Rachmaninoff Prelude Op. 23 No. 2

[zhiliang]

Dear all,

I am currently studying this piece and i need some advice.

1. How does one pedal for the first page generally so that the LH maintains its swelling turbulence while not sounding messy or murky? Any use of half-pedal or flutter pedalling?

2. How does one maintain the balance in the dynamics for i.e. the first page?

3. How does one practice the LH arpegios up to speed?

Thanks

Zhiliang

[andyng85]

3. How does one practice the LH arpegios up to speed?

For me, I sat down, found the perfect fingering, then practice slowly at first... perfecting every note.  It starts gettin' easier as you go on, and then before long, u'll have it memorize.  And from then on, practice, practice and practice like there's no tomorrow.  But make sure every note is correct.  It might help to do hand separately at first.

As for the pedaling, I use full pedal... It's ok if this fan-fair melody in the first page isn't 100% clear.   I'd just adjust accordingly.  As you go on, you'd experiment with different pedal patterns.  I would use half pedal only in the last page with the runs and stuff.

Beautiful prelude all and all!  

[zhiliang]

Thanks Andy for your advice.... My LH still sounds really messy... Is it due to also a lack of control or i am still too loud for my LH?

Do you use the Thumb Over method for the LH runs?