And, I think, adding a plethora of directives not present in the original version. That could explain why Riley's version sounded a bit lacking in dynamics to me, as I'm used to the Boosey and Hawkes which is indeed the revised 1940 version.

@Riley:

I take back what I wrote about the Schumanns having various flubs and misreadings - there are actually very few. What I found is
Curious Story: Do observe the tied over notes between bars 7-8 and 15-16 and between bars 27-28 and 39-40.
Try get the rhythm steady, and 'play' the 16th rests in the 'dotted' figure. Note that the pedal is UP during those figures. Dynamics, ophrasing and pedaling need more attention.
Blidman's Buff: IN bar 9 you play C which should be c#.
In bar 11 you play wrong notes in the RH, pre,aturely landing in C major which should only happen two bars later.
In bar 16, do lift the pedal earlier. Yes you lose the LH octave, nothing to be done about that (unless you have a sustain pedal).
This needs to me much sharper and more precise, observe the accents.
Pleading child: In bar 14 some RH notes are too weak.

All in all, not bad notewise, but work to do on interpretation and technique.

I happen to have the original version as a PDF as well as the same edition that you have, but I never compared them.

@ Chris,



I listened to the other recordings of no.2 on the site and there seems to be a consensus about keeping the first phrase short and spiky. I could try this but it would probably also be cured by placing the microphone closer to the piano.

About Blindman's Buff, thanks for this information. I am now shocked that I played so many wrong notes in measure 11, and I always though the c natural was right. I haven't really learned this one by hearing recordings, so it goes to show

Now to practice so that the rhythm on no. 2 is steady, the no. 3 is sufficiently fast and the no.4 doesn't sound too mushy

A fair warning, I might give up if you reject my next try..

~Riley

The conversation about using 'alternative' editions is now on the Repertoire forum.

@ Pianolady and Techneut,

My schedule was free today and so I went to the school of music for a recording session

I have tried to apply the criticisms that you two have given me, there is a slip in the Blindmans Buff, but I hope it does not deem the entire recording undesirable.

The three recordings are attached, with some silence at the heads and the tails of the clips.

Hope you like them,

~Riley

Schumann - Kinderszenen Op.15 - 2: Kuriose Geschichte (1:14)
Schumann - Kinderszenen Op.15 - 3: Hasche-Mann (0:49)
Schumann - Kinderszenen Op.15 - 4: Bittendes Kind (1:06)

@pianoman342....
Riley, you've been around long enough that you can call us by our real names!

Anyway, the sound is much improved! And I also think your playing is better and sounds more assured. But I will leave it to Chris to determine if each piece is okay, since he has studied them and I have not. Btw - I'm glad you are persevering! That makes me happy.

These are very much better in every respect. If I were your teacher I'd not be quite satisfied with your rhythms yet (like the first chord of Curious Story being just slightly too short) and with the rather too brusque closing chord of Pleading Child. Those are minor things that you could still work on but nonetheless this is very decent playing now, which we can certainly put up on the site. The one little slip does not matter much.
Yes, good that you are hanging on in there. It's already made a lot of difference

@ Monica (I use your username and real name interchangeably, but I'll use just your real name from now on )

Thanks for the praise, and I agree the sound is a lot better. Particularly on this grand piano than the out-of-tune upright I used for the last recording. I guess we don't call it a grand piano for nothing And glad that I could make you happy I edited it out, but after I finished the Blindman's Buff I shouted "yes!" It still had the wrong notes but I kept playing it wrong with a number of slips and finally I got through it with 90% of the right notes and at a somewhat fast tempo. Looking back on it, I should probably only shout if I get it absolutely perfect

@ Chris

You will put these up on the site?! Wow. Thanks a lot!

About the playing, I do realize now the rhythm of the no.2 is quite staccato. Especially compared to your versions. And I agree the Pleading Child could be piano at the end.

About hanging in there-I'm surprised and encouraged that you say it has already made a lot of difference

~Riley

Pretty much 100-percent of the time, when someone re-records a piece, it is always better than the previous version. I can't remember anyone here making a 'worse' recording; unless they started doing strange things with interpretative issues.

Time to get your bio and photo ready!

That is the way they treated me and in the end I managed to russle up some decent recordings, so keep going!

The way they treated me... Gosh that sounds bad. You're not traumatized are you ?

...or scarred.

But see, Richard? It all paid off!! You wouldn't be a Piano Society member otherwise...

@ Richard

Thanks for the support! I don't know if you knew this but I applied to PS about three times before this time. The first were not even piano pieces, the second, I played on a toy piano. Apparently the standards were lower then, but they still didn't accept it

@Chris and Monica

Here is programme notes for the three preludes:

These “Three Preludes” were originally written with a number of other pieces to help me improve my playing technique. The set now can serve a beginner who is looking for some easy material to play either for a concert or for practice. The three pieces need not be played one after the other, as the pieces were written at different times and were not made to reflect parts forming a whole.

Here is my bio. I know it's a lot for someone who hasn't won any piano contests, but I hope it is o.k. --Also, is the tense correct? I am attaching a self-portrait as well.

(Admin edit - replaced bio and photo by link to new page)
http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=3032

Ok thanks Riley. I've created your page and put up the Schumanns. Will do the rest later.

Thanks for your praise for PS, and for mentioning me recording your piece