I made this recording today of one of the Poetic Pictures of the (living) Russian composer, Gennadi Chernov. Not all of his music I like, but I do like two of these 6 pieces as well as some of his Concert Pieces. Two of his works are ro be found on YouTube.

EDIT: see the new recording bellow.


Chernov - Poetic Pictures, 6 Pieces for Piano, No. 4

I've never heard of this composer. The piece is pretty nice. It's a bit jazzy. Your playing is nice....except.... and now Richard, I'm going to tell you something that I wanted to tell you before, but didn't because I didn't want you to get mad. It's about the sound quality - specifically the background hiss. I couldn't get passed it well enough to be able to really hear your playing. I'm at home now and using my better headphones so maybe I'm hearing more hiss than I did when I listened to your other recording when I was not at home and using different headphones. But anyway, there is quite a lot of hiss in this recording, and it's weird but the hiss is softer at the very beginning of the file and then right before you start to play, the hiss gets amplified. Sounds like you amplified the file except for the very beginning part. Is this correct? It's okay to amplify an entire file, but you have to get the beginning of the file or it's a dead giveaway. Also, in my opinion, you amplified it too much, because the hiss is very loud now.

Hi Richard,

Although I'm not too familiar with the piece, I believe you play it well with confidence, and I'm convinced by your rendition. You play it with expressiveness. The piano sounds better than on earlier recordings too. I like those fleeting blues touches that Chernov incorporates into his score. Thanks for introducing us to this music.

I read Monica's comments about the hiss. When listening to music I use my fairly new Sony MDR-7506 Professional Dynamic Stereo Headphones. They might not be the top rated headphones, but are still considered to be excellent and are definitely superior to studio monitoring headphones. I can't detect any hiss present at all in this recording. Truth be known, I do have some tinnitus in both ears, but can still can hear hiss in other recordings that I've found objectionable, so don't believe the tinnitus is a consideration here. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe some others here could weigh in on the hiss issue.

Very nice playing.

David

Certainly a nice piece, and very well played. I could imagine just a little more freedom, rubato, and dynamics, but there really isn't anything to nag about otherwise, it's confidently and convincingly played. There's probably some hiss but it doesn't bother me, I don't think it is more than in some other recordings. Of course when over 50-55 our hearing of high frequencies deteriorates, explaining why David and me don't hear it, whereas Monica is extremely sensitive to hiss. I don't think the average listener will be. What bothered me more is the obnoxiously creaking bench in the first pause. That should have been cut out. Either that or you sit still

The tags are almost ok, except for missing composer name 'Chernov' and a misspelled pianosociety URL (and extra 'r').

Is this composer related to Konstantin Chernov who transcribed Moussorksgsky's Night on the Bald Mountain ?

ok, I will give up the hiss issue. I am sorry, Richard.

Thank you, Chris!

I will need to listen again and, if possible, I shall cut the stool. it is a bit squeaky at times. I need to address that issue. I shall see to the misspelling. Did I not add the composer name? Oh well...

That is fine, Monica, but since you say that you listened to my two other recordings with other earphones and heard no hiss and that hiss you only heard on your "better" earphones, it seems to me that the problem might with the earphones. Maybe they are too sensitive? I listened to this, while editing, with my loudspears and these are not computer ones, but rather large affairs, detachable part of a now-defunct ghetto-blaster. Some minimal hiss there is, I concede, but enough to drown out a recording?

I use a small mp3 recorder and place it 2 yds behind the piano. The quality is not the best and it is none to sensitive nor is it possible to reduce the recording level (it allows for high sensitivity, average and low and I have it at low). The left channel is invariably louder than the right one, so, when editing, i need to reduce amplitude on that channel. In this particular case, as the overall level was too loud and I did not want to blast people's eardrums, I reduced the amplitude of the whole recording, from one end to the other. As there is always a bit of noise before a recording actually begins, I placed (in this case) a 1" silence before the recording, as well as a 2" silence after its end.

Actually, I said that I didn't comment about the hiss. I only did so this time because I noticed a significant difference from when I was away from home versus at home. That you added a few seconds of silence at the beginning of the file makes sense, given that the hiss changes there near when you start to play.

Well, since hiss only bothers me, then like I said before I will stop making it an issue. I just wish there was a way for me to make you all listen and hear things the way I hear them....

I could filter the hiss, of course, but that invariabily compromises sound quality. I notice that when I filter the hiss the music flutters and that bothers me.

I have tried my best to remove the clicks that Chris mentioned. Not the stool, I am afraid. I cannot identify what it is.

I had added the composer. If it was not there maybe there is some bug creeping around.

I do not know the gentlemen's family or ancestry. I do have a biography of his, very badly translated (maybe by an automatic translator) and which I have shortened and corrected:

Gennady Vladimirovich Chernov , the Russian composer and professor of the Faculty of composition and instrumentation of the Russian Academy of music Gnesin, was born on 26 April 1937 in Tashkent. In 1968 he finished his studies at the the State Musical and Pedagogical Institute Gnesin (now the Russian Academy of music Gnesin). Since 1968 he has worked for the Faculty of Composition and Instrumentation of the Russian Academy of music Gnesin. In June 2003, by decree of the President of Russia, he was awarded the title of " Honored worker of the arts of the Russian Federation ".

By the way, has anyone noticed the new Scarlatti I redid?

Yes, filtering out hiss can be tricky. Believe me, I know!

I can't listen to any recordings until tonight. Or possibly I can in a few hours from now.....

Ok, Richard, this is up on the site.

Thank you, Monica!