Debussy La Plus Que Lente

[lowk-_-y]

My rendition of Debussy La Plus Que Lente (Although its not very slow)
Have you heard Debussy play it? :0
Any feedback is very welcome, encouraged even, actually no, it's mandatory. You cannot listen unless you are going to comment :p
Also, you will hear a big rolled arpeggio thing at around 3.04 that I messed up unfortunately, just so you're aware that I'm aware.

[medtnerfan]

Very nice, I haven't heard this piece before. I actually haven't listened to a lot of Debussy for some reason, I have listened to a lot of Ravel though. Thank you for sharing your performance of it.

To start with, are you familiar with the concept of fractional pedaling? This refers to how the pedal is not only on or off, but different regions. For example, if you only press the pedal ever so slightly and play staccato, you'll get a halo effect while still having a staccato sound. I think this concept will greatly help with this piece, especially because Debussy puts portamento's in the bass line, which I think implies a lighter sounder bass that otherwise would sound heavy with a full pedal.
Here's a video about this fractional pedaling from Graham Fitch:

Flutter pedaling or lifting the pedal gradually, will also help in smoothing out long phrases that last more than 1 measure, like in Measures 27-29. Abrupt changes in pedal will disturb the flow of the phrase here.

Another big thing is voicing, that was one of the main things that I learned from my most recent piano lessons. Make sure the middle chords are a lot softer than melody line, this is something that I always have to work on. To use the words of Heinrich Neuhaus from the his book "The Art of Piano Playing", there should be an "air cushion" between melody and accompaniment.
With passages that having parallel intervals, like in Measures 27-29 or the thirds in Measures 87-89, voice one line over the other, usually I would voice the top line more, unless you're going for a variation in a repeated section (like an exposition of a sonata) or you want to a darker/heavier mood.

At Measure 9 & 25, don't start too loud. The beginning of crescendos are the softest point, we always feel tempted to play loud as soon as we see those, and vice versa, when we see a decrescendo we feel tempted to go soft right away. But don't fall into that trap.

For phrasing, 2 note phrases (like in the bass) in general should end on a softer note. Also, in the 3 note phrases in the bass, starting from Measure 104, make sure to not make the 3rd note the loudest. In the edition I'm looking at (I think this is Debussy's marking), there is a decrescendo for each 3 note phrase.

The leger passage in Measure 68, was done very well.

[lowk-_-y]

Thank you for your feedback. Some very useful points

Here's a video about this fractional pedaling from Graham Fitch:

Flutter pedaling or lifting the pedal gradually, will also help in smoothing out long phrases that last more than 1 measure, like in Measures 27-29. Abrupt changes in pedal will disturb the flow of the phrase here.

Good point, I see what you mean about the flow being lost here, I haven't watched this video but I think it'll be useful, impressionistic music especially definitely needs more nuanced attention to pedalling. I'll work on this.

At Measure 9 & 25, don't start too loud. The beginning of crescendos are the softest point, we always feel tempted to play loud as soon as we see those, and vice versa, when we see a decrescendo we feel tempted to go soft right away. But don't fall into that trap.

Too right, a deadly trap indeed.

For phrasing, 2 note phrases (like in the bass) in general should end on a softer note. Also, in the 3 note phrases in the bass, starting from Measure 104, make sure to not make the 3rd note the loudest. In the edition I'm looking at (I think this is Debussy's marking), there is a decrescendo for each 3 note phrase.

Yes these marking's are in my edition as well, I think I just missed them. This third note does stick out a lot, thanks for pointing that out.

Very nice, I haven't heard this piece before. I actually haven't listened to a lot of Debussy for some reason, I have listened to a lot of Ravel though. Thank you for sharing your performance of it.

I'm not sure if this piece is considered underrated but it's definitely a gem. I won't go into a Ravel vs Debussy comparison but Debussy has so many pieces of pure gold, definitely explore him.

 I do adore Ravel though.

[medtnerfan]

Yes these marking's are in my edition as well, I think I just missed them. This third note does stick out a lot, thanks for pointing that out.

Oh by the way, I should have mentioned one exercise that seems to help me out in this kind of thing. It's another accent exercise with cycling. So for a 3 note/chord figure I would do the following for one measure (repeated), (1) 2 3 1 (2) 3 1 2 (3), where the the beats in between brackets are accented, while the other notes played as soft as possible. Then I would do this for measure.
I hope that made sense