Piano Performance

I really like it so much! Very good!

finally I am home and I was able to listen to them with decent headphones too....really good!

Thank you Nancy, I am glad that you liked them...

Giovanni, the prelude was very, very beautiful!! There are things about Schumann that I am not deeply convinced by, but in any case, you did very well. These are two pieces that, in their reading simplicity, have a great difficulty of interpretation; it is necessary to always maintain a certain tension which is easier to hold in a live concert, where the pianistic gesture also helps, which isn't present in a recording. In Chopin, you maintained this tension until the end, you did truly excellent work! In Schumann, I still feel the need to peck at the notes, as if you weren't inside the music, something that you instead did very well in Chopin, thinking only of the interpretation without having to worry about the notes anymore, suffering along with him. Well done!

Bravo. I like them very much. You chose extremely slow tempos, which are very difficult for legato playing and for giving a sense of development to the phrase. I would say you succeeded very well. Only the final chord of 'The Poet'—I wouldn't detach it; rather, I would change the pedal in a syncopated way while playing it pianissimo. Well done.

I am reading Simone now, who nevertheless says the right things. It is evident that starting from a slightly less slow tempo makes it easier to find that "tension" rightly invoked by Simone. You can try playing it slightly faster and you will more easily feel the growing "stretched string" inside of you. To maintain this difficult sonic continuity in the lentissimo, you will be forced to play slightly louder, let's say also with more pressure. Also a slight freedom in tempo, especially in the recitative part, will make the piece less "virtual."

It is nonetheless an excellent performance.

Guys... what can I say, I thought I had done a good job always considering my limits, but when the compliments come from real pianists who say what they think, and not just to please me, then it's a whole different story.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and as I always say I will try to make the most of your advice.

Dear Giovanni,

i have listened to both pieces. Personally, in 'Parla il poeta' I prefer a more sustained tempo. However, I admit that an interpretation with such wide values has its own charm and constitutes a challenge in holding everything together.

in Chopin, I really like how you delve into the pp from bar 9 onwards. However, I play the last chord almost mezzoforte: almost like a brutal tear that brings one back to reality after that melancholy fading.

One thing surprised me though (pleasantly): in the edition I have - Peters - there is a 'crescendo' hairpin that starts at the beginning of bar 3 and goes until the end of bar 4.

You, on the other hand, as early as the middle of bar 4 . . . "lower the flame"!

I find your choice interesting (I like it very much!). It catches me off guard when listening, and gives a certain 'transfigured' quality in the transition to the next phrase.

Hi Luca! It's a real pleasure to hear from you again... So, I have the Urtext version, and even here there is the crescendo hairpin (I believe the two editions are the same); I wanted, so to speak, to "modify" the fourth measure by anticipating the piano that we find immediately after in the fifth measure, just to put my own touch on it (even if Chopin doesn't forgive me).

With hindsight, I would have changed the last measure; I don't like it very much.

As for the Schumann piece, I can tell you that I usually tend to slow down pieces, and I am not surprised if they then tell me that I played slower than intended, but that is how I make the pieces my own.

G

. . . very beautiful modification.

Come on: Chopin could take it for a variant !

You know, a lot of study time is based on this aspect once the piece has been read...

The ideal, in my opinion, is to succeed in expressing what one feels without losing sight of the content being conveyed to the listener... it's like verbal communication. The choice of terms in both verbal and non-verbal language is excellent when what you think is expressed in such a way that it can be correctly interpreted by the listener, without ambiguity. In music, the performer additionally has the duty to respect the composer's content....! Not easy at all...

But I am stating the obvious....

Nency, I completely agree with you; I would add that the duty to approach the study of a new piece with great humility certainly helps a lot (as has been recommended to me) to accompany the piece one is about to learn by singing it.

I would like to show you a video that I found, needless to say on YouTube, where you can see the great Alfred Cortot giving instructions to a young student on how "The Poet Speaks" should be interpreted; truly instructive.

Open content (youtube)

But if you quote Cortot, it doesn't count!!! Ahahahah

....forgive my ignorance but I didn't understand a thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! still, still the English....but I can't go beyond that!!

My French is definitely rusty...

This is the best I can do :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkEDSiB1YeI

Open content (youtube)

in Sardinian, no!?!?!?

joking aside....thanks, but did you subtitle it???

i'll watch it now

Yes.. subtitling it myself tonight, you know how it is, I didn't know what to do tomorrow so I'll subtitle it in Sardinian since I'm at home anyway ah!ah! ah!

You are funny!!!!!!Hahahaha!!!! Naturally, Cortot's video is a bit Liberty style...... His fantastic approach to Romantic music, which is also the subject of reflection in some of his beautiful books, is modernly—with all due respect—a bit decadent. Nancy's observations on non-verbal communication, to which our Music belongs, are beautiful. There is no doubt that interpretation must stem from "communicative clarity," and on this, I believe, we all agree. And it is anyway difficult and, as our friend always maintains, it requires assimilation time, study time... or simply time. I believe, try it and see, that the maturation of a piece also occurs partly with the passage of time, even in the absence of study. Our own maturation also changes, and every musical experience opens new perspectives for us. For example, performing a new program in public provides us with a great experience, an experience that, once set aside for some time, will return to us—upon resuming the study of those pieces—new ways of understanding. In short, the piece, to put it in French, enters you "par coeur" (by heart)......I wonder if I managed to be clear in my communication?

I would say you have been far too clear! It is quite normal to let pieces rest for a while... at least for me!