Chopin Op. 28 No. 2 A minor prelude

[keypeg]

This is posted as an adult student.  My teacher wanted me to see how far I could bring it at this stage.  Later when my skills are more developed I'll go back to it, perhaps in 1 or 2 years.  If I try to improve any one thing, say in the melody or countermelody, dynamics, pedal, one of them would slip simply because of physical control.
digital "hybrid" Kawai CA97 which I'm still getting used to.  I selected the SK-5 Grand, and tried to adjust things like resonance in the settings and did so improperly, so the sound is a bit off.

In the 2nd recording I tried to concentrate more on the melody since I was concentrating on the countermelody in the bass - here the pedal timing slips on and off.  Again, when my playing skills are more secure I'll come back to it.

[themeandvariation]

I think you do a good job here. It is a complex piece - harmonically - (really pushing the bounds) -and with counterlines as well. Not so easy to realize in a convincing way - also it being quite concentrated (one page) where those interrelationships are delicate, and you bring out. The only thing i would say is that the melody could be a bit more bold in its expressiveness.  Chopin brings in a whole world here; and with so little says so much.  (it is one of my favs.)
Very nicely done.    

[keypeg]

Thanks, Theme.  I agree about the expressiveness.  Atm I'm not there yet technically.  I cannot hold on to the LH, plus the countermelody, plus the pedal, plus expressiveness in the RH, without losing control of one thing or another.  At best, I'd turn into knots.  The plan is to continue with my technical growth in simpler material, with this being a kind of "in between stage" or groundwork to add to.  It's knowing when to stop when you've reached what you can reach.  I do love this piece, and it doesn't seem to be played enough.

Thx for the heads up in the title.  Could I ask you to fix yours - maybe refreshing your post will do it automatically since I changed the opening post.

[themeandvariation]

(title adjusted

[dcstudio]

Keypeg you are my favorite PS member and I have been listening to your progress for years.  This is really well done...good phrasing, love the way you played the counter melody especially in the first recording.
If I had to say something I would say that you start pushing the envelope a bit more and let's hear something that's out of your comfort zone.  It's time...I hear it in your playing...tackle something massive. You can do it..

[keypeg]

Thanks dc.  You know, this piece was pushing my comfort zone - massively.  The lower countermelody while playing the other notes is something I found very challenging and difficult, especially when also keeping the pedal working with the notes.

Themeandvariation, I went back to it last night considering the melody.  One reason is that I remembered that the weird piano settings had almost cut out the higher notes. You can hear it in the beginning where the first melody note does this instant drop-off, as if somebody had yanked a volume button half a second in.  So I went to a normal piano setting and played around with it some more.

I played the melody by itself, trying to squeeze out more expressiveness.  I'm wondering whether there is an inherent weakness in the piece, in the sense that a single note is held for so long, on a percussive instrument.  If I were singing it, or playing it on a wind instrument, or if my violin skills were a lot better, I would shape those sustained notes.  You can make a note ebb and swell in volume and become "thicker", rising into the next note in its volume - with the piano once the note is struck all you can do is prolong it with the pedal or by holding it, and it can go only one direction - fading away.  You can try giving that note the illusion of "moving" dynamically, by what you do with the repeated lower notes.  That's a trick I tried where it gets intense, though I lost control of the LH a bit esp. at one point, in the first recording.

I discovered I wasn't always sure in concluding parts of phrases - the "dit-dee's", if I wanted to make the last note louder or softer - whether to keep the rhythmic repeated notes deee deee dit-deee the same volume, steadily rise, have a fall.  The "grace note" itself has a choice of how long it's held - must that be consistent throughout?  Things like that.  In short, maybe I can do more with it be looking again at the RH melody.

[dcstudio]

You could have fooled me keypeg.  You sound pretty comfortable on this one.  Well done.

[themeandvariation]

"once the note is struck all you can do is prolong it with the pedal or by holding it, and it can go only one direction - fading away."  This is the difficulty w/ elongated (spaced out) melodic line.

"You can try giving that note the illusion of "moving" dynamically, by what you do with the repeated lower notes." Yes, this is significant.

 So we are dealing with trying to create an illusion of sorts.  
Of course rubato can have some effect on how the volume is 'carried' (or hits the ear).. But also, and perhaps just as significant, if the melody note ever so slightly anticipates the beat, (played slightly early), and somewhat projected, it creates a feeling of having More energy, and 'seems' to carry longer, and also the opposite, by articulating the beat slightly late gives the feeling of taking away energy, (like 'lilting') and gives the feeling of less 'energy'.. And that has an effect on How the ear hears its resonance.
Just a couple ideas.. Of course judgement must be used about 'to what degree' and how often.. A little goes a long way.. And one doesn't want it to seem obvious, or it takes away from the beautiful simplicity of the piece.  Tricky stuff.
(the lh can be like ripples of volume, ebbing and lifting -  supporting, but also contrasting with the main melody, in all the right places of course