Les adieux help/ choosing a piece for video auditions

[sumpianodude]

hi guys,
so i am applying to the curtis summerfest(looks really fun). The video audition according to the website, https://summerfest.curtis.edu/young-musician-programs/young-artist-summer-program/young-artist-registration/ , includes a bach, a classical and another piece.
I am choosing for my classical piece two pieces that are VERY different in difficulty.
op.49/1 1st movement or op81a 1st movement.
obviously i have the op 49 more or less nailed down. It looks a bit competitive so i was working on something a bit harder to try to increase my chances of being accepted.
anyhow, i need a bit of feedback for the op81. i consulted my teacher and she advised i go with the 49(which i rather agreed with) and didn't really mention the op 81(probably fo a good reason) but i still hope there is a chance i can get the op81 down in time.
i have to have the audition recorded and sent by 1/31.


here is a video. sorry for the mistakes i'm just pretty tired and don't have the time to wait and retry tomorrow.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me some feedback, tips anything. i really need it. also please provide your opinion on whether i should try for this piece or just stick with the 49
thank you!

[pianoplayer002]

Almost none of your chords are together in the start. Every time you will play a chord in this piece from now on, decide to play all notes together. The same goes for syncing your hands in general.

You are also rushing and playing faster than you are able, which is not helping. It's a very hard piece. Only increase the tempo when you are in complete control of what you are playing in the current tempo.

Also, you need to keep your hands much more light, free and relaxed while being twice as active in your fingers. Your left hand is very tense in the main theme. This will help with the chords together also.

But seriously, I think this piece might be a bit too hard right now. There is nothing wrong with practising it a bit on the side, but there is a lot to fix for it to get good. Sorry if this sounds blunt but it's true.

[sumpianodude]

Hi,
I ended up recording the op49 for the audition. Thanks for the reply, it's probably what i needed to hear anyways.
I'm sorry if this seems obvious to you but i'm not too sure what you mean by playing the chords together. My ears aren't exactly professional  but I don't really hear any gap between most of the cords at the start?

Also, you need to keep your hands much more light, free and relaxed while being twice as active in your fingers. Your left hand is very tense in the main theme. This will help with the chords together also.

can you explain a bit on what you mean by this? My teacher has heard me play it but hasn't mentioned anything of the sort. how do i fix this?

thanks.

[pianoplayer002]

Hi,
I ended up recording the op49 for the audition. Thanks for the reply, it's probably what i needed to hear anyways.
I'm sorry if this seems obvious to you but i'm not too sure what you mean by playing the chords together. My ears aren't exactly professional   but I don't really hear any gap between most of the cords at the start?

I mean that the different notes in the chord do not sound at the same time - they are not synchronized, and that they should be. It is true that sometimes we might play select notes of a chord out of synch for interpretative reasons, but it needs to be a choice that we can actively make. It doesn't sound like you are totally aware of it in the recording.

In the first bar, the Eb-G third is not entirely together and the Bb-F fifth is definitely not together. In an audition you will probably lose 90% of the judges already there. They will think that you didn't even bother playing the first bar correctly and be harder to convince with what you are doing next. (You know, first impressions and all that stuff. Why skip taking care of that if it's easily fixed?  )

In bar 3 the notes are 99% together but it could be 100%. In bar 4, nice orchestration of the inner voices but your hands are out of synch. In bar 5 and 6 the hands are out of synch in almost every chord. You do have the occasional chord in the introduction that is very nice with all notes together, you just need to make sure you are able to play all the chords in the intro like that. Otherwise I can hear that you are a very musical person so just fixing this will elevate the level of playing in the intro by three times.

Just make sure you don't tense up your hands when fixing this, your hands will still need to be nice and relaxed, control it with your fingers (without tensing), not by locking the muscles in your hand.

Are you satisfied with how bar 29-33 sound in your recording?

(Don't worry, even many proffessionals struggle with and need to practise these bars a lot to get them good. But nevertheless, your hands are in fact not synched!)

Bar 47-61 there are many instances where your hands are not synchronized, especially when playing chords.

Bar 62 you are rushing. Practise this slowly and gradually increase the tempo and pay attention that the overal rhythm is a completely even flow of 8th notes even if the notes alternate being played by different hands. You should be able to say ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta completely evenly (at the same speed as your 8th notes) while playing and have the notes you are playing fit perfectly with that.

can you explain a bit on what you mean by this? My teacher has heard me play it but hasn't mentioned anything of the sort. how do i fix this?

thanks.

For example in the left hand accompaniement in bar 21 your fifth finger is barely moving, you are holding it like a tense, straight stick and pushing down the key by moving your hand. The same with the thumb. Even if this accompaniement is widely spaced it's still possible to play with relaxed hands and fingers. Your fingers need to be very awake and move on their own when playing a key (but don't lock up, clench or in any way tense your arm when doing this! It needs to be relaxed, just with more movement in the fingers). So when your fingers play a key, they shouldn't hesitate one millisecond, but know exactly what they are going to do and when. It's kind of like, your finger tip should initiate the finger movement to pull down the key to the bottom and hold it there while your arm and hand feels calm, passive and relaxed, but you are doing a bit of the opposite at times; your arm actively moves to push down the key because your finger is stiff or moving sleepily. But this is something that is better if a teacher takes care of in a lesson, because it is hard to describe in writing and easy to get wrong.

[lostinidlewonder]

The majority of your need for improvement is in your timing I feel, it felt didn't work in many places (eg: Allegro was not lively or excited, it really needs to contrast the Adagio but instead sounded a bit dragging). Problems with contrast in sound as well, like right at the start why you don't react to the crescendo in bar 7 leading to the sf when entering bar 8 followed by immediate depreciation of the volume energy with the 2nd quaver, there are so many other volume articulation points that you need to consider more carefully I only merely talked about 6 consecutive quavers!!

Beethoven is full of contrast in volume and articulation if you don't get it confidently you miss out a big part of Beethoven's musical language he showed us that the piano was capable to produce. Overall there is too much to discuss in terms of improvement of your recording here, just listen to some of the greats play get a better sense of the flow and sound you need and what is absent in your recording. Play something you are confident with this Sonata is no easy feat and the difficulty lies not really in the notes but the expression, it is really tough work.