretation is fairly consistent with others that I've heard over time.

One edition that I have calls for a rit. almost immediately preceeding the introduction of the LH melody at m.3, then pushes back up to a meno mosso, and then a rit. to A Tempo and accelerrando while following through to the recap of the melody on page 2.  Clearly, the flow of tempo is attempting to show a cohesiveness to the RH's flow.

I do agree about the staccato note at fine.  It's important to have an abrubt ending.  I like the analogy of the candle blowing out.  That is a very good explanation.

Overall, I like this piece and the way it is played.  Good Job!

Adam

[starstruck5]

The opening doesn't sound like like rubato to me, but wrong note values altogether -also the dynamics in the opening two bars need to contrast much more -try using the soft pedal to begin -

Overall your playing was quite controlled and beautiful -it is just the attention to fine detail now -