Beethoven "Fur Elise"

[padrooskey]

Although I have heard this piece frequently over the years,  I have not  - until now -  actually played it.
So I set about learning it this week, and the results are here in this mp3 file. I worked from the Wiener Urtext (ed. Alfred Brendel) which interestingly  has the note D instead of E in the R.H. in bar 7 (3rd last semiquaver) and at similar points throughout the piece. Most pianists  I have heard play E; however W. Kempff and Brendel prefer the D note.
I have used the Garritan Authorised Steinway software in this performance.

[gyzzzmo]

Did the software play the piece for you? At least that is how it sounds: Dry, technical and metronomical.

Try to 'sing' the piece in your mind and dont watch the sheetmusic. Or play with your eyes closed so you are forced to really listen to the music itself.

Gyzzzmo

[birba]

Good!  I liked that.  It's very difficult to keep the 16th notes even and you did a great job.  What I don't understand is this steinway software thing.  Were you playing on a piano?  The sound WAS sort of "ready-made" and monotone.  I could hear that "d" - doesn't really make that much difference, does it?

[padrooskey]

Did the software play the piece for you? At least that is how it sounds: Dry, technical and metronomical.

Try to 'sing' the piece in your mind and dont watch the sheetmusic. Or play with your eyes closed so you are forced to really listen to the music itself.

Gyzzzmo

To answer your question, I need to explain what happens when using a software instrument. The piece is performed by the player on a keyboard which is sensitive to touch, and all the information in the performance regarding nuances, timing, dynamics,  etc. is recorded digitally with the sampled Steinway sounds providing the final result. My performance was from memory.
I also have recorded it on my Schimmel upright, but the Steinway sounds are in fact warmer.   

[padrooskey]

Good!  I liked that.  It's very difficult to keep the 16th notes even and you did a great job.  What I don't understand is this steinway software thing.  Were you playing on a piano?  The sound WAS sort of "ready-made" and monotone.  I could hear that "d" - doesn't really make that much difference, does it?

Thank you for your comments on the piece. Yes I was playing the piano, and no part of the execution  was influenced or enhanced  by a computer. The resultant sound is taken from an actual model D Steinway grand. The quality of any  performance, whether good or bad, warts and all,  will be faithfully reproduced with this system.
The difference the D note makes compared to the usual E is indeed subtle to the ear. However it makes harmonic sense, and it's what the Great Man wrote!

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

It sounds good! I like this tempo, and the notes sound really even and smooth. I haven't played Fur Elise for a long time but I don't remember being very satisfied with my playing of that piece. Listening to your playing makes me want to relearn it. 

I've played it with both the "E" and the "D". When I learned it for fun by myself the sheet music I got said "E" and that was what I heard in most CDs. But my piano book had the "D" and that was how I played it on my exam. I was confused by the difference and did a lot of research and found that it was orgianlly written with a D. I was really curious about this issue when I was learning Fur Elise.

[padrooskey]

Thanks Thinkgreenlovepiar for your comments. The "E" versus "D" note is interesting in that most editions print the "E". To the casual listener either note doesn't make a great difference, but to the player it does, and I find myself favouring the "D". Once you get the nores "under your fingers" it's a delightful piece to play, as I am sure you have found.