Domenico Scarlatti - Sonata in E Major (K.380 and K.20) - Enzo

[emill]

Posted : 8-8-2010
THIS is the recital performance on June 27 ... while the audio below was the practice performance done in mid-May.  We hope it is a substantial improvement. Thanks for any comment/advice. The K.20 starts at 4:54 mins.

Posted 5-16-2010
These are works in progress. Hope to get advice regarding the better tempo to adopt for the k375 as some really play it so fast while others much, much slower. I have to get this ready in 6 weeks together with several other pieces for my 2nd solo piano recital.

Sorry for the not so good recording as we used an ordinary mike. Thanks for listening and for any advice.

[birba]

The slow e major I would play a hair slower.  The tempo of K.375 is good and you play it very well.  BUT the first 4 bars are a mess, rythmically.  Don't know why.  You rush them and the listener is lost, right from the start.  Practise them without the mordent.  With the metronome.  when you add the mordent, think of it in the italian sense of the word:  mordere, bite.  Sharp, cutting exactly ON the beat.  Not a triplet, like it sounds some of the time.
Apart from that, excellent work!

[emill]

We are posting the recital performance on June 27 ... while the earlier posted audio was the practice performance done in mid-May.  We hope it is a substantial improvement. Thanks for any comment/advice. The K.20 starts at 4:54 mins.

We hope birba could give it a 2nd listen.  Thanks.

(sorry for the mislabeling earlier of K.20 as K.375)

[chris_goslow]

Nice.

[birba]

A big difference, of course.  He excells in the second sonata.  Right tempo, spirit, touch, etc. (The mordent still has to be quicker, though!)
The famous e major one is a stickler.  It's very static and doesn't go anywhere.  It seems to plod along.  And this has nothing to do with the tempo, which is alright.  It has to do with the phrasing of the line.  The marching left hand that accompanies the "horns" in the right hand seem to march in place rather then marching ahead!  Experiment with the pedal and lighten it up, maybe.  Then, the rising appoggiatura slurs that appear next, have to sound like they're going somewhere.
But here again, you can't force a kid to imitate a given interpretation. You have to show him the way, and let him experiment.  However, he sounds like he has a great teacher and I think they're both really doing a great job together!

[emill]

dear birba,
I am happy about your comments because they are specifics and I will discuss these with my teacher once she is back from the US and Europe by September 16. I am also so excited at the pieces she has assigned me for the rest of the year and hope my dad will post it here. It will surely keep me so busy, 2 CHopin scherzos, ballade No.3, several etudes including the revolutionary and black keys. I hope the tons of schoolwork will not prevent me. I wished she allowed me ballade No.1, but she told me when I am a little older? and my dad agrees and I wonder why?  Oh well they know better. 
Thanks so much and I hope my dad will allow me more often here.  God bless.
enzo

and also thanks to David and Dave, they have been so helpful in my other posts.

[birba]

Well, your teacher sounds like she knows what she's doing.  The third ballade was the first one for me, too. But I was much older then you when I learned it.  I think I was 18.  What scherzos are you going to learn?  My first two were no.1, then no.2.  But no.4 is my favorite.  I was 33 years old when I first learned it! 
Buono studio and have fun!