Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Themed Recital Sub-Forum Beginner Pieces Themed Recital - Discussion Thread

Thank you for all the young talents for submitting their wonderful music. Hope to hear a lot more great pieces in the upcoming recital in November.

Thank you to Sam for all the work you do on these recitals, providing a platform for people to have their musical efforts heard.

Thank you to Animisha for putting forward the idea for the Beginner Piece theme. Hopefully beginners will realize all the great music that is out there and within their abilities to play and get them to join in the recitals.

Thank you Ido and Coati for listening and commenting on my pieces.

Here are my comments on what I've listened to so far:

Animisha You provided an interesting selection of pieces, all within the skills of a beginner to play. The Polyushko Polve was my favorite. I'm glad you grew to like it because your enjoyment in playing it is evident.

Greta99 Thank you for the nice selection of pieces. I particularly like the Dedicatoria by Granados. I've wanted to learn it, but thought it too difficult and am encouraged to hear from you that it is easy.

bSharp(C)yclist (Dan) Nice collection of pieces. Clowns appears to be popular among the recital listeners and it's my favorite too.

Ido Very nice selection of pieces. The Gurlitt Op. 205 No. 12 is the nicest Gurlitt piece I've heard so far. I love the string voices you used for the Zipoli Fughetta to show off the beauty of the composition. The Satie piece is one I haven't heard before and seems to be in the realm of beginner skills. The piece would present a good study for articulation between the hands. Well played!

Sam S Two very nice sets of pieces. I have the Jazzy Solos for reading practice and have several of them saved for later 'quick study' pieces to work up. My favorite of them is 'Amen Corner'. I'm not familiar with the Barbara Arens pieces, but really like Prelude V.

Coati Congratulations on your recital debut! Both of your pieces were charming and sounded very good to me.

Thank you very much Talao, Ido, and Animisha for your kind words on my submissions. I deeply appreciate it :))) It makes me very happy that some of the ideas for interpreting these pieces came through in the recording.

I have been having a hard time finding time to listen and comment on this recital. I manage to continue today so here is a new group of comments. I hope to be able to finish listening to the recital this week and start preparing the recording for the quarterly one.

bSharp(C)yclist (Dan) - Dan, very cool pieces and also very interesting what you comment in your description regarding relaxation. One can easily tell by your hands in all videos you posted that they effectively remained very relaxed and they seem to flow and move without much resistance. You also provided a very mixed group of submissions. I enjoy how introspective Reflections and Sound of Twilight sounded. They seem great to explore musicality and interpretation. I am glad you added a submission of Kabalevsky to the recital. I think he has an amazing output for beginners and needed to be showcased in this recital. This one might be one of the most challenging ones from his beginners composition, specially if targeting the tempo you chose. You made it very fun and entertaining. I also loved the Waltz and how playful the Sonatina movements were. They represent very interesting technical challenges, and nothing better than improving on those aspects than by practicing such entertaining compositions.

KevinM - Very beautiful arrangements Kevin. Lovely and very contrasting playing between your Mozart pieces and your Grieg. This shows how versatile you can be at the piano. I deeply enjoyed both of your Mozart submissions, so much tenderness and nuances in those recordings. Thank you very much for sharing. I deeply enjoyed them. Mozart is very rapidly growing on me

winterflower - Great submissions. I think it is great you were showing us some of your compositions. My favorite was Pool of the Unicorn (I was per se intrigued because of the cool title). I even downloaded the sheet music to add it to my sight reading practice. Shoo fly was very cool as well. I could definitely see some Bartok in there. You touched on a very interesting topic in your descriptions. How can you tell you are somehow replicating a theme or melody you heard before when you compose? Is it perhaps counterproductive to listen too much music in that case? Thank you for sharing

Peter071 - Beautiful playing Peter. I think both pieces were veryyyy interesting ad did not expect them to sound like that based on the titles. I like how they were rythmically very interesting. I would check them out. Thank you for showing us some new music.

drewpianoman - Yeah my favorite Gnossienne. I think you did very very well for only 6 months of piano playing. Well done!. How did you deal with the lack of measures in the sheet music? That must be a challenge specially at the beginning stages of piano learning.

Ido - Ido, great playing and variety in your submissions. I enjoyed a lot de Gurlitt pieces. No. 12 definitely sounds very challenging and I am sure it tests one's technique, specially to bring it up at the tempo you did and to keep it musical on the way. Amazing playing. The other Gurlitt piece was very enjoyable and it also highlights the variety of difficulty in that set of pieces. I loved the Fuguetta. I have not yet worked on Bach's little preludes. I think you are very right to be proud of that recording. The interplay of voices was on point I did not know the Satie piece, so it was a very nice discovery. Happy to see other works by him being showcased here in the recitals. Looking forward to your submissions in the coming recitals.

[b]vte[\b] - What a lovely piece! I enjoyed this one a lot. Beautiful use of dynamics. I also think the background noise of the recording gave it a really nice touch. Thank you for sharing

I managed to finish listening to the recital today. I am adding my last set of comments:

Flygbladet It is indeed a very beautiful piece. I know a couple of his very early pieces and all are so joyful. They put you in a good mood. Lovely playing

lilypad - Very lovely pieces and lovely playing lilypad. I particularly enjoyed the two arrangements. I think I might have played the Downtown abbey theme back then when I decided to go for Piano Adventures for self teaching. I then started lessons and changed books but I remember having enjoyed that one. I guess having watched the series in the past might have contributed to that.

Sam - Very fun submissions Sam. From the Robert Vandall pieces, I particularly liked Bluesy mood the most. I think the set of Preludes of Barbara Arens appeals more to what I like to play. I enjoyed a lot Preludes III and V. The fifth one had this very nice build up. It is for sure one of those pieces that makes one as a beginner feel more as a pianist. Thank you for sharing these.

Saan Saan! so cool you are participating in these recitals. I hope you enjoyed it. I liked a lot the melody of this piece. I can see what you describe. The piece might sound more complex than what it really is but I think it is in any case a very nice one to learn. Great playing

karen627 Great that you decided to join us for this recital! I had never heard this piece by Beethoven, it sounded very entertaining. I also think you are being perhaps too hard on yourself. I never had the impression the piece was falling apart or that you were losing control of it. I enjoyed it

thepianoplayer416 I loved how you put the video together. The small drawing at the beginning was very sweet. I think you did a great job with those two pieces. Thank you for sharing

Coati Coati, welcome to the ABF recitals! I am glad you finally decided to participate. Please, do not feel at all intimidated to participate in the quarterly recitals, they are great fun, we welcome all kind of submissions, and in my experience, you also learn a lot by listening to everyone's recordings and trying to put your impressions into words. Regarding your submissions, I liked the waltz a lot. One can tell you focused on dynamics. Your control on the LH was also very good. I played a Duvernoy piece this year as well and found it very entertaining to play. Perhaps a composer that it is worth to discover. Regarding your second piece, I did not have the impression you were rushing at any point. I think it is very useful here to study your own recordings and to try to feel the rhythm while you play. In that second piece, I actually think you did very well in shaping the phrases. Well done! I hope you join the recital in November

cygnusdei Very clean and lovely playing. I think this sonatina is a lot more challenging than it seems, specially since one decides to learn it a relatively early stage in the piano journey. It is also a very good first big challenge in the classical genre. I liked you choice of tempos as well. I remember choosing a slower tempo for the second movement, as I think it changed the mood of the piece quite dramatically. Thank you for sharing.

KrisR I have never played Enaudi so I cannot comment on the difficulty of this piece. I completely understand your feelings regarding the recording process. I have also struggled a lot in previous occasions when recording and thought in not posting it finally. I think doing it more often definitely helps a lot. I enjoyed very much your submission. Lovely playing.

PikaPianist Amazing recording and unbelievable playing as usual! First of all, I think your recordings and video have an outstanding quality. I loved how you bring out so much beauty out of relatively simple compositions. A good example of all the elements that can be discovered and explored on such simple pieces. I really enjoyed all your submissions. Lovely thumbnails as well.

Talao - Great job Talao! I am glad you did not forget about the piece but decided to come back to it and master it. I enjoyed your submission very much and liked the sound you created for this piece. Lovely.

rwsavory Thank you for submitting this piece. I can now assign a composer and a title to this composition. I have known it for a long time but had no idea who composed it. I think you did great and added very interesting dynamics. It kept my attention all throughout . Great job!

wr Another Gnoissiene! I liked this set more than the Gymnopedies. I think you actually did very good and did justice to the piece. This is the thing with these Satie pieces. Notes might be very simple but they require a very good amount of musicality and imagination. I think you did very good adding both. You kept tension at key places and I never had the impression it got monotonous. Great stuff How was you experience not having measures? Did it make you change anything in the way you approached learning the piece?
Tank you also for showing us that entire set of children pieces by Tchaikovsky. I had never heard of him, so it is great to discover new music and new composers. Some of them were indeed very beautiful and interesting. I particularly enjoyed No. 2, No. 6 (I like Fugues :)), No 7 and No. 8. Thank you very much for sharing.

Thank you all again for participating with a recording and also for taking time to listen to my submission. Thanks to Sam also for putting these recitals together.

Listened to more of this enjoyable recital:

KevinM - The arrangement you played for your dad's memorial was beautiful. I'm very sorry for your loss. The Hall of the Mountain King is my favorite of your pieces with a good dynamic range and the flourish at the end.

winterflower - Nice compositions. 'Pool of the Unicorn' was my favorite, but I also really like the tapering off at the end of 'It's a Sad Story'. 'Shoo fly' is an interesting arrangement of a childhood song and I even remember the lyrics. My neighbor used to make shoo fly pie (lots of sugar in it if I remember right).

Peter071 - I was looking forward to hearing 'Ashran's Magic Carpet' after I saw you had pledged it. It was worth waiting for and is a very interesting sounding piece. Fandango del Sol was very expressive and almost mesmerizing to listen to.

drewpianoman - Your playing of Gnossienne seems to invite reflection. If I practiced meditation, this would be good music to listen to while doing it.

vte - I love the harmony in 'Lullaby'. Nice choice for a recital piece!

Flygbladet - Your Mozart 'Allegro' was delightful! What a nice way to resume conversation with your piano. I'm glad you two made up.

More to come...

Thank you, AndresVel, for the very nice comments and for being such an attentive listener!

About the lack of measures in the Satie piece - after the first or second read-through of it, I really didn't even notice anymore. The left-hand accompaniment part is so regular that it seems to provide something like imaginary measures, even without bar lines. And I don't usually count beats, so that helped, too. I've come across music without measures before (by Charles Koechlin, Jehan Alain, C.P.E Bach, and Rodion Shchedrin - there may be more I'm not remembering right now), which made that way of writing seem less strange than it might have been if it were the first time I'd seen it.

Hi guys, I just want to say good job to all - your love and dedication to music shows and that's something to celebrate! But I gotta say most of the music in the program is unfamiliar to me so I don't feel confident to give comments. As for me, I never thought of myself as taking a 'break' from piano because I still do other music related stuff, but I had not played my piano for some years - that is until this recital. I guess it's true that an audience is the ultimate motivator!

Flygbladet - I'm sorry to hear you're not playing much lately. You're so talented, both at playing and composing. But as long as you enjoy yourself, it doesn't matter
The Mozart was beautiful.

Thank you, AndresVel, for listening and kind comments. I listened to your music and some others, so my impressions are as follows:

Saan - Waltz of the One Eyed Witch was lovely. Hard to imagine a one eyed witch associated with such a musical and expressively played piece.

karen627 - Enjoyed your Eccosaise. Regarding your comments on speeding up, I couldn't detect any sign of that. Your playing sounded rock-steady. Well done!

AndresVel - Thank you for sharing compositions by Samuel Maykapar. I just discovered some of his works after someone on the forums recommended his Pedal Preludes book. Shepherd Boy is my favorite of his compositions that you played. I also really enjoyed the liveliness of the Shostokovich March.

thepianoplayer416 - Thank you for including Simple Gifts. It is a lovely piece. I also admire your legato technique on the Eccosaise.

cygnusdei - The Sonatina was delightful and charmingly played. Thank you for sharing it.


KrisR - Very enjoyable performance. I'm glad you decided to share it and didn't back out. I've pledged some things for future Themed Recitals and now it's like 'what was I thinking?'

Animisha - your improvement is very clear. The tone, the rhythm, the story you tell in your playing, the overall musicality - they are all becoming solid. It was a good listening. Keep this up.

KevinM - the Mozart was wonderful. The Grieg was pretty interesting, kinda dramatic in a good way.

Winterflower - kudos for managing to compose music for the truly beginners. I liked it!

karen627 - what a fun piece, I enjoyed listening to your playing.

Saan - beautiful playing. Really enjoyed it. I hope you post more performances in upcoming recitals.

I have been listening to this recital today and have to say what a lovely collection of music. I was really impressed with the musicality everyone brought to these pieces. It really goes to show that there is beautiful music at every level!





Thank you all for your kind comments. I was a little worried that my piece might be too difficult for this recital but since I had played it when I was so young, and it really was the piece that hooked me on piano, I thought it might be a good addition. I am glad you enjoyed it and maybe some of you might play it too.

Oops, I got sidetracked trying to polish a piece for recital #64 and realized that I hadn't listened to all of this one. I'm glad I listened to the rest. Good stuff!

PikaPianist - All three of your pieces were truly beautiful with the last one particularly expressive...so sad about the doll. The Sick Doll is my favorite and I'm adding it to my spreadsheet of pieces to learn.

Talao - I'm glad you decided to revisit the Doll's Funeral. You played it well and your hands appeared very relaxed and at ease throughout the piece.

wr - Thank you for providing Satie's performance directions for the Gnoissienne No. 3. Very entertaining! Your performance was very smooth and flowing and I think Satie would have liked it. Thank you also for performing the 8 Children's Pieces. I hadn't heard them before and particularly liked the March, First Rain and Small Sonata. More additions to my spreadsheet of pieces to learn.

Gotta go submit my piece for recital #64. Hoping some of you folks will be in that one too.

Aargh! I just realized that I skipped a piece:

rwsavory - To A Wild Rose is a favorite mine from an early age. I'm not sure if I ever played it, but I'm glad you did. Nicely done!