Mozart Fantasy in d minor

Let me try again. This is James Pinkerton playing the d minor Fantasy of Mozart

 

Hullo and welcome James!! *waving hi from Shreveport*

Nice, clean first submission! Tell us about your recording setup too, there're several of us who wanna know all about that. My overall impression was just that it sounded a bit dry, I like my Mozart more "wet", with a bit more pedal. But that's just a personal preference and can also have a lot to do with reverb as well. I found the tempi appropriate.

The admins will tell you that you'll have to submit 2 more recordings before being accepted as a featured pianist ... I look forward to hearing those too!

Welcome!

 

Thanx Nathan!

Glad you enjoyed the Mozart. My teacher and I went around and around about the pedal and it's use in Mozart. Doing the same thing now with the Schubert c minor Sonata. As for the recording, I just started a couple of months ago and still doing some experimentation. I bought a Zoom H4 which I like very much. Using the internal microphones now but haven't ruled out buying some more expensive ones. I put the recorder on a tripod about 20 inches from the curve of the piano with the lid up. I record in wav. but going to play around with recording in mp3. I transfered the file to Audacity and normalized it and did a little equalization. But as I said, still experimenting. I have a 2 year Yahama GC1 and a very, very life room. Since I have just returned to the piano two years ago after a 40 year hiatus, it's slow going!!! Glad to be part of the this forum. Already have learned a lot. Best wishes Jim

 

Re: Thanx Nathan!

Wow ... a 40 year hiatus!!! And here I thought my 8-9 year time away was extreme. Glad to have you here and look forward to the Schubert!

 

Hi James,

You live in one of my three favorite places in TX -- the others are San Antonio and The hill country around Wimberly and San Marcos. (I lived in Rio Grande Valley for 22 years).

I quite enjoyed your performance. The Mozart was very sensitively played. I don't think that you used too much pedal nor that the Allegretto was too fast.

Scott

 

Hi James and welcome.

A good debut ! Considering that you did not play for so long, and are only back in business for 2 years, this is quite an achievement. As others said, solid and tasteful playing. It could stand a little more pedal but doesn't need it either. Tempi are right, the allegretto fast but not too much so IMO. At the start you seemed a but eager to push the tempo, maybe to create some sense of urgency ?
The first general pause seems way too long to me, one sits there wondering what happened and whether you'll be back at all.

Yes a little more care with the cuts please, at least one of them is quite obnoxious. Your runs and passagework sound a bit laboured at times. You must be very critical of inaudible and weak notes, of which I heard a number. Be merciless and treat them as mistakes.

 

Thank you one and all!

Thank you for all the advice and nice comments. This really was a task for me last month. I had forgotten how very difficult it is to play the piano............well! The recording techniques will take some time I imagine, which is good, because hopefully I will progress with the actual playing. Chris, you are so right about the inaudible/weak notes. I have a tendency to be too timid. And let those notes just slip away. Monica, I loved your YouTube site and the Gershwin especially! I look forward to posting another piece, just need to pick one carefully. I would love to do the first movement of the Schubert c minor Sonata, but fear it's a little beyond the 100% needed to record. With my limited time to practice, I find I can get most of the works up to about 85% finished, but that last 15% of perfection is so difficult and time consuming. Anyway, very happy to be part of this wonderful forum and have already learned a great deal from the posters. Jim