mendelssohn serieuses variations op 54

[rhapsody in orange]

Hello! Anyone with experience in playing this piece? Kind of having several problems when practising this and so would appreciate any advice.

1. I have a problem in bringing out the musicality of the theme. It is somewhat like a 4 part invention, and sometimes when I try to bring out the top voice (the melody so to speak) and soften the rest of the chord, some notes tend to disappear or the chord will not sound together.

2. Variations 3 and 12, my hands tend to tense up with the chords in var 3 and the repeated chords in var 12. And after practising today, there's this pain in my left shoulder which I think might be a result of incorrect way of playing. My teacher told me to use my arm weight instead of using the fingers/wrist to attain a richer and fuller tone rather than a percussive one. And that would avoid tension in the lower arm. I am still in the midst of changing but now instead of the lower arm tensing up, I have a tense upper arm/shoulder. Any suggestion as to which is the 'correct' way of playing?

And also, are there any good recordings of this piece? I currently have one by Alicia de Larrocha and looking out for more good recordings. Thank you

[maxy]

Ok.

I will try to help.  First, fingers and elbows are the "mechanical" articulations.  Wrists and shoulders are "expressive" articulations.  In the repeated chords you want the action to come from the elbows, not from the wrists.  The  wrists just have to be kept "unlocked" or you will get a percussive cold sound.  To use weight is good but the fingers must be well prepared to receive the weight or else the shoulders will automatically compensate for weak fingers by going up and it gets painful eventually.

Basically, if you find your sound is too percussive, your wrists are probably "locked". If your shoulders are "up" and hurting you probably should work on the fingers. 
Maybe I am wrong and your problem is something else...
Good luck.

Recordings?  Try Perahia or Brendel.  From what I remember they were quite good.  If you want something different try Richter, I would not say it's a good reference on how it should be played but I find it quite entertaining!

[thracozaag]

  As far as recordings, I would recommend Horowitz (studio) and Bolet (live).

koji (STSD)

[kempff]

Haven't heard Horowitz' but the Richter that i have (vid) is great.