Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit: Ondine

[iamazombie911]

I have a whole year before auditions, I would appreciate brutally honest feedback.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

The technique is there and all but there's some balancing and pedaling issues.

I don't have the score with me right now so I can't be very specific BUT...

The opening is too much pedal.

The part where you have the same right hand figure in the beginning except with the G# chord you need to clear the pedal before the melody starts again.

The section after that is too much pedal

The part with the double thirds (I know they're not actually double thirds) And the c# bass you have to hold the pedal down because that c# is supposed to sustain until the next bass note.  I know you're changing it to preserve the harmony but that C# HAS to make it all the way through.  The same thing when you have the b flat bass and the f minor chord in the left hand.  Additionally it's impressionist music so that's a pretty common thing to do to mix up harmonies with pedal.  And the right hand is too loud.

There's a few other spots where it was difficult hearing the melody cause of pedaling but you can kinda apply what I said to everywhere else in the piece.  If you decide to use more pedal then the accompaniment has to be softer and the melody has to be louder cause of balance.

[iamazombie911]

I appreciate the feedback, and will reconsider my pedaling and balance.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

The best thing you've done with this is the atmosphere, which is excellent. Sometimes it's a bit muddy - without looking at the score I don't know whether this is due to pedalling or a slight loss of technical control (eg around 3.30).

[iamazombie911]

ronde, I bet it's a bit of both. Thank you for the feedback.