Mendelssohn - Spring Song

Mendelssohn - Songs Without Words Op. 62 No. 6 "Frühlingslied"

 

Well all the notes seem to be there, and not many mistakes that I could hear. So far, so good !

The sound quality is strange though. Rather recessed and seems to fade in and out sometimes. What equipment did you use ?

Most important, as an interpretation it still leaves much to be desired. There is little of the spring to be heard here, it rather plods along with cumbersome and inconsistent arpeggios, random hesitations and odd accents here and there. A piece like this should be light and elegant as a feather, and bounce along like an innocent little lamb (without a lamb's sudden funny runs and jumps, of course ;-)

My advice would be to try and get it more fluent, more cheerful, more consistent, and lighter, and don't overdo these arpeggios. Perhaps listen what other pianists make of it, if you did not do so already. But for sure, you can play this piece, and with a bit more work it may be good !

 

I dont like it being light. This is just the way I like it to be played and I hate those innocent-lamb recordings. Spring should have a harsh recovering after the winter and it shouln't be that oh-the-world-is-wonderful-and-here-is-a-innocent-lamp-running-along-like-a-feather. Now I can admit that my equipment wasn't the best and I can admit that I exaggerated all the 'sf' marks, but I refuse to play it like a "feather" cause this is the way I fell about spring.

 

Well that is an interesting and valid point of view. Indeed spring can mean different things to different people. I agree this piece does not necessarily have to be light and feathery. On the other hand it should probably not sound like someone stumbling about in mud-caked boots either... Whatever point of view you decide to take, at least try and get some consistency of rhythm and dynamics, and take care these arpeggios are clean and don't draw the attention unto themselves.

 

I'm going on vacation tomorrow so I neither got the time or equipment to do this. Maybe I will do a little "feather" recording with clean arpeggios and rhytm when I come back.

Have a cheerful 'sommarlov' everyone (is it called summerbreak in english?)

 

Summer love sounds good to me! Enjoy your vacation, I just came back from one and can reccomend it as a positive thing... feel years younger.

I enjoyed this recording, you phrase the melody very well and your tone is excellent, strong but never harsh; occasionally a bit insensitive, though. I can understand your dilike for the "fairy music" aspect of Mendelssohn, it gets on my nerves too. But I agree with techneut that you shouldn't bull your way through it; Spring also has it's beautiful and fascinating moments after the harsh awakening; why not include those moments in your vision too? They don't have to be pollyanna or prissy...

Then you will have a more well-rounded and varied aural view of this topic . And your audience (if you perform) will appreciate it too because right now your single-minded view of Spring is reflected in your playing; I like your phrase shaping and overall concept ( I think the arpeggios are fine, could be a little cleaner) but you don't change anything, and my mind wandered away about halfway through; perhaps some dynamic or rythmic variety would be desirable imo.

Would like to hear more from you, enjoyed this! And may you enjoy your vacation! 8)

 

From the technical point of view, it sounds solid to me, no serious slips or so, well done!

Regarding interpretation, I like your melody phrasing, but find your arpeggio playing a bit too clumsily. If you would take the arpeggios a bit back, the melody could shine even more. This way maybe there is more room for telling the story with more dynamics.