Debussy - Feux d'artifice

[andhow04]

the last prelude from Book II is really quite difficult.. not only all the arpeggios but the very fast changes of articulation and keeping a coherent beat.

there's an interesting video of MArc-Andre Hamelin playing this live at the 92nd St Y in NYC, instead of leaping for the octaves on the first two pages, he plays the lower part with just the LH. he has some other re-arrangements physically that are pretty interesting. i practiced that but found it to be too much cheating for me. he can get away with it because everyone already knows he can play everything.,.,.

[lelle]

I thought this was really well done, and you make the instrument sound great.

Am I right in that in the beginning you kind of play "on the surface of the keys" to get it soft? It feels like it becomes a bit uneven because of that. Maybe you could experiment with practising playing those notes solidly all the way to the bottom as well, but very very softly? Beginning very slowly so you have control, and then increasing the tempo but keeping the softness and technical solidity?

[andhow04]

I thought this was really well done, and you make the instrument sound great.

Am I right in that in the beginning you kind of play "on the surface of the keys" to get it soft? It feels like it becomes a bit uneven because of that. Maybe you could experiment with practising playing those notes solidly all the way to the bottom as well, but very very softly? Beginning very slowly so you have control, and then increasing the tempo but keeping the softness and technical solidity?

thanks so much, i wonder if you are referring to the very beginning, where i play an extra bar totally silently before coming in, just to rev it up. it's hard to just start out of nowhere, so i get my fingers moving in rhythm first. i realized maybe it looks like a mistake on the video, like i didn't push the keys down in time, but i did it on purpose ! lol

[lelle]

I was thinking once you start making sound. I actually didn't even think about that you did it silently before coming in, clever trick!  Once you have sound, it sounds like you are occasionally dropping notes or at least the tone is uneven in those quiet 32nd triplets, which is what makes me ask if you feel like you are playing "on the surface", i.e. not pressing the keys down to the bottom. This didn't bother me later in the piece, so I am only thinking about the start where you have to play softly.