Hello Chris,
Yes indeed. Sorry to cause the extra trouble and thanks for coping with my newbie mistakes.
Heather

That's ok. But unfortunately we're not there yet -a new surprise came up. Look at the attached screenshot of 3 windows. Your files contained V2.4 ID3 tags, which I have not come across before. They're recognized by iTunes, which I use for tagging (see top window) but not by Windows (middle window) and not by the scripts on the server (bottom window). In the bottom window, also not the wrongly calculated duration for the Rach track, because it.s encoded with VBR. What software do you use for creating and tagging your mp3's ? You see, these days a pianist must also be a computer expert to get their stuff right.....

@ Heather

I had a listen to your Debussy and Handel recordings. As some others noted there are things to improve, but I found the total effect of both performances enjoyable and with more to praise than to criticize.

Welcome to the site!

And about these tags, I realize it is a trouble, but the upside is once you perfect the format, it shouldn't change at all and the next recordings you submit you can use the same tag template and you won't have to redo anything

Riley,

Thank you for listening and for the kind welcome!

Chris,

I have no idea. How about I just try the mp3 export again, properly this time, and see how it comes through on your end? I just use Audacity and export in mp3 format.

Let's see if these work.
Audacity doesn't offer "fixed rate" as an option for bitrate but there were preset, variable, average and constant, so I chose constant. Hope that provides the right result. It is 128 kbps.
I didn't see any option for a version number of ID3 tags. (I actually didn't know there were different versions.)
I can also modify audio metadata directly through the operating system but it is Ubuntu Linux and I would think that'd be less likely than Audacity to be compatible with windows. Can try it that way if you like though.

Thanks Heather, these now have the right tags and encoding. The only problem is the tags are V2.4, which is probably Audacity's default. My scripts on the server can not handle this, because of the old version of the id3lib I use (theres wasn't a newer last time I checked). My Windows Vista does not want to see these tags either. Maybe Windows 8 can - can anybody confirm this ? iTunes has no problem of course, but also not an option to convert them to v2.2. Isn't it great to have so many versions of everything...

Heather - sorry this took so long. Yes, it's where the key changes from d minor back to D Major. You're right that you're doing an ornament; it's different from what we were taught back in the day for a turn (usually 4 notes instead of 2 or 3). I'm not a big stickler on ornaments myself - I think composers were just telling the performer to "ornament" the note (else why would they not just write out the notes themselves)? It was not worth mentioning, and I was probably just curious about differences in editions.

Also, I listen to these through speakers and not headphones, and occasionally do not hear as many notes as some listeners. But many of our downloading public also listen to the music this way, so there's value in doing so.

Stu,

Ah, okay, I see what you mean. I intended to play a 4-note turn (E-D-C#-D) but came down too lightly on the C# so it didn't really sound. Oops. Some of the 4-note groups of 16ths have that problem on the 3rd or 4th note too, in case anyone cares to go hunting

Chris,

I do not mean to ignore the tagging compatibility issue; I simply don't know how to fix the problem. I am pretty sure none of my software will generate the proper tags. Please let me know if there is something I can do on this end.

Hi Heather,

Welcome back to Piano Society.

Although I've not played "What the West Wind Saw", I know it to be a very technically demanding, difficult and draining piece to play. While there might be a nitpick here or there, in the main it's a fine, convincing rendition. You put it over well to the listener. I was impressed by your artistry. Thanks for sharing it here.

David

Hello David,

Thank you for listening and for the kind comments.
Yes, it is a demanding and tiring piece. There was a limit to the number of possible takes!

Heather

Hi, just had a listen to those recordings.

It was my first time listening to this particular Rach prelude, and your playing was very charming and lyrical, with the hesitances coloured very nicely. I never felt that it was too slow as well. The sound here was crystal clear. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Handel sounded really fun, but the thing about Handel is that he tends to keep his harmonies more or less the same throughout every variation. You do the piece justice here though, but I've to agree with Chris that the ending sounds somewhat weird. Does it lead into other pieces in the suite?

I felt that the Debussy was a bit labored, with the sound strangely muffled, though it could just be Debussy. Despite those, your bring off the piece and all of its ferocity very well. Makes me want to explore a few more of Debussy's preludes.

Will listen to your Hadyn some other time, but for now, welcome back to pianosociety! I'll look forward to your next recordings.

Hi Affinity,

Thank you for listening! I appreciated your comments and continue to be impressed with how carefully people on this site listen and evaluate music.

You aren't the first to find that set of Handel variations a bit repetitive. For me I think the variety of rhythm and line more than makes up for the similarities in harmony. I'm sure I am not bringing out as much variety as one could.