Hello,

Finally had some time recently to record a new piece, Rachmaninoff Élégie opus 3 no 1.

If you like it, simply add the piece to my existing recordings here.

Martin Villeneuve (Cydonia)

Admin edit: Attachment deleted, recording is up the site

I very much enjoyed it. I am unfamiliar with this piece (and many of Rach's as well).

Did you record it on a piano or keyboard?

Wow. What a piece. It would be good in a dramatic movie. I love the way it "takes you away". I also enjoyed your playing.

A very impressive performance, Martin. Lots of passion and dynamics, nothing but praise for the performance. But a shame you seem to have gone way over the top with the reverb - or was this recorded in a stripped-down cathedral ? If you still have the original version, I would suggest that you try a less intrusive reverb if possible, before we put it on the site.

I can only niggle about one or two rhythmic idiosyncrasies, but nothing that Rachmaninov (or any old-world pianist) would have not done himself. And it seems to me like the last of the downward thirds in the penultimate bar is missing, but that could be an illusion.

Can I ask why you call yourself MARTIN NEWTON in the recording's ID3 tag ? I recommend using your real name as that is what will trigger the link to your personal page in the 'New' and 'Statistics' pages.

Thanks everyone for your inputs.

Chris, you are right about the too high reverb. For some reason, it sounded just fine when I recorded and then it appeared to be too much once the recording was done. I suppose it must be linked to some unequality between some inputs and what comes out at the end of the recording chain. But I doubt I could do a new recording anytime soon (I wish I had more time for piano).

Whoops, forgot to change the usual Newton nickname before the upload. It's simply an artist name I often use for discretion, as the Internet is not always the most secure place. But it's OK if my page shows or if you guys prefer to change the file infos if you want when you place the file for good on the site. Just for the record, in french, ville = town and neuve = new, hence the choice for the Newto(w)n nick. English people can't pronounce my real name anyways.

Back on the piece, it's true the finale gave me a little headache rhythmically. I guess there's no easy piece with Sergei. Earlier, in the middle section, there are left hand passages that ask for such wide gap patterns (although effortless for him) that I had to practice them for a few minutes only once every hour or so, otherwise pain would show up. And as those passages are to be played legato, no choice but to stretch those fingers. Probably Sergei was a little bit masochist.

Yeah , I had worked out the Newton trick already.

So you have not kept an un-reverberated version of this. That is a pity. Ah well I will put it up as is then - it is only a little bit atrocious I'm happy to say I like this much better than your previous recording (that double-speed Maple Leaf Rag).

Yeah, this new one is definitely the perfect antithesis of the Joplin rag. Slow and sad instead of fast and joyful.

Superb performance! I love this piece, esp. Rachmaninoff's own version. The reverb doesn't bother me - I think it adds something to this piece... hard to describe.

Yes this is really a very good performance with a lot of reverb . Nothing that bothers too much.

Hi Robert, long time no see. As I read in another thread that your son likes Rachmaninoff, you can test this piece with him to see if he will like it.

Also, thanks to r590. I didn't know that a recording of it played by the composer existed. I wish I could hear it to see if his playing was more "restrained" or more "passionate". Even though I've read that Sergei apparently enjoyed to modify his renderings quite a lot.

BTW - It is up the site, reverb and all. Indeed, as some remarked, the outsize reverb sort of fits the piece and its performance. Now Martin, get going and record the other items of this set

I did that this morning and it seems he did. He does not talk much but the reaction was that he stopped what he was doing and sat and looked out the window, calm and thoughtful.

Give me your email and I can email it to you!

Bravo! A very convincing performance.

I found the tempo of the 'A' sections too slow, and the fortissimos too declamatory. Other than that, it was fantastic.

(Please forgive me, I have to nit-pick. )

Pete the Perfectionist