(Video) Chopin: Fantasie in F Minor, op.49

[schubert960]

Recorded live 24/5/2016. I'd love to know what you guys think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3BP0YyHfjk

[mjames]

BOYYYY!!
Lol I was actually hating on this piece awhile back...now I like it again. 
Cool choice and awesome playing!

[isaacmalitz]

Very good performance as-is.
A few errors in passagework, but I am sure you will be able to correct that.

My principal negative is not with your playing, but with the piano (or maybe it was with how it was recorded?). Your playing seems to exceed the capabilities of the piano!

Characteristics of your playing (as best I can surmise): "Big" sound, well-proportioned; wide-ranging dynamics; instinct for good sonics; good capability for nuance and perhaps for "color".

Characteristics of the piano (at least as I heard it on the recording): Small flat sound; mediocre resonance and color; dynamics capable of mp, mf-f, and ff , that's about it (can't support nuances in dynamics).

I'd love to hear what your performance would sound like on a really good piano. (Some of my own personal favorite pianos as played by artists: Moravecs's piano used in his recording of Chopin Nocturnes; Horowitz' piano; Zimmerman's piano. What are your favorite pianos?)

[schubert960]

Thanks both for your kind comments. This was recorded on a Steinway A at my college, and I agree that the piano isn't fantastic. Unfortunately the room that this was recorded in is soundproofed much better than all the other rooms at college, so in order to avoid background noise this was the best room to record in. The acoustic is extremely dry, however, which probably contributed somewhat to the lack of resonance that you hear. It's irritating because in the room directly opposite this one there is an incredible Steinway B that is probably one of the best pianos I've ever played on. The acoustic in that room is quite wet, however, and there is a lot of sound leakage from adjacent rooms, so sadly not ideal for recording in unless college is empty. I'd say my favourite piano is the Steinway B. It seems to provide so many more opportunities for colour, tone and nuance than other Steinways or Fazioli, Bechstein, Bluthner, Bosendorfer or any others that I've played.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Lots of spirit and fire - good performance. I have to agree with the above the comment, namely that the piano is detrimental to the overall affect, and I suspect that a better one would allow for more nuance. The few blemishes didn't trouble me at all - realistically they are very much a part of live performance - and it's better to have an expressive performance where a few are present than a tepid but precise runthrough.