I've heard this Sonata!! It is beautiful!

Poulenc could be such a great composer when he wanted... Thanks for the link!

Elena
www.duoscarbo.com

PS- why don't you think about getting your concert recorded so you can post links here and we can listen in!

I'm off to recital pretty soon. Hubby is staying home to take care of Phinney. I've followed all of your advice, Elena. Am taking my banana with me. Maybe I'll take two. I kidnapped my neighbor last night to perform for her and I did pretty well. I don't think I'll completely fall apart at least.

I'm sure you'll be great! For a short performance like that one banana 25 minutes before should suffice. Knock'em dead!

Elena
www.duoscarbo.com

Didn't make it. Had to take Phinney into the vet emergency hospital because he began throwing up blood (lots of it). He's there for the night and we'll see how he is in the morning. They put him on IV's and are trying to turn him around.

I'm performing in a modern music masterclass this Saturday with some composer named David Lang at the Wilmington Music School in DE. i got a sneak peak at the program.

The program:
Me: Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue no.7 in A (someone has recorded it on classicalarchives.com). It is a tongue in cheek piece imo and very tough technically and musically.

Another Pianist: Ginastera Sonata no.1, op.22 3rd and 4th movements. go to classicat.net to hear this piece.

A flaustist: Winter Spirits by Katherine Hoover. there is a clip of this piece on the internet.

a pianist: Rochberg Short Sonata no.2

then a piano trio will end the program.

Thanks for pointing us to the pieces. Just had a listen of the Shost. I'm not familiar with any of the sonatas, but I love his string quartets. I like the piece, a lot. Makes me want to hear the others.

Let us know how the master class went.

PS: Your tagline makes me chuckle. So often, I hear a snip of a piece in some every day sound.

Recital on Sunday in Breckenridge.
I may not be the best player on the program, but I certainly will be the oldest.
Will be playing a bagatelle by Tcherepnin, and maybe a Lento by Stravinsky.

Let us know how it goes, chas.

I wonder how rhapspag's master class went? I don't recall a post on it.

As for me, we're back into holiday merriment and cheer. I will play the dastardly "Las Mananitas" I mentioned before, plus about a dozen other songs--all accompaniments. It should be fun, and beats the heck out of the 40+ tunes I had to whip into shape last year. The choirs are improving, too!

It went OK, I suppose. It was less of an out-of-body experience than the previous one.
I screwed up parts and played others not so well.
If there is a drug for stage fright I need it, but would probably get all the side effects and go to sleep or have a religious experience.

Hi Chas,

Kudos to you for "showing up." I think we old folks should give ourselves a pat on the back for sticking to it and performing in front of strangers. It probably went better than you think - I always think "oh, what a mess" and then people come up to me and say "Very nice!" and "So musical!"

Dale

(Background: PT also teaches harp. Most (but not all) of her harp students are teens and adults. She has at least a half a dozen AB piano students, as well. Her mother also teaches piano. The kid students have their holiday recital at Halloween and come in costume and play scary music. The adult holiday recital is in December and is more of a potluck with music than a recital. PT and her mother get together on the student recitals, so it's a sizable number of students.)

So our holiday recital/potluck was yesterday afternoon. There were about six or seven harpists, about ten pianists.

The first harpist was a little six-year-old girl who has been taking lessons for about a year. She has a small harp -- about three feet tall, and sits on a kiddie-size chair. Even at age six, she's more about the size of a large toddler. Tiny. PT said that she can't even reach the lowest couple of strings on the harp when she's playing. She played "Away in a Manger" and "Frosty the Snowman". She played both songs beautifully at an accomplished tempo. She's gonna be downright dangerous when she gets older. I didn't ask, but I suspect she played another instrument (like piano) starting at age two.

My solo piece was the Musette from the Anna Magdelena Notebook. I always loved this piece (ummmm... especially the Walter/Wendy Carlos version). I think if they had used Bach for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" instead of that Vince Guaraldi dude, the Musette would be the music for Snoopy skating on a frozen pond. I played just okay. I stumbled in a few places. I tried to play a bit faster than I should have. Despite PT telling me to use the music, I, the rebel, played from memory. The nerves kicked in about the third measure. Kicked in hard. I've played it a lot better...but not in front of 40 other people.

One of the adult harp students and I decided this summer to try a duet. We spent the last couple of months doing a cut 'n' paste arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon on harp and tenor recorder. We had a solo harp arrangement to start with and the piano arrangement I played at the holiday potluck a couple years ago. PT asked the harpist not to just use the harp arrangement because another harpist was going to play that at the recital. It turned out the other harpist who just started college this fall was having homework issues, mom 'n' dad issues, boyfriend issues, and issues issues and didn't get the piece ready, so a week or two ago decided that she was not going to play it at the recital.

I bought a new recorder for the event. My old wooden Adler tenor recorder was a bit flat. My trusty Yamaha plastic tenor is perfectly in tune, but has a very loud, bright voice (imagine that! their recorders are just like their pianos!). So I bought a new Adler in maple, and have spent the last month trying to get it broken in. The harpist totalled her Chebby Suburban a couple weeks ago, so she couldn't get her harp to the recital and she played PT's harp instead.

Just before going up to play, I thought, "oh carp... I not only have to control my fingers, but my breath as well." At least sweaty hands help you close the fingerholes completely, as long as the recorder doesn't just hydroplane out of your hands. In a slightly unconventional move, the harpist whipped out her electronic metronome before we started and set our tempo.

We played very well. I missed exactly one note, and I kept playing instead of trying to go back and fix it. I think the harpist played well. She was playing a little to quietly (she says PT's harp is quieter than her own). We kept it together. It was good. Nobody recorded it.

PJ, congratulations on your performances! Sorry the congrats took so long; I only just saw this today; this isn't one of the threads that catches my eye.



Off to clean my house for Hanukkah party Saturday...

Katie and I are playing a recital tomorrow for "The Teble Clef", our local music club.

I am playing first.

Bach
Gavotte I from English Suite 6

Mozart
K545 1st, 2nd and 3rd movements.

Chopin
Prelude in Em (3)
Waltz in Am
Prelude in Bm,(7)
Prelude in Db Major (15)

Katie is playing:

Beethoven
Bagatelle #2

Chopin
Nocturne in C# Minor

Debussy
Dr. Gradus Ad Parnassum

We are playing all pieces from memory.

I just noticed this feature on this forum ... and that people don't post much on it. But for what it's worth, I'm playing in a concert with my string quartet on Saturday, April 14, at 5 p.m. The program:

Barber, String Quartet, Op. 11
Mozart, String Quartet in E flat major, K. 428
Dohnanyi, Piano Quintet in E flat minor, Op. 26

The concert will be in Chevy Chase, MD. If anyone is interested in attending, send me a PM and I'll send you the info.

Just peeked in here for the first time in months! Hey mark, how did your recital go? Nice program from both of you!

Piano Again, start your own thread in Off Key or The Soundboard. That concert deserves its own publicity! We have several members in MD who I'm sure would try to be there.

Good luck!

Elena