Brahms op.118 no.2

[chatoto]

Recorded with Ipad 2 ,and a poor condition Yamaha(All pianos in conservatory is poor)

[awesom_o]

Overall very good-quality in terms of the big picture!

However, for me, your performance of this work was lacking attention to detail in the inner voices.

There is MAGIC in this piece. You're doing some First Year at Hogwarts kind of stuff and it's not bad at all, but you definitely need to be a full-blown wizard here.

[chatoto]

Thanks a lot for your advice!

[chatoto]

Overall very good-quality in terms of the big picture!

However, for me, your performance of this work was lacking attention to detail in the inner voices.

There is MAGIC in this piece. You're doing some First Year at Hogwarts kind of stuff and it's not bad at all, but you definitely need to be a full-blown wizard here.

Wow,Glenn Gould,he really is the Dumblidore!

[pianoguy711]

First, bravo on playing the piece start to finish cleanly! Now for the critique--sorry for the length

There is MAGIC in this piece

I completely agree with is.  The kind of magic that can bring a tear to your eye if played correctly.  I also agree with you that the piano is not the best.  

1) The difficulty with this intermezzo is the polyphony, you have to know when to bring out certain voices, and when to have a nice balance between all of them, There are moments in this piece when you have the right hand playing the upper melody but theyre are hidden more interesting melodic lines in other voices.  I think this is what awesom_o meant by

detail in the inner voices

. Also, pedaling is important here.  You're going to need different levels of pedaling (like half-pedaling) in order to keep those voices clear without blurring them too much.  

If you've ever heard or played Schumann's Traumerei  you'll know this is not as easy as it sounds.  I actually RECOMMEND you learn Traumerei, which (at your level) should not take long.  This piece will help you work on your tone, voicing, and pedaling.      

2) bass, bass, bass. This may be due to the recording to some extent but i hear mostly upper and middle voices.  With Brahms especially, you want to bring out that austere bass line in certain places.  Your upper melody voice is very well done as is the "tenor/alto" voice.

3) lastly, dont be afraid to sloooow down, savor those harmonies and let the music breathe a little.  After you finished the first section marked ritardando piu lento (right before the the dramatic middle section) you held the pedal and carried the major chord right into the minor section.  This is an abrupt change of tone, So dont be afraid of silence between these two moments! I think as musicians we sometimes feel that silence is a mistake or we forget about using it as a musical tool.

But please take my advice and learn Traumerei, I think it will help you so much with this piece

[chatoto]

Thanks about your valuable advice,I will check and see the Schumann piece. But as I marked below,I got some difficult new pieces to work at the moment. So perhaps I will play it and look back this piece at the same time at the summer vocation.
And my teach also told me how important the bass is in Brahms world, I will really keep that in  mind and work more about it .
For the inner voice,I have worked a lot,and I tried to make louder when I practice. But when I play it seriously ,I do not dare to make it too outstanding to cover the main voice... To balance the two,I am still quite confusing...
At last,this yamaha has a bass which is not very "Grave",I tryed to bring more of it,but but enough still...

[pianoguy711]

For the inner voice,I have worked a lot,and I tried to make louder when I practice. But when I play it seriously ,I do not dare to make it too outstanding to cover the main voice... To balance the two,I am still quite confusing...

it isnt so much that you need to make the inner voices louder but rather to make them more distinguished, more clear.  Think Bach prelude/fugue or invention.  I'm curious to how you play Bach.  Do you have any preludes/fugues or inventions ready? would you mind posting one?       

[awesom_o]

it isnt so much that you need to make the inner voices louder but rather to make them more distinguished, more clear. 

+1

[chatoto]

it isnt so much that you need to make the inner voices louder but rather to make them more distinguished, more clear.  Think Bach prelude/fugue or invention.  I'm curious to how you play Bach.  Do you have any preludes/fugues or inventions ready? would you mind posting one?       

Ah, here comes the problem. It has been 7 years since the last time that I played Bach...
At that time ,I did not have an excellent teacher. This is my 2nd year at conservatory ,I haven't started a serious study in Bach yet.