Piano Forum

More from my old college recital tapes.  A few notes...

This was performed as part of my Junior recital that included three Debussy Preludes (in English... Fireworks, Minstrels and The Hill of Anacapri), Beethoven Opus 31, #3, and Chopin's Gm Ballade.

First movement - listen for my having to suddenly become a composer around the 2:21 mark.  Hey - at least I kept the fingers moving.  You know the old saying with Bach.  When in doubt - pedal and trill.  This was what I opened with and I was a bit nervous to be honest and Bach has a way of making a pianist feel like they are naked on stage with nothing to cover their body except a microphone stand.

Second movement - I liked my overall interpretation, but I could not fully control this piano.  It was a rather brittle sounding instrument with little sustain for a 9 foot Steinway, and the action had this hard little break about half way down that robbed me of a few notes speaking here and there.

Third movement - NO, I WAS NOT ON DRUGS!  At my recital jury, Cary Lewis (then artist in residence at Georgia State) commented that he had bet the other two jurors that I would never finish the piece at the tempo I started it at.  Believe it or not - I did.  Second believe it or not - I SLOWED IT DOWN for my recital.  Clearly not enough.

So, here it is, warts and all.  I would play it today in a much more bridled manner while STILL holding to much of what I heard in the piece 37 years ago when this was recorded.