Debussy Arabesque No. 1

[adanepst]

Hello Everyone!

I am making my debut on Pianostreet

This is a recording of my performance of Debussy's Arabesque No. 1, from a concert I played at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore on October 28:

I very much hope you enjoy it and would be delighted to hear your comments!

[perfect_pitch]

You need to watch your pedalling, there are times in the A section where the harmonies change yet sometimes you will keep the pedal down over several different chord changes which meld the sound in a rather awful way... A particular section where this is prevalent is 0:40 - 0:59.

When the harmony changes, it's always best to change the pedal otherwise it sounds wishy-washy (you can tell I deal mostly with primary school kids), but the effect is there if there isn't clear pedal.

[adanepst]

You need to watch your pedalling, there are times in the A section where the harmonies change yet sometimes you will keep the pedal down over several different chord changes which meld the sound in a rather awful way... A particular section where this is prevalent is 0:40 - 0:59.

When the harmony changes, it's always best to change the pedal otherwise it sounds wishy-washy (you can tell I deal mostly with primary school kids), but the effect is there if there isn't clear pedal.

Thank you, I really appreciate the time you took to listen and to share your comments, even referring to a specific section with the timing. This is much appreciated!

I am actually taking a very intentional approach to the pedaling here in Debussy, that being said, I listened to 0:40 - 0:59 and found one moment where I quite agree with you and the harmonies are in fact too blurred. In the rest of that passage I find it is all right from the point of view of pedaling.

Which brings me to an interesting reflection: to what extent is this a matter of aesthetic preference, so to speak, and to what extent might it be objective (in the same sense that a wrong note is objective)? For this reason I would be very eager to hear what other forum members would say about my pedaling in this piece. With a big thank you in advance!