Debussy's Prelude from Suite Bergamasque Video

[trus]

I did a bit of work on it since the last post. Let me know what you think guys please ?

[awesom_o]

It is coming along nicely, Tonya! Very musical!

Two very important things are rather sloppy, though, I'm afraid.
Both your treatment of the rhythm, and your use of the damper pedal lacked the elegance and grace that this wonderful piece deserves.

Occasionally, you play some wrong notes that may or may not be accidental.
Keep working on this masterpiece.... it is extremely challenging, and only the finest pianists do it any sort of justice! I look forward to hearing you play the rest of the suite!

In my opinion, Suite Bergamasque is Debussy's most perfect composition. All four pieces are beautifully touching in their own unique way.

[cbreemer]

I can only rehash awesome_o 's comments. This is played with feeling and musicality, but needs to be more accurate in terms of notes and (especially) note values. Also, you need to be more judicious with the pedal, sometimes it's kept down for too long creating ugly blur's. It is a fine balance, you don't want Debussy to sound dry, but too much pedal makes it mushy.
As one of Debussy's more classically oriented works, I feel that this should be played more strictly
than many of his other works. Better defined rhythms and less pedal would fit in with that.

Small nag about the page turns, especially the second. To see them is not so bad but you don't want to hear them. Try turning at a place where you have time and a hand free to di it silently.

[trus]

It is coming along nicely, Tonya! Very musical!

Two very important things are rather sloppy, though, I'm afraid.
Both your treatment of the rhythm, and your use of the damper pedal lacked the elegance and grace that this wonderful piece deserves.

Occasionally, you play some wrong notes that may or may not be accidental.
Keep working on this masterpiece.... it is extremely challenging, and only the finest pianists do it any sort of justice! I look forward to hearing you play the rest of the suite!

In my opinion, Suite Bergamasque is Debussy's most perfect composition. All four pieces are beautifully touching in their own unique way.

thank you awesome. I dont know how on Earth did I get the timing so wrong. Partically because when I see 'rubato" it tends to give me too much freedom.., and the lack of time to actually sit down and study the score carefully and listen to recordigs etc. We all have busy lives, but dont think I do too bad - I could not play piano and sight read etc less than two years ago.  It was a well forgotten skill. 
Can you please tell me exactly where the pedalling is overdone - I have been given some professional advise on pedalling and would be interesting if those parts do actually contradict your opinions.
I doubt I would ever play the whole suite, awesome, I would have loved to though. I have lots of musical dreams, most of them won't ever be accomplished, some of them - might. The priority in life is to raise kids and pay mortgage judt now

[trus]

I can only rehash awesome_o 's comments. This is played with feeling and musicality, but needs to be more accurate in terms of notes and (especially) note values. Also, you need to be more judicious with the pedal, sometimes it's kept down for too long creating ugly blur's. It is a fine balance, you don't want Debussy to sound dry, but too much pedal makes it mushy.
As one of Debussy's more classically oriented works, I feel that this should be played more strictly
than many of his other works. Better defined rhythms and less pedal would fit in with that.

Small nag about the page turns, especially the second. To see them is not so bad but you don't want to hear them. Try turning at a place where you have time and a hand free to di it silently.

thank you cbreemer, I have replied about pedalling above, I hope you could also tell me where exactly it is not right, as I was told that I need to create this "blur". I was told I dont pedal enough.
Re wrong notes - I had counted 4 or 5 , i looked through the score and compared every time bar to what I play and it looks like I did not misread any parts.
Re page turns - I know they are awful, but in reality I do it a lot more quiter than the camera pictures it. I have recorded Beethovens sonata and I had to actually edit all page turns out because of the noise it made,  like a knife on the glass effect, lol!
I have fixed the rhythm already and hopefully once I hear on the pedalling I can fix that too. Thanks a lot. T

[awesom_o]

Can you please tell me exactly where the pedalling is overdone - I have been given some professional advise on pedalling and would be interesting if those parts do actually contradict your opinions.

With pedaling, it's really about quality rather than quantity. Your pedaling wasn't 'overdone' so much as it was 'badly done'. If you want to figure out how to pedal really well,  you need to spend time playing your pieces entirely without pedal.

Doing this will teach you more about pedaling than any other 'professional advice'.

[cbreemer]

With pedaling, it's really about quality rather than quantity. Your pedaling wasn't 'overdone' so much as it was 'badly done'. If you want to figure out how to pedal really well,  you need to spend time playing your pieces entirely without pedal.

Absolutely ! Actually, IMO, exactly the same holds for rubato. Only from being able to play in strict time, any meaningful rubato can arise.

As for pedaling, I think also you really need to listen back and ask yourself at any moment if the
harmonies sound right and are not clashing in unpleasant ways.