Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Moonlight Sonata, Quasi una Fantasia, Op. 27. No 2. 1st Movement
Composer:
Beethoven
Duration:
04:36
Source of music:
Sheet music from Henle
Instrument used:
MP11SE with VST Boesendorfer Imperial from VSL
Recording method:
Recorded directly on Mac Mini.
Technical feedback wanted:
No
Additional info:
I recorded this just a few days after my Mum died in February. I had been trying to practise the second movement but everything sounded discordant and ugly, which is unusual for a piece I normally find quite uplifting. I gave up trying to lift my mood. The first movement has the much more melancholy feeling, which matched my mood, so I just thought I should try a recording. There is very little of my usual internal narrative when I'm playing, of I must do this here, or be careful here it is tricky. I very much just played. I noticed afterwards there is almost no rubato in my playing, and this fits, I don't seem to feel rubato like I do dynamics. Currently rubato is still quite a mechanical process for me, where I consciously think I should add some rubato here, but listening afterwards it often sounds contrived and forced. With no internal narrative, clearly I just dropped the idea of rubato altogether.
Other than lack of rubato my only other complaint with this recording is when there is a semi-quaver at the end of a bar and the same note is repeated as the first note in the next bar. My playing of these is inconsistent, sometimes I play them nicely but I struggle with consistency for them.
Other than those comments I'm pleased with this recording and I honestly don't think I can improve on it, until I've improved my playing with a couple of years more experience. The tempo is quite quick compared to how the piece is often played, but this to me feels like quite a natural tempo for the piece.
I wanted to play the two movement together but I've stopped that project as I just can't get enough control for the second movement to achieve the feel I'm after.
WAV file recorded by Pianoteq, converted to MP3 with Audacity
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
Monica described Olafur Arnalds as 'one of my favorite contemporary composers' - a view I came to share. So when I was deciding on something special for my 25th Recital entry, I thought of Arnalds' captivating 'Saman' which I first heard and fell in love with a couple of years ago.
When I finally located the score, then newly-posted on his social media site, I discovered two problems. My skills weren't up to the dynamics or the constant switching between 4/4 and 6/4 time signatures. And performed on anything but Olafur's upright, with its unique muffled 'felt piano' voice, 'Saman' lacked its most distinctive element.
This is still a work in progress, despite the amount of time I've spent on dynamics, and on modifying the settings on Pianoteq's U4 to try to capture something of the 'felt piano' flavour.
I know that this effort won't be to everybody's taste but I've had an enormous amount of fun - and I think Monica would have enjoyed it.
Many, many years ago I spent a night up on a roof in a small town in MA. It was on a lake and it was a very, very long night awake. As the sky began to show faint signs of the morning I got it in my mind to really try to hear the first bird of the morning sing. It turned out to be one of those times you never forget. It was very early spring and the leaves were just starting to bud. It also turned out to be the first day of fishing season so just as the first light appeared in the distance a bird sang...and a motor started up, and then another bird and then another motor. And I could just make out some small boats heading out onto the lake as more and more birds began to sing. Anyway... I sit at my piano every morning and have a bird feeder right at the window. As I was working on this piece and watching the birds I started thinking of that morning. So here is the first bird singing. But no boat motors.
The initial musical idea for this piece was formed very quickly, then I notated it and spent some time tweaking and refining it. The recording was done shortly after the last tweak to the scores, so it is very raw. Apologies for the recording quality, I'm not very used to playing/recording an acoustic piano.
Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy it! Thank you Sam for making this happen.
Last edited by AB Forum Recital; 05/15/2106:26 AM.
Silent system MIDI out to notebook with Galaxy Vintage D, Savihost recording plugin, additional reverb with Audacity
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
I came across this fantastic piece in the transcription themed recital. Bach composed it for an oboe concerto, later made it the slow movement of his harpsichord concerto BWV 1056 and eventually used it as the opening of one of his cantatas. The Australian-born British pianist and teacher Max Pirani transcribed this for piano in 1917 when he was only 18 years old. I really do like fast Baroque trills... Thanks to MaryBee for introducing this marvellous piece and for inspiring me.
Sheet music "Classical Patterns" by Walter and Carol Noona
Instrument used:
Yamaha P22
Recording method:
iphone SE 2020
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
I love the French Suites and this is my attempt at the Sarabande from the Suite #1 in D minor. This piece is featured in the movie, "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould." It is #29, "Leaving." That movie is from 1993 and I probably saw it around then, it has much to do with my interest in Bach, classical music, and playing piano. That would have been several years before I ever tried to play.
For most of the time I've played, I've been largely self-taught and often chose pieces that were probably a bit aiming too high and this fits that pattern. In the last year, I've been working with a teacher and that led me to pare this performance down to the basics. I've removed almost all the ornamentation (which I used to try to play) and just focused really on consistently just getting my fingers on the right keys and an an attempt at a consistent tempo and rhythm. Still there are many flaws!
It has been a while since I submitted a piece! I'm glad to have something to offer finally. Thanks to everyone at Piano Forum! Both for the opportunity to share the music, the comments, and all the wonderful pieces I've heard on here, that has been an inspiration to me over the years.
Piazzolla originally composed this piece in 1965 for his quintet consisting of bandoneon, double bass, electric guitar, piano and violin, and later transcribed it for piano. I learned this piece several years ago and submitted it to an earlier ABF recital. I decided to revisit the piece and take a different interpretation from my earlier effort.
The first publication of this was in 1738 in Essercizi per Gravicembalo so for harpsichord. But I think it works nicely on piano as well, even though it woul sound a bit lighter on harpsichord.
This was already at the very end of the baroque era, and influencing the classical style. He worked most of his life for rich portugese and spanish nobility. From 1730 till the end of his life he worked in madrid as teacher of the to-be queen of Spain. He composed this piece also there.
It starts rather bombastic, I think this is for warming up and to let the people know the music has started. Then comes a lyrical part, developing into dissonant chords and then fast section of broken-chords and runs. Then another lyric section, developing similar, and a third one. The lyrical parts are very nice and the dissonant chords are unusual chromatic and big with up to 6 notes in the right hand chords. I hope you enjoy it!
This is my first Sonatina and my introduction to multimovement works. It was such an amazing challenge and an enjoyable experience. I love classical sonatas, they sound so fun to play, and this gave me a taste of it and also a first glimpse into sonata form. This is the result of a approx. two months and a half of work with my teacher, and I am as usual amazed by the amount of work that goes beyond the notes to polish a piece. We focused on making it as musical as possible, and I hope that I managed to convey in the recording all the details we discussed together. This is also my first submission playing on my upright which I purchased shortly after the last recital. My plan was to submit a recording of both movements in the same take. In each take, I actually recorded both movements in one go, but as expected my favorite versions of each movement were not in the same one, so I ended up putting two different takes together. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing it Looking forward already to my next classical sonatina/sonata
Line in from Yamaha p45 to computer. Recording with Audacity- afterwork: Adding some echo.
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
Where to begin. This is a relatively unknown female composer. But what a composer. She went to become on of the first organists in the second half of 19th century in Sweden. Probably one of the very first european female conductor conducting a professional symphonical orchestra. She was not allways welcome, but her father encouraged her throughout her education. And she was active in changing the law making her professional career as a musician not open just for her in her country but for all women there. Even though having some local reputation during her career, as a composer she was hardly recognised. Mostly overlooked cause of her gender. Often played only once in public or never. Even writing an opera together with first female winner of Nobel Prize in litterature (Selma Lagerlof) that didnt have a premiere until 2019(!) It's a shame, I love her pieces. They are romantic, without being overly bombastic as much of the late 19th centuary music. And she is never boring, never lazy in her writing - but rather keeps it interesting.
This is the third one in a set of three pieces (Of which I hope I can play all three for some recital in the future).
She must have had long fingers and had to split on a couple of more places than she is suggesting in her song. But manage to get hold of 13 -leaps most of the time.
Last edited by AB Forum Recital; 05/15/2106:36 AM.
Free improvisation, final few minutes of an hour or so.
Instrument used:
Weinbach grand, new 1971, action rebuilt 2005
Recording method:
Zoom H2
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
Had last night's very tasty leftover curry for lunch. I felt my technique had become overblown recently so in this one I tried to expend more energy on purely musical impulse, not altogether successfully.
I think this piece is so beautiful, it's also the hardest piece I've learned so far, it really goes all over the place in both hands. I tried as best as I could to keep it gentle and flowing, but I still have some unexpected twitches in my fingers lol. It's also the first piece that I've recorded in one take, well actually the second, because the first one is always ruined by the whole camera setting procedure which throws me out of the mood. I've noticed on the video that there was quite a lot of traffic around me while recording it, but never noticed it while playing lol.
Head. Sheet piano music produced for this orchestral piece.
Instrument used:
Pianoteq Vintage Bechstein sound-alike (I fondly think) on a Yam. p515
Recording method:
Audacity from pianoteq which records everything I play.
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
I'd written this some years ago now, more or less when i joined the forum. The second song I'd wrote, I'd used the facilities of the Digital ensemble piano to do this. I tried to write it for piano, but needed simplifying just so's I could play the dang thing in some logical form. The piano sound for this is vintage; the best piano for me; it sounds like it's been stuck in a church hall for decades. It has the "Candelabra Sound". 'Nuff said!
The original piece of music is below if you're interested. I suppose you'd paste the link into YouTube . . . Yes! that works.
This is my interpretation of the beautiful piece by Chrissy Ricker, a contemporary piano teacher, and composer. The original title is "Winter Winds" which I renamed to "Whispers of Winds" to match the mood of my interpretation. There are several themes in this piano piece: 1) soft breezy feel at the beginning 2) syncopated dance in the middle 3) slightly murkier mood later. These themes interplay perfectly passing the mood back and forth. I really enjoyed playing it and internalizing the range of emotions it captures.
Partita No. 1 might be my favorite work by Bach. This is the 3rd piece I've learned in the Partita No. 1 after the Prelude and Allemande. I worked on the "Courante" for a bit but it was painful so I will go back to it eventually. This Sarabande was quite difficult to learn compared to the Prelude and Allemande for some reason. Lots of stops and starts for awhile before I broke through. Now that this one is working out I will probably return to the Allemande to try and bring up the tempo before touching the Courante.
Skriabin's preludes Op.11 seem to be inspired by Chopin's Op.28. Skriabin's personal style is, however, quite obvious. Most of the pieces are short, and the technical challenge varies between relatively easy to unplayable.
No.23 is a one-pager, takes less than one minute to play and is more difficult than it sounds. I have struggled a lot to get it to my present level, and there is still room for improvement.
This little piece is from part 2 of Schumann's Album for the Young. It was easy to learn but I couldn't memorise it for the life of me. Pedalling could be cleaner and I skipped a tuning due to lockdown, but it doesn't sound too bad to me.
1 year and 10 months of playing experience at the time of recording (started at age 44). Averaging about 1.5h of practice per day. Seeing a teacher for 1h every other week.
A matched pair of Rode NT5 mics connected to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd generation audio interface. My DAW is Ableton Live 10 Lite.
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
I rehearsed this piece to play at an in-person recital. Unlike my 1st in-person recital, which went well, my second was a disaster. I made a mistake at the beginning that sent my brain into panic mode and I couldn't recover. I made this recording afterward, at home, once I had calmed down. I'd welcome any feedback on anything you hear and/or see. Thank you all in advance.
Last fall, my new grand piano and I wanted to learn Bach's Little Prelude in C Major. This is one of the Little Preludes written or collected by Johann Sebastian Bach for his son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach in the early 1720s. There seem to be a myriad of different compelling interpretations available; a favorite of mine is by Tatiana Nikolayeva on YouTube. BWV 924 is played first of the Twelve.
I tried learning this Prelude when I began lessons three years ago with my current teacher, but eventually set it aside; she recently conceded that she had misjudged my readiness! When I picked it up again this past winter, my progress was encouraging. With my teacher's guidance, I keep finding new things to appreciate about it, and I never seem to tire of it. The more I play it, the more it reveals, and the more motivation it gives me to improve my technical abilities.
I hope you can hear a hint or two of the "row of diamonds" and the "string of pearls" my teacher brought to my attention. What a universe of jewels in just this one piece! Gratitude to my willing piano companion, to my teacher GD, and to good old JSB!
This is one of my favourite pieces and by far the toughest I ever learnt so far. It will probably be familiar to most and I hope I managed to serve it some justice.
This piece HAS a break. I am sorry but I only recorded one version with two angles (only own one camera) so had to have an additional take with the ending angle and merge the two takes. I thought I might re-record the audio-only but I highly doubt I will be able to get myself to re-record it over the next couple of weeks after spending 50 hours to learn it.
This is the hardest 1 minute 38 second piece I've ever played!!! Short notes on the left hand, swing slurred notes in the right hand, Oh My. Then on top of it, I memorized this little ditty and will be playing it in a recital in two weeks. But. . . I've had a lot of fun, and that's what counts, right:-)
I learned piano as a child but stopped when I was about 13 or 14 years old. I did not touch the piano for 35 years until about eleven years ago. Like many of us here at ABF, life and profession just took over. I remember learning from a Thompson book and moving on to Hanon lessons, but skipping the scale exercises entirely, which was almost half of the Hanon book if I recall correctly. Then I had some Czerny for velocity and dexterity. However, my piano teacher preferred that I jump right into 'real' pieces and learn technique along the way. Unfortunately, music theory was not part of my lessons. This is why I cannot comprehend a piece conceptually or structurally or why I don't have the language to explain what I am doing musically. My early training lacked this intellectual component. However, I believe I learned the most by being part of a boys' choir, by understanding early enough that playing the piano is like singing, knowing the importance of connectedness (legato) and phrasing, and understanding the breath during emotional expression. These were the elements that accelerated my process of relearning the piano later in life. Since I started the relearning process, I have not had a piano teacher, but I would like to work with one in the future. I have been considering receiving online piano instruction, but I need to explore that first. I should scour the pianoworld forums for suggestions and discussions. Anyone with this kind of piano learning experience? For now, I play the piano primarily for pleasure and personal fulfillment.
It has been exactly two years since I last participated in an ABF recital (May 2019), so it is good to be back! I love this Brahms piece. It is a very 'moody' one that I found challenging to deliver a performance that indulges in the various colors and sentiments while not being pulled and lost in them. It wasn't easy to paint a coherent picture given all the moods, but I hope I have somewhat met that goal.
J.S.Bach Two Part Inventions edited by Willard A. Palmer
Instrument used:
Yamaha GC1 grand piano
Recording method:
Audacity recording with Audio Technica AT2020 USB microphone
Technical feedback wanted:
Yes
Additional info:
I have been working on this piece for about 7 months. It was my first Invention after playing lots of Bach's easier pieces. I recorded it at 90 bpm to the eighth note. It will be a piece I continue to work on because it has so much of a lively spirit.
For performances I usually gravitate to "pretty," slow pieces. But those require a lot of pedal, and since my pedal has a lovely creaky/squeaky thing going on right now, I went in a different direction. I'm really enjoying William Gillock's book of lyric preludes.
The piece is called "Smaatrold", which literally means "Little troll". Whether Grieg was thinking of an actual hairy troll, or maybe rather of a rambunctious human toddler, I don't know. Whatever, in reality the troll is definitely Grieg himself, because he asked the piece be played at an insane pace.
I have done my best to deliver. But as will be apparent, it is still a work in progress. Another two months will probably be necessary to get the piece, where I want it.
By the way, on the off chance that you think I play it fast, you should treat yourself to hearing a pro play it.
Album: Silent Hill Original Soundtracks. Arrangement/transcription by Dave Peppiat.
Wait, don't skip this piece! While the opening is weird and alienating, it gets increasingly rewarding to play and listen to if you stick with it. Before you know it, this theme casts its spell over you, and you ultimately realize that even the bizarro opening is a valuable part of the piece.
This is another side project of mine, and like so many other side projects, it turned out to be a little more challenging than I had anticipated. Note to self: if you think that things are going well while recording, you're probably going to slip up spectacularly within the next few seconds.
In some respects, this is the most ambiguous composition I've played recently. I'm not quite sure how to describe the mood(s) of this piece. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
After my piano tuner recently tuned my piano, I heard him playing this piece to test out the tuning. I instantly fell in love with the arrangement and just had to learn it. I find the piece to be quite quirky and fun--"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" notwithstanding. And so does my wife, who has asked me to play it at her funeral (yes, seriously).
First submission for the Adult Beginner forum Recital! Hopefully anyone listening enjoys my rendition of one of the lesser played Bach 2 invention in E flat
Chopin's easiest piece still presents a host of challenges for me and I have found it very satisfying to work on. I recognise there is plenty I could still improve (when would there ever not be!), but for now I'd rather move on.
This is probably one of the hardest pieces I've ever played. The big jumps were new to me, and I'm still not consistent with them. Thankfully it's a short prelude, so I was determined to learn it (along with a few others). It's very passionate, I hope you enjoy it. I'm not sure the quality of the recording is great (I might have put the Zoom recorder too close to the piano...).
Emil von Sauer was a German composer. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation.
Another recording of a rare gem! You know a piece of music resonates with you when you catch yourself spontaneously humming the main theme of it multiple times throughout the day. I had no choice but to learn and record this lovely 'Evening song'. What a simple melody but such a beauty!
I found it difficult to voice the melody when the accompaniment consists of various uncomfortable intervals and jumps. Furthermore, with such a steady 6/8 rhythm in the accompaniment it's easy to accidentally slip into a rigid metronomic pulse, and thus ruining the gorgeous melody on top. Copious amounts of rubato is extremely helpful in giving life to such a rigid structure.
That dang pedal!!! lol You can hear me mistime the sustain pedal during the forte part. This has been the toughest piece for me in terms of use of pedal. Still a lot to master there, but it's listenable and just between you and me, I want to move on with this in a 'rotation' instead of continuing to obsess with just one piece.
I love Schubert!!! <3 <3
Besides the pedal mistake in the forte part, I'm curious about use of sustain pedal in the piece period--if you have any insight I'd love to hear how you approached it. It felt like a fine balance between maintaining a sparse staccato feel and adding lush romantic texture, so maybe there's a lot of discretion to the performer, but in any event it's a puzzle I don't feel I've solved to my satisfaction.
What I really wanted was to catch the sound of the passing train's whistle (which accounts for the --least soothing-- parts of this piece), but perhaps that's hopeless. Hopeless for now.
If I do sound like I cam copying something else... well, that would be interesting to know.
trying recording a new piece , but still need polish . So revert to record this old piece. But after long time no playing , it's tough to get used to , because the previous finger arrangement is wrong, now it's like relearn it from start to override the wrong muscle memory . boring and lack of sense of accomplishment Though I tried hard to fix , still terrible playing , Hope 3 months later , I can polish both the new piece and this one to note perfect .
I have listened to this piece many times over the years and really like the melody. I always thought it is a modern composition. It was not until recently I realized it was published by Norwegian composer/violinist Johan Halvorsen in 1894 based on Handel's Harpsichord Suite in G minor, HWV 432. The piece was originally arranged for String duos. The version I play is a piano arrangement.
This beautiful piece was written by Robert Schumann in 1839 as the second of Three Romances ('Drei Romanzen') and given to his then fiancee, Clara. Legend has it that many years later, as she lay on her deathbed (and 40 years after Robert's passing), Clara requested her grandson perform this for her. It was the last music she ever heard; she died on May 20th 1896.
I love how the main theme is voiced by the thumbs and sits in the middle register, it really adds a different, slightly weightier feel to the music. Now it took me a while to get this under the fingers and I put this down to the fact it's in F sharp major (6 sharps) and for some reason I struggle to learn pieces in key signatures containing many sharps. If it had been written in G flat major (6 flats) it would have been much easier! No idea why!
"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"
Hopefully I conveyed some of the spirit of this piece, despite the missed notes! It's been a long project. I keep track of my practice hours, and I "only" spent 85 hours on it spread over a year. I worked on a section, got tired of it and set it aside, picked it up again, realized I would have to memorize it, started again, and so forth. Finally I had a couple of zoom lessons to help me correct my unintentional errors.
It's fun to play, but tiring. I really have to think about relaxing and reducing tension the whole time. It starts forte, and never drops below that for the rest of the piece, so it is a real workout to play it.
I've played it twice in live recitals in the last month, with varying success, but my real target during this whole process has been a live recital next weekend for my local piano group. Wish me luck!
