Palmgren - May Night

OK... time for another test.

I've been trying to crank out my entire CD all over again on my digital tonight... and it's been hell. I'm still trying to get the Solfeggietto and Rach prelude to work... and so far my fingers just keep on farting all over the place because of the heavy keys.

But for now: Here's another piece. Selim Palmgren's "May Night."

I figured I'd post this, see if it's acceptable, and then go through my other thingies and post them later. I also have a few rerecords to submit... my two chopin preludes in particular, because I'm not satisfied with the version I did that you're hosting, and I needed to rerecord for the CD.

So here's May Night. If you like it, I can post more.

... provided I don't jump out my window before I get around to that ... :cry:

 

The playing is fine if perhaps a bit plain, I miss some of the rapt wonder of this lovely piece.
While the instrument itself sounds pretty good, there's something weird with the recorded sound, it's full of blips, ripples, and echoes. What happened there ? Maybe it's ok for your audition but I'd like that to be corrected before it would go up the site because it is really unpleasant on repeated listening.

BTW How can a digital have heavy keys ? Doesn't seem to make sense to me :?

 

I have no idea where those little issues came from. I recorded this the same way I recorded all my prior pieces on the digital... same equipment and settings, only differences being a new version of audacity and a different host computer...

My heavy keys make no sense to me either. Most digitals are actually lighter than a real piano, making performances much easier... but not mine. Mine are heavy. I have to exert more force for a key to be depressed than on a real piano, and I have no idea why.

I'm sorely tempted to just drop all schools that want CDs and only apply to ones that want live auditions. I can at least handle those.

 

They're not exactly 'little' issues, in fact they are rather distracting.

I say, get it looked at ! No good reason why a digital should be hampering your playing.

Yeah but with a CD, you can edit :wink:

 

I doubt the digital can be "looked at" since they're all uniform, so I doubt much could be done with it. It's marvelous for big, "beefy" passages, like the 2nd A section of the Rach C# Minor Prelude. But try the B section, or the rapid runs in the Diabolical Suggestion, or the LH part of Chopin's Revolutionary, and you're screwed.

But you know... ignorance really IS bliss. I used to never know of anything better... until I played on a Steinway concert grand last June. And... wow. It was just so smooth and responsive... it was amazing. It made me realize that I actually CAN play rapid passages... just not on my digital.

Sadly, I don't know how to edit the pops out of the track. I've NEVER made ANY edits to my performances before, because I always saw it as cheating (Yeah. Sorry. I hate edits in general, even small ones like eliminating a pause). But now I wish I knew the basic stuff so I could at least get rid of the pops. But the CD has already been sent now, so it's too late. And all the other tracks I recorded last night seem to have them to varying degrees as well.

Oh well... Unless I magically figure out Audacity overnight, I guess I won't be uploading anything until my senior recital. :?

 

Hi demonic,

I think your playing overall is good, but a couple of comments. First, the dynamics in this piece range from pp to ppp, but to me it sounds considerably louder, in fact the climax toward the end almost sounds fff. Same for the very last note of the bass in the coda. I believe the mood is supposed to be generally tranquil and placid.

Secondly, when the LH has the melody and the RH plays those repeating chords with portato touch as accompaniment, then for proper balance, the RH should be noticeably softer than the LH. The reason is that it is then background only, not in the foreground in the limelight. Then when the RH becomes predominant, the dynamics need to reverse between the hands again, as the LH then takes on the subordinate accompaniment. Right now the two hands sound as though they're constantly battling for supremacy--the struggle thereby raising the volume of the entire piece well above pp, which is supposed to be the norm according to the score. This, in my opinion, detracts from the impression of the May night. Rather than subtleness, there seems to often be a bashing out of the sound. One way to better suppress the repetitive chords is to play them inside of the keys, not allowing full key return. That reduces the acceleration of the hammers in an acoustic piano, thus making the sound softer. Use of the soft pedal can be beneficial too. On an e-piano I would bet that that strategy might work as well there.

All of this might have some connection to the heavy action on the e-piano you mention, I don't know. I think if you could get the dynamics under better control and in perspective, your rendition would be more subtle, atmospheric, expressive and convincing.

David

 

You know I might be going out on a limb here but is it possible you are using the Mic in instead of the Line In of your pc? Also be careful if you changed to using a laptop. Most laptops do not have a good enough built in sound card to record audio. I for example cannot use my laptop which is just as modern as my desktop (unless I go and buy an external sound card for it.)

It would be a shame if you could not fix what sounds like a minor software or sound card problem?

 

Please try this again.

I'm usually shy about posting about pieces that I've recorded, but in this case it may be electronic problems.
Rachfan did a very good job summarizing the musical problems, and I would endorse his entire post.

But I think that that is not all that is happening. The clue here is that booming bass note near the end - I don't believe you intended that, and there's something electronic going on. Of course, I belong to a generation that still has a deep mistrust of electronic keyboards, so maybe I'm wrong.

I do not believe that this recording is going to help you get accepted at conservatory. This is a very subtle piece, and the recording does not show it. I do hope that you get to do a couple of live auditions - they're a lot more fun and universities usually have a nice piano for those occasions. Without all of the other things to worry about, you can just let your playing speak for itself.

 

OK, here's how I recorded:

1.) Record directly into the piano's memory. (Because if my piano is plugged in to the recorder, my speakers stop output)
2.) I plug in 2 cables where it says "ch1 inst/line" and "ch2 inst/line" On my M-Audio MOBILEPRE USB preamp/audio interface. Both lines join together and are plugged into my piano in the "output" hole. My interface then connects to the laptop via USB.
3.) Open audacity, hit record, then hit the play button on my keyboard to replay the track. Now I just wait for the track to play through. Then I hit "Stop" and disconnect the interface. An MP3 is then created.

A note on dynamics: In my score, that climax with the rolled chords has a crescendo up to forte. Perhaps I just have a different edition than most? I have no clue what edition I'm using though, because I only have a photocopy my teacher gave me. Yeah, I didn't even really choose to learn this... but it was either this or American ragtime. And I simply CANNOT STAND ragtime (and most American music in general). *sigh* I miss my 19th-20th century Russian comfort zone...

Luckily, this CD is only going to one school, and it's only a means of establishing potential. They basically just want to weed out the "1st mvmt of Moonlight/Fur Elise/Bach C Major Prelude" crowd. I think my pieces such as the Scriabin Etude and the Satie evil clown music (I'm too lazy to write out the French name ) and my mentioning the Diabolical Suggestion as a live audition piece might help to encourage them to invite me back for a live audition. All my other schools want live auditions, not CDs.

Another bit of depressing news: I just found out that my mother used to own a Steinway baby grand... but she sold it before I was born. SERIOUSLY DEPRESSING PEEPS.

I tried to get my mom let me rent out the Metheuen Memorial Music Hall to record... but she didn't like the 800$ price. It's a shame...they have a huge organ. It would have been a nice chance to record that Messiaen "apparition de somethingorotherinfrenchblahblahblah" that I learned...