Albeniz and Telemann

Monica,
The Albeniz is simply wonderful, both the piece and your rendition.

I was shocked to see just how little Telemann we have, so it's a good thing that you did this one. Hmmm.

Very fun recording - bouncy and playful. If you practiced this a lot more it's possible that the ornaments would be perfectly consistent, but it's not worth it, IMHO - there were only a couple of places and I'm mentioning it only because we're supposed to give each other intelligent comments, etc. Far more important to try to get another Telemann up on the site!
(By consistency, I mean that similar ornaments would all be on the beat or before. I'm as guilty as the next person on this count so I'm just speaking from painful experience. I usually don't find it all that important, but some of my professors sure did.)

 

I studied this stuff 35 years ago and can't remember about the "should". It sounds best to me when you do the turns on the beat. Myself, I just try to make them sound the way I've heard other people play them and try to get some consistency.

Hopefully Chris will chime in - I know he plays a lot of baroque. Also, where's rainer been?

I can see in the "preview" that my "quote" is messed up. Someday I'll learn the mysteries of this editor.

 

Did someone mention my name?
Sorry, I've been spending my time elsewhere for a bit, and I don't think I'm the only one. This place has been unusually quiet of late.

Both these pieces are lovely and nicely played. What particularly appeals to me in the Albeniz are the occasional pull-backs, some subtle, others a bit more overt.

As far as the Telemann ornaments go, I gather common view favours the idea that baroque ornaments should generally be on the beat, and indeed it seems that that's where you're putting them most of the time. However, I think it's as well to be guided by intuition here, and not be too dogmatic about it.

I think what Stu means about the quotes is that he has had to put "Monica wrote:" into the white box of the quoted text, instead of getting it to appear in the shaded strip above it.

 

AHA! I see how it's done - either by pushing the little "Quote" button at the end of an entry or just inserting the tag

 

I liked both and particularly the Telemann. Excellent control of dynamics and perfect tone in in the softer parts, and nicely brought out in tempo. Not being an expert on that music I was not bothered by the ornaments at all.

By the way, why do you say Chris won't comment? Has something happened?

Joachim

 

Do give me a break, I've been having other priorities lately. And we don't always comment on each others' submissions anyway.
I've not kept up with new postings recently, and was only triggered because I got an email about a topic I was subscribed to.

 

Hi Monica,

I had a listen to your two recordings. I like the Albeniz a lot and I found it very much in the "spanish" style as it were. I was just listening to Albeniz yesterday, the guitar Granada from his Suite Espanola. There are some rich chords here that make this a very romantic tribute to Cadiz (apparently the oldest continuosly inhabited city in spain :wink: )

I didn't really like the Gigue. Not because the way you played it, I think you play it fine, I just didn't like the piece. I don't listen to much Telleman (and maybe Bach is to blame, they are certainly from the same period!)

How to boost audition room participation? Hmm. That's a good question. Perhaps put "members are encouraged to participate" next to the bold print on the outer directory?

 

Hi Monica,

I listened to the Albeniz and really enjoyed the piece and your playing. It has a joie de vivre feel to it. Very charming and upbeat!

David

 

Both of these pieces are very well played. I especially liked your dynamics in the Albeniz and your articulation in the Telemann.

Samuel

 

@InFlightPiano : Nice to see someone dropping in again after a long absence.

The Albeniz is well done. Couple of things I noticed - they could be edition-specific (mine is Schott)

1) Three fermata not or hardly observed
2) At 2:15, the F-sharp is not played
3) The closing chord seems to miss the top f.

Not much to criticize except that the piece could yet do (IMO) with a little more freedom and dynamic variation.

I'm less keen on the Telemann, it sounds a bit laboured and rhythmically insecure. The terraced dynamics are well realized. Indeed the trills should typically be on the note (though it depends on the situation). It is customary to add some variation in the repeats, usually by different/more ornamentation but other devices can work well too.

 

Thank you. I'm really going to try to get active here again. I've been somewhat less active with piano over the past couple of years because I graduated from high school and am in college now at NC State University, majoring in computer science. I'm a lot more busy now than when I was in high school, and somehow, after doing all my homework assignments, practicing piano feels more like a chore than it used to. Of course I know most of you guys have full time jobs and you do lots of piano practicing anyway so I know I can do it too. I still love playing piano and have continued learning new pieces. But my piano doesn't sound good at all on recording, and I don't have many recording opportunities. But nevertheless I'm going to make a real effort to become an active member again.

Samuel