Chopin Preludes Op.28 No.1 &3 Clementi Etude from Gradus ad Parnassum

[liszts139]

Hello everyone in this wonderful forum,

This is my first post in the forum. What do you think of this performances? I have been working on these pieces since 2 weeks average. I hope you like them

(Clementi Etude in F major)

(Chopin Prelude Op.28 No.1)

(Chopin Prelude Op.28 No.3)


Enjoy,
Jason Marcell

[lluiscl]

Sorry. Please, tune your piano, first.

[birba]

Only two weeks?!  Great work!
The Clementi, though it is an etude, a study, has other elements besides the finger-work.  You really forged through it like Patton at the battle of the bulge.  But the gradus ad parnassum is more then just finger excercises.  Believe it or not, there's music there.  It's going to be difficult at this point, however.  Because when you've approached a piece in this way, the music gets pushed further and further into the background as you daily hammer your way through it.
I would say the same for the 3rd prelude.  The left hand is wonderful, finger-wise.  You've really worked out the technical difficulties.  And it's one of the nastiest (technically speaking) of the preludes.  A friend of mine heard a rather famous pianist once who just left it out!!  But this prelude is a jewel.  I love it.  I hear the  spring wind or a bubbling brook in the left hand.  And you're so preoccupied with that fiendish difficulty, you just pound out the right hand.
The first prelude is a bit slow.  Here, again, you've got to work out the coloring.  I think it was Arrau who said he heard an orgasmic breathing in the first prelude!  at any rate, you do have to breathe with that anxious motif in the r.h.
And, yes, the piano should be tuned.  But I find we sort of get used to  our own piano and don't hear it when it slowly stars to slip out of tune.  How many times I went for lessons in the houses of some noted pianists, and found THEIR piano awfully out of tune!

[haydn86]

As birba said, excellent work in such a short time! You've advanced far enough to forget about all the fingerwork for a second - you've got that down mostly - and work on the expression a bit more. It may help to sing the melodies out loud!

One other thing I'd like to mention is, take care of your position! Be sure to keep your back straight, and also don't push your shoulders forward too much. Sitting straight really helps keeping the body relaxed, which makes piano playing a lot easier. Plus, it's the best way to avoid back trouble!   

[liszts139]

birba,

Thanks for your compliments and your words. I also think the same about the expressive aspect in the pieces. For the preludes, yes, I have to work very hard in coloring and expression; rubatos and phrasing. I hope this week I will re-record this pieces again with new advancements and musical improvement. About the Clementi, of course there is a lot of music there, I will try to record this etude again emphasizing more in a musical perspective; since technical difficulties are not so much trouble for me.
About the 3rd Prelude, "And you're so preoccupied with that fiendish difficulty, you just pound out the right hand", what do you mean? Do you mean I have to work a little more in bringing the melody in the r.h.?
About the first prelude, yes, I think it's the one it needs more work since it is the most recent prelude I have learned. It needs that coloring and breathing also which will bring totally different insight. Of course the marking says Agitato, and I have to put more "anxiety" into it.

Thanks for your critic and comments about my playing. Really appreciate it a lot.

Jason Marcell

[liszts139]

haydn86,

Thank you as well for your observations and compliments. Certainly I need a little more time to mature these pieces in the musical aspect.

About the posture; yes, I have to keep my back more straight. Sometimes it's unconsciously and it comes by itself for the sake of focus. Anyway I will keep this in mind, thanks for this observation, because it's really important and can have some negative long-term consequences. I hope next week I will post a new prelude :Op.28 No.22 in G minor as well as some waltzes.

Jason Marcell

[birba]

Listen to it again, and you'll hear there's no shape to the melody.  Every note is exactly the same sound - the same dynamic - forte or mf.  take, for example the first line.  d - b - ed - cb- g.
Which note should be the loudest, the most important in that group?  Let's say you answer, cb.
Well, if that is the most important note(s), all the notes leading up to it  have to do just that: lead up to it.  So it's like a little crescendo where the climax ends at cb.   You might say that ed is the most important, and cb is a little "echo".  So, you accentuate the ed, and play the cb more piano.  The g at the end is like a tapering off of the melody.  So, it should be lighter then the preceeding notes.
This is just an example of the work you should do now.  I remember when my teacher used to ask me to sing a melody I was playing, and I did it just because I had to, but later on I realized she was right.  Take the right hand and play it alone and sing along with it.  It will give you the idea of the shape the music has to take.
Now that you've got the l.h. down pat,  lighten up and add a tiny bit of pedal.

[liszts139]

Thanks for advice birba, I'm working on that already and hopefully I will re-upload improved recordings of all the the three pieces soon, as well as new ones I'm working on right now.

Jason