Mozart-12 Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", i.e Twinkle - Twinkle var.'s

[49410enrique]

a post in another room reminded me had this recording from a few years ago, the op mentioned they believed this to be an easy work, fair to each his/her own. I actually struggled with this piece quite a bit (classical pieces in general give me a much harder time.).

I feel like the more time and the more detail I discovered the more difficult the work became but in the end, at least for where I was back then, I was happy with them and relieved to be done with them.

I hope you all enjoy and feedback is welcome and appreciated (I don't really seem to get many comments on my other uploads so don't know if it's good or bad, meh oh well).

piano was a steinway d, from the hampburg kids, late 80's i believe.

[lipotes]

I love this .
Thank you so much.

[costicina]

My daughter is going to learn this piece......you are right, it's not as easy as they say, it requires perfect accuracy and a lot of dexterity. But you  play it beautifully, bravo!!!l

Your performance will be very useful to Costanza as a source of inspiration. Thank you for sharing!!!!
Margherita

[49410enrique]

@ lipotes  
wow i really appreciate the kind words, i am glad you enjoyed them!

@ costicina

i am so happy your daughter will be setting out to discover the beauty (and 'frustration' ) of these brilliant little variations.  mozart scares the bejezus out of me (then and to this day)

, i think partly becuase you're so vulnerable or as i like to say texturally and musically naked, there's nothing to hide behind, i believe this will be a wonderful learning piece for her for that reason, she will be forced to really 'own' each variation or it simply won't work, even here i had my baubles a couple times, my suggestion to her as she sets out is to first discover what is going on musically in each one but as she identifies those variations that will give her the most trouble, to begin focusing on each of those first rather than just going I, II, III....XII, this way when she puts them baack together there will be some unity in mastery of them.  also i find that giving special attention to xii is so important as with this being a longer work that final /last impression is so important so better to leave the listener with wow that was great for a fantastic finish vs flawlessly hiting the first eleven and stumbling all over the finale

thansk so much again i'm happy it was well recieved.

[costicina]

Thanks for your advices!!!
 We'll keep them in mind when practicing this piece. Costanza (my daughter) has listened your performance, and she like it so much (again, BRAVO!) that she started immediately to tackle the piece. I hope she will be able to overcome the difficulties you pointed out...

Margherita

[pytheamateur]

Thanks for posting this.  It's lovely.

So you got to play on a Steinway D, I envy you.  I can't afford one (even if I manage to save up enough money for it in 20 years time, I still won't have the money to buy a house big enough to put it in so that neighbours won't complain), and being an amateur I don't have access to one, although I recently found out that in London, a famous piano shop on Edgward Road has recently put one in one of their practice rooms.  It is a model from late 19th or early 20th century.  You can hire the room for £15 an hour.

One way to console myself is to tell me that my playing is not good enough to deserve to play on one.

[rachfan]

Hi enrique,

I just listened to your Mozart variations.  You played them very well indeed.  They require a lot of dexterity, and you were fully up to the task.  Excellent!  And your live audience was likewise enthused.  I haven't played Mozart for many decades.  When I was a kid playing Mozart, it seemed that I always ran out of fingers!  So I admire those like you who can play this music so well.  Thanks for sharing your recording with us.

David

[49410enrique]

Hi enrique,

I just listened to your Mozart variations.  You played them very well indeed.  They require a lot of dexterity, and you were fully up to the task.  Excellent!  And your live audience was likewise enthused.  I haven't played Mozart for many decades.  When I was a kid playing Mozart, it seemed that I always ran out of fingers!  So I admire those like you who can play this music so well.  Thanks for sharing your recording with us.

David

wow i really didn't expect so many to enjoy them as much as you have, really i feel wonderful after reading your remarks "rachfan",
again this recording is several years old now (shortly before I took about 54 month complete break from playing, by circumstance not choice), these were the central larger work for a short recital i did (i used this instead of playing a full sonata), i only hope (as it apparently has) that it can help and inspire others to approach wonderful music of this type.

@ pytheamateur , dont' feel bad about not having a 9 foot monster in your parlor/living room, truth be told i'm not a fan of the super large ultra powerful instruments in small rooms/private homes, kinda sad really, like a caged lion, never to really live up to is originally intended design, still it was wonderful to perform on, i can name several instruments i generally like more than the american steinway but those german/hampburg s&s share their name only with their us counterparts, different and better beast altogether, you're fortunate to be on that side of the pond where access those  beauties is much easier to come by than over here in the states.  definately take any chances you get to play on them as you stated, and if you ever have enough cash to throw towards a big expensive piano, spend some time with the model B, which is my favorite (and i think can work in the right home setting)  i find is overall a better balanced instrument (the main advantage of a d being total sound and the ability to cut through loud ochestra and still be heard at the back of big hall).

thank you all again for taking time to listen i know it's a longer recording with all the repeats of all the variations, i appreciate the time investment and feedback.

-most sincerely.

[49410enrique]

My daughter is going to learn this piece......you are right, it's not as easy as they say, it requires perfect accuracy and a lot of dexterity. But you  play it beautifully, bravo!!!l

Your performance will be very useful to Costanza as a source of inspiration. Thank you for sharing!!!!
Margherita

i think i know where the old henle i used to study this is and i'll see if i can find it, if i find some helpful notes, fingering, or better actual writting by my professor at the time that i think will be usefull, i'll try and scan them and post them for your daughter, i remember my teacher being incredibly demanding of me on this work so hope there's  something in there she can use.

[costicina]

yOU ARE A TREASURE!!!!!   

tHANK YOU!

Margherita

[49410enrique]

yOU ARE A TREASURE!!!!!    

tHANK YOU!

Margherita

you're too nice, i just looked these over and I can do my best to try and explain later on as you come across the notes what he meant but truth be told his handwritting was always at best cryptic and very difficult to read, it took me a couple of years before i could just see it and read it as if it were normal type, that said my notes are in there too and those tend to be a little better to comprehend, at least circled areas and other non text notation is pretty straight forward (i.e as in pay attention to, exaggerate, etc.).  i think as she gets into it you can pull one of the scans and post it perhaps with a specific question to which notation you can't read and i can see about 'translating it.  

at the very least it can give her an idea of how much detail is there there and how much work this was for me so she shouldn't get discouraged if a big kid like me had huge difficulties and needed lots of notes.

also sorry parts are somehwat cut, henle is a larger score and my scanner has a small copy plate

[49410enrique]

rest of the scans

[costicina]

I really don't know how to thank you... the time and the effort you spend ho help us is moving!!!!
You are a beautiful person!
The least we can do is to do our best to master this piece, dedicating it to you
Thank you again and again

Margherita

[littletune]

I like this a lot too! It's really fun!!   

[49410enrique]

I like this a lot too! It's really fun!!   

thanks little tune, i so glad you like it !

[starstruck5]

I played a Mozart Sonata for an exam many years ago now, and It really challenged me. The fact that the examiner was also a Mozart expert didn't help! I love Mozart, but never feel I do his music justice!

I think you did really well - Mozart at his most lyrical is clearly thinking opera -even Twinkle Twinkle Little Star -and you played these kind of variations quite beautifully - I did sense an occasional unease throughout though -you seemed to revel in the more virtuostic passages! You certainly deserved the applause at the end!