The Revolutionary is back!!!!!

[costicina]

Birba's passionate performances of Beethoven and Rachmaninov made me feel like playing something stormy, so I resumed the Revolutionary from the 'quarantine'.... In spite of the many flaws, it gave me satisfaction to play this piece again.
  At least, the memory didn't fail me....

[johnmar78]

  let me start first, Hey Costica, this has been improved since the last take.Congradulations
 Onething you need to fix up is LH desceding the first 4 notes at the begining, every time you ran down with the same uneven touch istead of 4 /16s. Time 2.00 and 2.15 I felt taht you need be very careful with these octaves,perhaps just slow practice on this section only and paste back in later on. These octaves carrie sthe main theme, so it is very important to fix up these slips.

Keep going you are going strong.

[costicina]

Thank you so much, John!!!! I know you know very well how hard Chop Etudes are, but we NEVER give up!!!!! 

[candlelightpiano]

That was very enjoyable, Marg!  It's been a little while since I last saw you perform it.  And you still remember this piece after the hiatus!  That's wonderful!  It's a powerful piece, passionate to the core - and I love it!  It's one of the etudes I would hope to do in the next few years but right now, I can't even practice!  I have a hand injury!  So it's physiotherapy and rest from the 88 keys for a while ..  I've become obsessed with this instrument and it's depressing to have to stay away but the rest will do me a world of good, I know.  Meanwhile, at least I can enjoy watching you perform!    

[costicina]

I'm so sorry for your tendonitis, Choo!!!! I know it's hard for you to stay away from the keyboard, but you can use this forced rest practicing away from the piano: memorizing the score, doing the composition exercise AJ is giving, etc.
And don't worry, you'll recover soon, without loosing dexterity. But please, don't overdo, be a good girl, we want you back soon!!!!

[49410enrique]

there are some nice musical pacing moments here so great job on really 'feeling this' i think you have a great idea of how you want it to sound.

i'd like to hear it sound a bit more 'settled' i think you should keep it slow until everything you want to happen is automatic, and in the L hand i would suggest you explore (but not neccessarily adopt, it's your call),  places for softer dynamics, really give those swells somewhere to go.

[costicina]

Oh, yes, you are right!!! I missed completely the p and pp that are so important here...
And RH too needs still a lot of work (needless to say, LH too).
But I'll keep on 'nurturing' this Etude with love and care (it's a good exercise of dexterity, much better than Czerny & co.)...
So, I'm sorry for you, but it's not my last coming back as far as the Rev is concerned 

Anyway, thank you for listening and for your kind encouragement, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!!!!!!

[perfect_pitch]

Okay... I'm going to say this nicely, since I'm learning the same piece as well.

You're left hand sounds either incredibly tense, because majority of the semiquavers are not even... You need to think of a smoother action with your left hand - it looks very jerky.

The right hand is also a little wonky, but considering the main aspect of this etude is to develop clarity with the left hand (since it does most of the work), then theres something you can probably do to help. Here's an exercise I like to do every now and then.

Play the left hand in small sections (look for patterns), then play each section or pattern 8x in a dotted quaver, semiquaver manner (long     short), then try 8x in the opposite semiquaver, dotted quaver (short long           ).

Will hopefully help to iron out the smudges in the left hand.

[costicina]

Thanks, Perfect....
as I said, it was an extemporary perofrmance after months mainly to check my memory. I posted it so you can measure in the next future how much I've improved 

P.S. Dotted rhytms are very useful,, I use them a lot

[danhuyle]

I can't watch this video. It says it's private.

[costicina]

Now you can watch it....

[danhuyle]

You've got a Steinway, that's cool.

Heavy accenting in the left hand. This is the point where you either practice with a metronome to even things out or bail. The etude has spun out of control. I've got some pieces that are in this condition too so you're not alone.

If you want to make any further progress with Etude 10/12, get it to a point where speed is no longer an issue. Only then will you be able to bring out the music.

[rachfan]

Hi Marg,

This is one of your better renditions, so improvement is apparent.  At about 2:07 and 2:10, for the rapid octaves in the right hand, try to keep the forearm relaxed and "shake" the octaves lightly out of the wrist. It'll improve the execution of those ascending chromatic octave figures.  The piece is coming along well.

David

[richard_strauss]

I hate this etude!!! That being said, nice memory! I can't remember anything I haven't played in a month 

[costicina]

Thank you, David, you know how your opinion is important to me!!!! I feel I'm not far from my target. It's just matter of patience...It's a good training for me in general, since I'm very impulsive and indisciplinate. But I'm very stubborn too, and I seldom give up!!!

And yes, the piece is so overplayed that many of us are growing to hate it. But as I said once, I have a score to settle with this Rev: it was the epitome of "beautiful and impossibile" when I was a kid... just to be able to play it from beginning to end is a victory for me!!!

[49410enrique]

...And yes, the piece is so overplayed that many of us are growing to hate it. ...

only mediocre performances are 'overplayed', that is we grow weary of unsuccessful attempt after unsuccessful attempt from people who present 'unfinished' standard works as final reditions. so do not worry, if you perform it, it has improved from last time, you continue to work hard to further refine, it is not overplayed. as a matter of fact those special 'incredible' interpretations we hear, and those that we fortunately capture, i have yet to feel those are 'over played' we can listen to those over and over again so you should also feel about your takes after you have progressed.  so keep on keeping on, continue to let this take shape it contunue on it's way to being something greater.