Chopin Ballade no.1

Hey guys, this is my second time recording this piece. (I think you might remember me posting this piece a long time ago)
I don't want this recording to be up on the site because in a week, I'm getting a new grand piano so I'm going to post this again in that piano.
Meanwhile, I want you guys to tell me how much I improved so far and what I'm still lacking.
Thank you for listening.

 

Ballade

I thoroughly enjoyed your playing. You did a beautiful job playing this difficult work. What kind of piano were you playing? It was a bit out of tune. I would like to hear you perform this on a nice grand piano. That would make a big difference. Good job!

 

Hello Hunwoo,

you really did a great job!
I agree with what Monica and John wrote already, however it is more than a bit out of tune what John wrote. Let's say that are at least some bits

Beside what Monica mentioned, you corrected some wrong notes through repetition, like after the 2nd theme before it comes to the a part again, or after the ff part (you "exploded" there beautiful!) in the beginning of the piu animato part (a repetition of a complete bar or half a bar, I dunno). No big deal, since you know the notes. But technically seen you mastered especially the difficult passages inclusive the presto con fuoco part very well, congratulations for that.

I also look forward how it will sound on your new grand piano! Please rerecord it, not because of the little things we niggled but because of better piano sound (also recording quality - try 44khz and stereo instead 22khz and mono if anyhow possible). This great piece and your efforts would deserve that. I can also imagine that the pp and sotte voce parts will come out better on your new grand.

Your playing also never sounded strained or stressed to me, even not in the presto part! For that you have my deep respect!

 

First of all, if you are getting a new grand soon, I wonder why you bothered to record this great work on this crummy out-of-tune piano. It sounds like sh*t, not to be too subtle about it.

You play it excellently though. Technically it is very proficient, there are one or two unlucky slips, but you have this piece solidly in the fingers. You certainly have improved considerably since your previois take (I do not remember all the details of that). A couple of things:

- In the introduction, your touch is a bit uneven - not all the notes inside the chords are audible.
- As pianolady said, the great climax needs to have more weight and power.
- You need to take care this piece proceeds in one big sweep instead of a number of contrasting
and disjointed sections. I find this hard to explain but it sounds a bit fragmented and lacking in
overall control.
- The coda could also have more power and sweep. You could take back the tempo a bit in favour of
in more weight.
- There is some clipping in the loud passages, which you need to avoid in your next recording.

But I agree with other posters, this is very good and has real potential. Keep going ! I am sure your next version, on the new grand, will be great.

 

Chris, certainly you are right with all other things you mentioned. But especially this ballade I indeed find to be composed of a number of contrasting sections, several bars long each. They are of course jointed, nethertheless one clearly can see distinct sections. So proceed in one big sweep... beside the different sections it is also a bit too long for a 9 minute piece, so that's the one single thing I need to disagree. Instead, the different sections could be shown dynamically even in stronger contrast, but of course, just personal opinion (derived from more than a years long closer look at the piece however).

 

Hello everyone,
thank you so much for your comments and suggestions.
I recorded this because I need to know if I'm doing well for the competition I'm entering in July.
Its National Competition in New Zealand so I'm really practicing alot for it.
The new Grand Piano I'm getting is the new Yamaha C2L version, and I hope it sounds much better than the one I have. (I haven't tuned my current Piano for over a year, sorry)

 

Congratulations pianolady, I couldn't find the right words to the feelings of this music. I am too practicing, just 6 pages only, too advanced for me but I am a dreamer , thanks for share your feelings about it.

 

Thats not so long winded at all, I enjoyed your description of this piece completely.

I'm using a MP3 recorder, I have a question to ask.
Where do you guys put your recorder when you are recording? behind the piano? next to the piano? or actually on the piano?
I put it behind the where I was sitting.

 

Hi Hunwoo, great to hear you playing at last

You played very well, i just have a few ideas with your interpretation, though as you know this comes down to personal preference.

The opening 5 measures sounded a little unnatural to me, i hate when this section is played strictly in tempo, i believe most of Chopin's romantic music should avoid STRICT timing altogether IMO. The opening/main theme was played very nicely, especially since so many recordings i have of this piece, the pianist seems to heavily accent the first note of the phrase that is held down. With the 'run' in the right before the agitato section i thought you could have used some rubato, because it seemed merely like the execution of notes in that part. Also the following theme after the run, until the agitato section, i thought might sound nicer with a bit of rubato (particularly hesitation) to foreshadow the explosion of emotion that is to come. I thought the next passagework section followed very nicely and was very cleanly played. The meno mosso section, sounded a little too strong for me, i like it when it sounds like more of a whisper... The a tempo section was played nicely, and you avoided sounding too pompous in the grand section that follows. The presto con fuoco section was great, you played it very cleanly THe appasionato section before entering that section could have had more fire, hesitation (more ritenuto) to create suspense, and perhaps a little more fury throughout the sectio. However that may only be because of the piano...

All in all, excellently played, you seem to handle the technical side of the piece very well, my advice would be just to think about how you would like to interpret EACH bar, then how that fits into EACH section, and then finally the interpretation of the piece as a whole as in the end it needs to be your interpretation. Think about what emotion each section holds for you and try to express it fully.... Ha ive gone on, its late at night... so yeah.
I cant wait to hear your recording on a quality piano

ps Post the waterfall etude as well, i am just about to begin trying to learn that piece after ive had a break from piano for a while

 

[
I'm using a MP3 recorder, I have a question to ask.
Where do you guys put your recorder when you are recording? behind the piano? next to the piano? or actually on the piano?
I put it behind the where I was sitting.[/quote]

according to adelaide conser and professional recodings, the paino recording was the most difficult instrument to record. The best is to buy Kawais, pr1 recording, that has two microphones that sitick to the bottom of the sound board :roll: . Its cost 1300(australia $, thats before barganing.. :lol:

Good work and work harder and smarter to get some prizes...

 

The prize money for the competion is $3000.
I might buy the recording equipment with it, or maybe even a high quality camera so I can record myself in video
Nevermind I was just dreaming hehe.
It is a national competion anyway.

 

Really well done and it is just a pity that the piano is out of tune. Your technique is very good and you handle to most demanding parts very good. A couple of notes that are not that well heard but this is just very small problems that a good grand perhaps would resolve with its double escapements.

I am really impressed and once you get that grand, re-record this and you will have an incredible good recording up on the site.