W. A. Mozart: first movement of the symphony no. 40 in g-minor, KV 550, Allegro molto, arranged for piano four hands by Hugo Ulrich, performed by Chris Breemer (Primo, Netherlands) and Andreas Pfaul (Secondo, Germany).

Chris has visited me from Wednesday-saturday this week.This is just an "encore" to our main project, "Vysehrad", the first movement of Smetanas "Ma vlast", which I will upload soon. (We already have recorded the "Moldau", 2nd movement of "Ma vlast", it´s also here on this site.)

We only had three hours in summary for recording the first movement of Mozarts symphony and it wasn´t too well prepared. But I think, it´s decent enough to post it here. It´s a fun to play arrangements of symphonies on piano and one can learn so much of it!

It´s a great pleasure to play with you, Chris! I thank you for the collaboration and the great days with good thoughts and talks, B&B and "43"! And not to forget our inspiring visit to the Bachhaus in Eisenach! Thank you for having been here and I´m looking forward for the completion of this symphony-arrangement in summer!

There are a couple of little imperfections, but we think, it still can be enjoyed in spite of that.

Comments are welcome!

Here is the mp3-file:
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV 550 - 1: Molto Allegro (8:00)


And here is the link to our video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wwQiD3Zhsc

The mp3-file is exactly the audio-track of the video.

Most people who visit another place usually take a souvenir with them back home. But you two seem to bring a souvenir with you to the host city with a recording. Perhaps that is the ultimate gift in the spirit of musical brotherhood. Indeed a fantastic recording, Chris and Andreas. You always project keen sense of intelligence without pretension nor arrogance in your recordings. This element alone makes it very enjoyable for any listener. If there are weaknesses here that you mentioned, too subtle to mention. Congratulations on the recording and I like the arrangement here very much.

George

Thanks George ! Yes it is a nice arrangement. Quite tricky in places such as when playing unisono and with hands very close to each other. That accounts for most of the fluffs here. But we seem to be tackling the subtle challenges of 4-hand playing better each time. Only thing is that we seem to be suddenly faster around 5:38. I wonder if anybody will suspect why that could be

Thank you Andreas for your hospitality and the great playing (and for creating the videos !). It was a pleasure as always. To be continued

Congratulations to both of you, any small slips don't detract from the overall favourable impression. Sound like an well laid-out and effective arrangement and you look like you have both developed a good mutual musical understanding.

That's a nice video. Good job! Probably there is a shift in the tempo at that one spot, because there is also a shift in the clothes...

How FUN! Listening to that just makes me feel wonderful inside. I was completely transported beyond the medium of the piano and experienced it nearly as in the concert hall. I must get a copy of that and do it with my son. Thanks for the video. Your use of rubato at the transition back to the recapitulation was excellent IMO. I would have wished for more dynamic contrast at certain times, especially in the development, but really enjoyed this fine performance.

Best wishes.

Hehe, I thought someone would notice that in the end

Thanks Eddy. Agreed on the lack of dynamics in the development section, this sounds a bit dogged. This is something that would have evolved naturally had we had more practice and recording time.

88man wrote:


That´s a thought I really like and I agree at hundred percent!



Thank you, George, your words make me happy!
I´m glad you like the arrangement, there are several and I think, this one is truely not the worse. (During my studies I have made an own arrangement of this movement for piano two hands, btw, that was also a task, I have loved very much.)

Techneut wrote:


I agree, somehow I have the feeling we improve each time we play together. (Phew, where should this end. )



I have noticed that already while editing the recording. Seems that our metronome mark didn´t serve here too much...



I return all that honestly! It was a real nice and inspiring time and I´m also very happy, that we have visited the Bachhaus in Eisenach together. With another Bach-fan at ones side it is a double pleasure. I´m really looking forward on summer and hopefully many recording sessions in future!

Andrew wrote:


Thank you!

Pianolady wrote:


Thank you, Monica. Indeed, you have compassed it! At thursday in the evening (nearly at six o´clock pm) we were too tired and we wanted still to go to a nice restaurant nearby (with good Croatian food, btw), so we decided to record the last two pages on friday in the morning. But we were sure our metronome mark will save us from a tempo difference to the recording of the day before. But life seems to be nothing than a complete error...

Musical_md wrote:


Thank you, Eddy, for me that´s a wonderful a valuable compliment. I like, if I reach the aim to (re)produce a symphonic sound on the piano respective if I succeed in imitating other instruments (like a horn or a flute or whatever).



There should be one on imslp.org, I think, if not, it will be a pleasure to me to scan one for you.



I agree to that, we still felt not so sure with the development as the piece in summary wasn´t too well prepared.

Likewise ! I'l make sure we have plenty supply of beer and "43". It occurred to me that the 3 great B's are not Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but rather Bach, Bier & Bratwurst. I imagine old JSB would agree to that

Isn't "42" the answer to every question according to The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy? You guys have the wrong number!

Dammit, now he tells us

Techneut wrote:


So we will be very inspired.



Sure, he would have agreed, he was a good boy.

Yes, you do have the wrong number, but 42 is wrong too. Where Bach is involved, a more appropriate number would be 48.

Are you thinking of the 24+24 preludes and fugues of the two book of WTC? Otherwise the cross sum of the letters of his name is 2+1+3+8=14 and there are a lot of other possibilities to play with numbers, f.ex. the cross sum of his whole name is 152, but all this has nothing to do with 48.