Schumann - Sonata G minor op. 22

[verqueue]

I'm not happy with my result, but my life performance is in a few days and I'm not planning to practice it much more after that. Especially I didn't commit enough time to the second and third movement, because the first and the last one are pretty hard. The score is misleading, some spots seem to be repetitive. But getting it all together is something which is main problem in this work.

Here is my recording:

Any comments, advices, remarks more than welcomed!

[stevensk]

Sounds very good!   

[amytsuda]

The score is misleading, some spots seem to be repetitive. But getting it all together is something which is main problem in this work.

That sounds Schumann... actually your 2nd and 3rd movements are so beautifully done! I don't know this piece that well, I only printed a free score and tried to sight-read it once for fun, and quickly gave up because my fingers get tangled up 

But I agree 1st and 4th movements sound very difficult to package together. 1st movement is typical Schumann, great exciting agitating start, but then, there are just too many notes and repeats and we ran out of places to go to towards the end. I wonder if there's way to back off after the exciting introduction and pursue more lyrical mood for a while to leave a room to the end. 4th movement is another typical Schumann, a compilation of great fragments with a lot of notes, but not sure how they are together. I almost wonder maybe we don't have to think too much about how they are together. Schumann is an expert of compiling fragments and making them work together, if we look at his lieder cycles like Liederkries and Dichterliebe.

By the way, in the video, I realized you actually have hands that are the same size with mine. But you play like your hands are twice as big as mine. Incredible performance! I noticed you are practicing Beethoven Op 109. I can't wait to hear that one.

[amytsuda]

I also noticed on YouTube, you have Scriabin Op 8 / 12. So you do have exactly the same size hands (9th-ish) with me. You are quite inspirational!

[j_menz]

Nicely done.

A couple of things.

In the first movement, mind your accents - some of them are missing and some are in the wrong place.  (That's occasionally true in the Rondo as well, but not nearly as much) There's also quite a few wrong notes, so check the score if you don't already know about them. Nothing major.

Those blasted  things at the start of the Scherzo aren't quite right - the demisemiquavers are too short and the semiquavers aren't accented or quite crisp enough (note the rests). They're actually the bit I struggled with most out of the whole thing.

The dynamics seemed a little narrow, but I suspect that's a recording artefact.

Knock 'em dead when you go live!  

I "did" this sonata way back before you were born, and haven't really looked at it since. You've brought back some (mostly) happy memories.

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Thank you stevensk, amytsuda and j_menz for commenting.

amytsuda:

I almost wonder maybe we don't have to think too much about how they are together.

It's my first Schumann piece, so I don't know it yet too.

I wonder if there's way to back off after the exciting introduction and pursue more lyrical mood for a while to leave a room to the end.

Yes, I could use more lirical spots in the first movement. Definitely there is a way to do it, but I didn't work it out yet.

By the way, in the video, I realized you actually have hands that are the same size with mine. But you play like your hands are twice as big as mine.

Yeah, I've small hands. I know personaly one pianist, who has smaller. For about ten years I struggled a lot with stretching, my teacher wasn't happy about it. 9 is my maximum. I remember that I wanted to play 10 so much that it was making me cry... . Finally I accepted my hands, because it's really enough. I know only one piece, I can't play - it's a piece by Suk for piano and violin (staccato 10 in fast tempo) , so I can live with it. Even C major Etude by Chopin is managable, so don't waste more time on looking at your small hands and go practicing .

I noticed you are practicing Beethoven Op 109. I can't wait to hear that one.

It can be a while, because I just started. And I got an offer to be a cocktail pianist on a cruise ship, so it's possible I'll abandon this project. I'll need to learn how to play jazz pieces in next two months...

j_menz:

In the first movement, mind your accents - some of them are missing and some are in the wrong place.  (That's occasionally true in the Rondo as well, but not nearly as much) There's also quite a few wrong notes, so check the score if you don't already know about them. Nothing major.

Yes, I was fixing some of accents none too soon. Most likely I didn't fix them all. Other thing is that I don't "understand" some of them yet.

The truth is that I can't just sit and play the first and the last movement without wrong notes. There is always something... But it wouldn't be my first miss-read in this piece, so I'll look closely to the score once more.

Those blasted  things at the start of the Scherzo aren't quite right - the demisemiquavers are too short and the semiquavers aren't accented or quite crisp enough (note the rests). They're actually the bit I struggled with most out of the whole thing.

So, I'm not the only one who struggled with it! For the first month I was wondering if I ever play them in the right tempo. I still need to practice them - you are right about rhythm and accents.

The dynamics seemed a little narrow, but I suspect that's a recording artefact.

Maybe. I was thinking about it too. I'll see on my rehersal...
Thanks for your remarks!

[amytsuda]

I know only one piece, I can't play - , so don't waste more time on looking at your small hands and go practicing .

I hear you! You sound like my teacher.... 

It can be a while, because I just started. And I got an offer to be a cocktail pianist on a cruise ship, so it's possible I'll abandon this project. I'll need to learn how to play jazz pieces in next two months...

Congratulations! Wow, that means you'd be traveling and having time to visit many places!? Sounds so great.