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Topic: Impractical repertoire demands  (Read 1601 times)

Offline diomedes

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Impractical repertoire demands
on: December 09, 2015, 03:30:25 PM
Just curious how many people might be here with similar concerns, had them or thought of them:

Couple months ago i learned another recital program, fairly heavy material but it got done. Personal life intervened so i never performed it. But the learning process was very valuable.

I move on, set new goals, so one life pursuit of mine is Rachmaninov Op.39, i decided to learn the whole thing and possibly perform it.

What kind of a monster was this written for? I have confidence in my ability but this really shakes me up. After spending some time with it i insist on remapping my learning process to deal with the demands. None of them are technical, but it's a mountain of notes and my brain just doesn't feel up to the demands.

I learned nr.1 i c minor and recorded it a couple years ago, felt very good about it. But approaching the whole cycle really brings into relief how much a muscle man's task learning this is.

It has been a couple weeks, i'm working on nr.5 in e flat no problems there, nr.6 in a what a miserable tangle of notes and nr.8 in d which is an ocean of double notes and feels very impractical despite its soothing character.

So like i said, no technical concerns but learning something that demands a mind of elephantine proportions. I'm going to carry through with it, but maybe someone around here has experiences that are similar.
Beethoven-Alkan, concerto 3
Faure barcarolle 10
Mozart-Stradal, symphony 40

Offline nanabush

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Re: Impractical repertoire demands
Reply #1 on: December 15, 2015, 03:50:39 AM
Ive played 2 of the etudes ( 6 and 8 ). Ive dabbled in a few others but have started recently working on 3 seriously. I know what you mean - holy cow #6 was ridiculously tough, in the middle section youd think the harmonic progression would be somewhat straightforward but the slurry of inversions and chromaticism in the LH took ages to get comfy.

8 was actually quite comfortable!! The melody that the hands share in the middle section helps let it sing out more and feels less like an etude after the initial technical statement. 

The ones i find the most freaky are 1, 3 and 4... 4 feels like a two part invention with an orchestral accompaniment (the counterpoint is very very well engrained in the texture) and seems a beast to get good voicing.

7 has more of the crazy chromatic lines going off into thin air when the tempo picks up... Seems like a very slow version of a ligeti etude after the "funeral" section. The climax is my favorite part of any of the etudes!

Right now #3 is just bothering me tempo wise but has very smart pianistic writing.

6 is IMO the most awkward and unpianistic thing ive played by Rach.
Interested in discussing:

-Prokofiev Toccata
-Scriabin Sonata 2
 

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