Piano*Son plans to use this as one of his competition pieces starting in February. It's in the final polishing phase. Comments?


Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G Minor

It's a piece I'm not familiar with (as in, I've never played it), so my comments will be general.

First, I really like the intensity and pulse he's able to bring off through the main section. It is a relentless, driving, rhythm that he does very well.

That said, I'd take a bit longer at about :40, where the theme switches (gosh, I wish I had a better music vocabulary). I think he can just take a quick breath there to bring out the contrast a bit more.

The chords at:55 sound a bit muddy...I'd also be tempted to start them a bit more slowly (just a tad) and accelerate them so those chords are "going somewhere," if that makes sense. They can have a bit of an inner beat as well, not just eight (?) more or less equally weighted chords.

A bit more rubato going into the melodic middle section 1:24, then emphasize the melody top tone line a bit more...bring it out just a little bit. It's Rachmaninoff at his most romantic--I know he's young, but don't be afraid to schmaltz it up just a little bit.

I like the re-entry at 2:30 (recap)...he doesn't rush into it, so you get this great sense of motion and build-up.

The chords at 3:00, IMO, need to be much bigger, and the final main theme bigger as well.

OK, enough with the nitpicking. That was really well done. His playing is very confident, tempo is great. He looks relaxed and in control of the piece throughout. He's improved a ton, and he was already pretty darn good. The comments I've made are just stylistic stuff, because he really does seem to have developed a really good feel for this piece, and music in general.

I would recommend ditching the "Poland Football Team" t-shirt for the competition, though!

That's fantastic. He really has a nice feel for the piece. It's hard to find much to be critical about.

It's funny, most students are constantly chastised for not using enough pedal. I found myself craving more pedal - especially in the B (arpeggiated) section. I think some more pedal would smooth the arpeggios out a bit. Also, I heard more arpeggios and not as much melody in the chords as I would have liked. Maybe that was more a matter of mike placement, though.

I'd also work on the very last run to clean it up a bit - it's a little muddy.

Boy - he's getting good!!

Quite right about those last two measures. He's working to clean up the middle as well. We discovered he actually ..... uh .... left out two measures of that section. That will change!

The funny thing is that many of the current interpretations of this piece that we have seen are VERY dry ....Lisitsa, for instance

I worked on this piece for about a million years when I was a teenager.

He plays it very well. Maybe in general -- more dynamic contrast, more rubato, and more pedal for a lusher sound.

Good luck with it!

Wow!

Piano Son is so freakin' good! I wish I could play like him! Give him my best and tell him I think he will do well in the upcoming competition!

OK, we're ready to try again. There is a brand new Petrof model III at a local church. I want to record on that, not because I prefer it to my Grotrian .....I don't, and neither does Anthony. But it has a certain warmth of sound in the large sanctuary.

What I'm doing now is making videos with my Sony while simultaneously getting the audio with my Zoom H4. Then I download the audio into iTunes and the video into iMovie. I can't strip the existing audio track from the movie, but I can zero out its volume. Then I can then add the Zoom audio as a new track in the movie and match up the timelines of the video and the audio tracks. Voila, better audio than the camcorder microphone can provide. I did that for the current G minor on youtube and I think it sounds better than the other videos we have posted.

As promised, here's 'take two' on the Rachmaninoff. We have used the Petrof Model III at a local church. It is in a large sanctuary, which produces the concert hall type of sound. You may also possibly detect the Petrof 'music box' charm. My Grotrian is a lot more powerful, but I rather like the effect on the Petrof in this hall.

Calling Elena .... pianist comments desired.


New version

Anthony shows control with clean octaves for sure! Go Anthony!!!

I was hearing something that I was not sure was written, and couldn't find my copy so I just found it online. It was at 48 and 307ish. Hearing an accent on the last note of the phrase, but there it was, accented as presented in the piece!

Would love to hear the recording on the Grotrian to compare.

Petrofs that I have played or heard have always been extremely bright and harsh in the treble. This one seemed much better. Where did you place the H4?

LL

Go to our Youtube page (at dhfeld) and you'll find both versions. His teacher made some changes in between, and he got better control (and speed) as well.

Excellent!

I'm working on this piece as well, and if I'll ever play it like that I'll be very happy!

Well, the first competition is over, and to our surprise he won. Not exactly an error free performance, but the judges seem to have rated musicality over accuracy.

This was the local round. The regional round comes up next in early March. If he wins that one (a long shot) the state level is last.

Good for the judges! They should be rating musicality over accuracy, IMO.

There are a lot of folks who can play fast. There are far fewer who can play musically.

Congrats to Piano*Son!!

OK, he lost in the regional round. Oh well. He finished behind a wonderful rendition of Jeux d'eau and one of Liszt's transcendental etudes played by a former "From the Top" veteran. Tough neighborhood we have here.

On the brighter side, he just got into the final round of the competition sponsored by the Virginia Federation of Music Clubs. That'll take place in early June up in Fredericksburg VA. Last competition of the year. Hurrah!

When I was in high school, no one dare to touch the Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies and Transcendental Etudes. Now at regional level competitions, you see a hand full of students playing these super tough pieces.

Best of luck to Piano*Son in June!