Chris, it is for me unbelievable that you are able to produce so many recordings during such a short time! It will fill this day's kitchen work with music.

Ah, bollocks.... Anybody can produce tons of crap ! Though perhaps not quite in this tempo

Hehe!

Well, where to start? Bach and WTK?

The C-sharp major prelude is nicely played while I prefer it a little faster. It is actually one of the preludes where you can really speed things up. At least according to my view. But it definitely works in this tempo as well. The fugue can be played slower and perhaps even slower than you do. Well, just a couple of ideas of mine.

I play the the F-minor prelude quite a bit slower but that is very personal. When it comes to the trills, try playing them a bit slower, as you were even hesitating a bit and took a deeper breath. I think that will make them come out a bit smoother. The fugue is perfect in mood and tempo. You accent the right keys and play detached/staccato as I like it. Very well done!

The A-major prelude is very good as well. Perhaps a bit rushed in a few bars when there is a change from 8:ths to 16:ths. A couple of wrong notes in the fugue. I am not sure if you are sure about a your musical interpretation of it. Are you? It feels more like you struggle with it and play the notes right through.

I am rather unfamiliar with the B-major prelude and fugue of book II so I leave this but from saying that it feels like you enjoy playing them.

The Italian Concerto is a very good performance. Your accenting and choice of tempo is as I prefer it. Again, it feels like you really like to play it.

I'll continue my reply in a later post.

Thanks for the encouragement !


Aw, rushed, that is bad. I always pick on that with others. Need to listen again and see what you mean.
In that fugue I have some trouble with the LH 16th runs, but I'm a bit disappointed the whole sounds like a struggle - which is not as I feel it. I like to take this quite brisk and breezy, if that can be called an interpretation.

I hope someone will take the time to sample the Liadov Variations, which I think is one of the best variation sets in the repertoire, and probably his masterpiece for piano.

so Chris, do you do music full time?? very impressive with the amount of recordings you did in one day. I only practice 8-12 hours a week. But I do beleive, any one can acheive the same results as the full time professionals but just takes a bit longer to acheive that thus focus on less pieces.
You must be a sight reader freak? do you play all from memory?

So now you self experienced that people can spot your slips.......so, I will listen to your recoding soon...just wish the down load can be a little faster.......I am at home now its really slow....

[quote="techneut"]At last, got the piano tuned and had a productive recording day yesterday. Recorded 26 tracks in total. Sorry for spamming.... do not feel obliged to listen to them all. But any comments appreciated.

I did not plan on recording the two variation sets yet, but decided on the spur to give it a go. They came out not too bad except I fly squarely off the rails in the Liadov Presto finale. More warty than the rest though, and should be considered work-in-progress really.

Changed recording position once again, lid open, Edirol on a bench about one metre from the narrow end of the grand. Seems to sound more natural than earlier recordings though a problem here is that some very short and soft notes are not being caught by the mics.

[My micropheone-sony does 20-20000hk freq with 110db and its placed next to me with lid closed.
What sorts of micro do you use?? it should pick up all pp tones....even a bird tweak from the back ground.

I wish I could devote to music full time. Might even be able to play a piece without errors then. But sadly, there is a day-time job that needs to be done pay the bills. I took a day off for this session which had been planned and prepared for a long time. Yep I am an avid sight reader, never made an effort to memorize. Should perhaps focus on less pieces but there is so much I want to do.... I am like the proverbial child in the candy shop.


Hehe yes, it would be pretty hard to miss them They are getting less in number and severity though. Mind you I seldom chastize people for slips, unless they are too numerous to accept. I like to point out reading mistakes and would be interested to hear about the ones that I make.



I use the Edirol R1's built-in mics which are decent but not as sensitive as 'real' mics. Especially in this session a lot of soft notes are inaudible even though I played'em right and proper. A bit annoying really as it makes the playing sound more insecure than it is. Guess I need to fiddle with the position one again, perhaps put it a bit higher up.

Chris, your microphone position??/ I always check for the frequcy spec of the microphone regardless of the brand.
Can you tell me about your one why its so popular??

I have choosen sony one, its quite good with my lid closed and my microphone is on my rh side next to me-on the telephone desk. With the lid open its too lound and too much hazzle to walk around to switch the recorder on(sorry its a low tec no remote control yet0

In the past in my teachings and musical colleques, i found that people with great sight reader often are not good in memeotising scores. This happened even to my own kids. So as myself.....not a good sight reader but rather memorising. My female colleque, she is a faster reader by all means. But SHE can not memorise at all....weird ehhh. Do you have the same experience with people you met.

Only very few people have both....DNY you think?


Meanwhile still mastering op53 section by section.........

I have now put the Edirol on the opposite (from me) side of the grand, about 1 metre from the far end, on a bench about 30-40 cm high, and kept the lid open. Now it operates from beneath the rim of the grand so perhaps if I raise it above that height it might be better. Will give it that a try. Yeah, must walk around to operate it but hell, otherwise I wold not even get up from the piano bench for all afternoon

Why the Edirol is popular around here ? I guess it must be the ease of use. Any audio idiot like me can push the 'Record' button and start to play. And you can take it anywhere you go. I have no clue about the freq specs really... but it sounds sort of good enough for me, and apparently for others on this forum too. I can understand the real audiophiles sniffing at it though.

The old sight-reading vs. memorize debate... I guess there are pros and cons with both approaches. Memorizing would not be practical for me as I have far too much going on at any time. Would have a problem even deciding what to memorize and what not... The advantage is that I do not need to look at my hands too much unless there are large jumps. That frees the eyes to keep in touch with the score, which is something that not always happens when playing from memory. Apart from the occasional audible pageturn (I cut them out if I can) I am pretty sure it is not apparent from the performances that it's being played from score, and does not give the impression of frantically searching for the next note. As Robert remarked earlier, I know these pieces very well even if I can't be bothered memorize all the niggly details.

ok, Chris

I have a quick listen to your bach, op59 mazurka, and some of liapov mazurkas...

forget abou the slips...If I am not wrong, your heart is for Bach.
With the mazurka,,,for some reason the LH bass seems to be to loud? would that to do with the Microphone you placed..eg slight towards to the LH of the grand??? The Liaov mazurka was BETTER balanced. What sort of grand is that? DO you want me to tune yours for free? It sounds quite hollow.>>.forgive me for saying that.

Well done. I hope you didnot used up all that emotional energy for ALL that recordings....


eg I placed my microphone slight toward my RH shoulder.

It sure is. But no less for the other composers being played here. Seems like Bach just comes off best usually.


Yes this instrument is a little bass heavy. May be not a bad idea to put the edirol a bit away from tha bass strings.


It is an old (ca.1920-1930) Gaveau. It had just been tuned that very morning and I was very pleased with the result of that. But, if you want to come over from Australia every now and then for a free tuning, I would sure appreciate that

xxxxxxx i thought you from australia or nearby... i did a lots for friends piano for free. except for my students. You never know if i do visit US(am i right?), I might give it a go.

No I am from Holland. But if you ever pass by, feel free to drop in
Have to say though I am pretty satisfied with my tuner, even if he isn't free.