Piano Forum

My question is in regards to the left hand for the first six measures of the piece.  I’m a novice, but can play the whole aria, yet the first six measures are not working.  I’m using the Glenn Gould 1981 as a reference for tempo, phrasing etc.  I’m going to explain my issue as it relates to measure one, but it’s also applicable to the rest of the first six measures  (though some more than others).   When I first started playing the piece I mistakenly was playing each notes in the left hand as a quarter note.  So for the first measure, I would play in the left hand a g for one beat, then a b for one beat (I would release the g here), then a d for one beat.  So I was playing one note at a time.  Then I was listening to other recordings and noticed that I had been playing it wrong and that the g should be held for 3 beats , the b for 2 beats, and the d for one beat.  It’s when I starting trying to play it this way that everything went wrong.  Whenever I play it, no matter how softly I play the notes, the first two notes are sustaining way too loudly.  The first measure isn’t so bad but measure 5 is particularly bad.  Whenever I hear any recording of it,  I can faintly hear that the notes are all sustaining so that by the time the third note in a measure is played, you are hearing three notes.  But whenever I try to play it, it’s awful.  Like I said it just sounds like the by the time I play the d in the first measure, the initial g and b are too loud. It sounds closer to being correct when I just play quarter notes, but that sounds like something subtle is missing…which it is.  Has anyone come across this as a challenge or does anyone have any tips ??
Thanks