Brahms Intermezzo op 118 no 6 E flat minor

[chapplin]

Hi everyone, I was so happy with the comments on my first thread on this forum on my fugue yesterday.
So I ran directly to record another piece I started working on some weeks back, it's the first take so there are some slips. I hope this is not an issue.
However, I'm not satisfied with what I've come up with in this Intermezzo by Brahms.
What do you think? I'm not an experienced pianist, so I don't know how to think when further developing the piece beyond the notes.

Sincerely,
Your beginner.

[megadodd]

Congrats, this is my fav piece. For only playing piano 2 years as I read in your other post, good job!

[birba]

Yes, it is amazing you've only been studying the piano for 2 years.  and that you are drawn to this most incredible piece.  You must be an interesting person to get to know!
You have definitely understood, I think, the very funereal character of this piece.  And bring it out very well.  I don't know whether I read it here or some place else or if it just came to me now, but that is the dies irae theme, isn't it.  You see, you made me remember that or made me hear it!
you have caught the spirit, but you are playing around too much with the tempo and dynamics.  I'm not one to be pinned down to the printed page, but if you are going to take liberties, there has to be a reason and an outcome.  I didn't hear the outcome.  At times it just dragged and dragged and lost the flow.  And you hammered out, at times, that theme like a death knoll.  Which it probably is, but it's all sotto voce.  THEN when that majestic march-like theme in the middle arrives, it should sound like some sort of victory.  Maybe victory over death, i don't know.  But you distorted that drive and impetus by playing around with the tempo.  I was beginning to think maybe you weren't sure of the notes - could that have been it?
At any rate, I can hear you love this music.  But you've got to make us love it, too.  And it can't be such a personal and private interpretation that we can't get what you're "driving at".

[chapplin]

Thank you megadodd!

Haha, I'm not so sure if I'm such an interesting person right now, since I mostly sit at the piano pulling out my hair in frustration!
Oh, I'm glad I made you think of the dies irae theme, even if it's not true. It's afterall what mood I'm going for.

I understand what you mean by playing around too much, but what exactly am I supposed to go for kind of outcome? I mean, if you drag the tempo as much as I do (didn't thought of it until you pointed it out, thanks) what would be my final goal so to speak?
I figured at times, I wanted the theme to be more dramatic and majestic, like the death is coming real close, but perhaps it's not the way to go  .

In the middle section I'm also thinking I want it to sound like, hope..or victory. Perhaps a vision of a road lit up, in the middle of all the gloom. So I want the tempo to drive forward a little faster, but I'm not keeping it steady, if that's what you mean?

Yes, it's one of those, I think will follow me my whole life. I hope that I will improve that essential tempo part.

Thank you for your given thoughts!

[j_menz]

I must say that I hadn't realised about the two year bit. Very impressive!!

This isn't a piece I've ever played (note to self: fix that at once!), so please take what I say with that in mind. I've had a quick look at the score.

Two matters, I think will improve your interpretation dramatically.

Firstly, your "rubato" is all over the place. Rubato means borrowed time, not just do whatever you like. In this piece, I would try and borrow and pay back only within the marked phrases, not accross them, so if you slow down for a part of a phrase, you need to also speed up in that phrase so that at the end it has taken the same time as if you'd just played it straight. Try that and see how much more directed the tension created is.

The second point relates to your dynamics (loud/soft).  You read the crescendos and decrescendos to linearly - try instead to think of them as rolling waves building and ebbing.  You are also too restrained in the sff marks - don't be afraid to really mark these out, and the ff passages could be quite a bit louder generally.

Overall, you are well on the way to a very moving performance.

[lousyplayer]

Hi everyone, I was so happy with the comments on my first thread on this forum on my fugue yesterday.
So I ran directly to record another piece I started working on some weeks back, it's the first take so there are some slips. I hope this is not an issue.
However, I'm not satisfied with what I've come up with in this Intermezzo by Brahms.
What do you think? I'm not an experienced pianist, so I don't know how to think when further developing the piece beyond the notes.

Sincerely,
Your beginner.

Another one who leans over the piano.... its a beginners mistake but one of the first rules I learned, moving your upper body as if you're in a boat makes you look like an idiot. Straighten your back and move only arms and hands. You can also move your body laterally to reach higher notes, but keep your back straight.