Hi Richard,

In my opinion this re-recorded Scarlatti is a noticeable improvement. The ornaments are less obtrusive and fit into the musical line so much better. This makes the meter more stable and the rhythmic figures better defined. Good work!

P.S. We're not allowed to throw tomatoes here, only olive pimentos. They're smaller but still symbolic.

David

Watch Out!!!!
BTW, Richard, this in not meant about you!

Thank you, David. All I did was to divide the ornaments, that is, over each quaver 4 demisemiquavers. No metronome was necessary.

An interesting thing is that during all these recording sessions the little girl is usually somewhere between the piano and the recorder. Such silence!

This has certainly improved. Now that all the notes are in their proper place, you may want to work more on the musical side, so that it becomes more fluent and more interesting to the listener. One small suggestion is to play the second RH note in each bar a little softer than the first. These two-note 'sighing' motifs are always played with a diminuendo. Also, try to provide some contrast in the repeats. Different phrasing or dynamics, different or more ornamentation, or highlighting the LH part, are some of the staple tricks.

Simple pieces like this are so deceptive... it is not at all easy to do them right. And because of their simplicity, they must be
exemplary, and need a lot of TLC to make them stick. See it as an opportunity

I think I shall let it at that. I suppose I am just not musical, that is all. Nothing to do about it. Maybe I should go and sell peanuts.

I guess we all think like that sometimes. No point in giving in to it, though. Persistence is the key to success....

That's right, Richard - don't give up! You've come this far with the piece, now you can have fun in experimenting with the various options that Chris listed. I'm sure you could apply most of them. Yes, it's about being musical, but you could also think of it merely in physical and/or mechanical terms. Adjusting the weight in the arms, moving the fingers on and off the keys in a connected way (legato), making less weight on the finger on the second note of the two-note phrase, that sort of thing. Play around with all that (takes time, don't rush it) and then record yourself and listen back. I bet you'll hear a difference.

Die-hard! I must be a die-hard!

Or take the other way of looking at it : Don't be a nut about success. If you don't succeed at first, quit

Hi Richard,

You need not do all the permutations mentioned. To make this more manageable, you might try to accomplish just two things: 1) Why not first try to tame the second notes of the sighs. Once you successfully do it for one, the same technique will apply for all of them. 2) If you achieve that and want to do something with the repeats to differentiate them, look through the LH and see if there are some points of harmonic or counter-melodic interest, and see if you can highlight them more, but not overdoing it. If you can achieve that, I believe those efforts might satisfy everyone here, or at least I hope they would.

David

Richard,

I had a listen to your Scarlatti (if the sheet music research proves true ) I liked how consistent you were with the ornaments, and your rhythmic separation of the notes. There are so many ornaments in this piece that it sounds baroque without it being a given.

Thanks for sharing,

Riley

Hello, Richard, I could not comment about your playing
because I am only a beginner,
but I do like the melody very much and I am so glad that you play it
because I find it very inspiring.

I also like the speed you play because that is the speed I like
and it gives one time to savour the tones and melody.

Best wishes from Kristinaolga.