Sunday, May 10, 2009

Another recording - my ABF Recital Submission

Thanks for the warm welcome back. I owe you some thoughts on the job search, and the position I ended up with. Maybe later this week. But one of my to-do's prior to getting on the plane tomorrow was to record and submit my Quarterly Recital Piece (my second!). And here it is.


I Due Fiumi - Aw2pp

Box.net link

Things I like:
- No major errors. Unlike Ombre, my first recital piece, there were no obvious hesitations or missed notes on this recording. Which is good for me. It's not perfect (hold that thought), but if I played it this well for my actual recital in June, I would be happy with this.
- The music. After playing it probably hundreds of times, this piece is still new and fresh to me. My attention span isn't so good... music tends to bore me quickly, so that is really saying something.

Things I don't like:
- I may have mentioned before that my Pianissimo virtual piano, which came with a Christmas present, was only a trial version. This MP3 was made with a free soundfount, the Maestro Grand Piano. It's a very large file, but still, I think the recording sounds artificial. It's obviously a digital piano. Wish it sounded more lifelike, but then again, I am not willing to pay for something that does.
- No major mistakes, but a couple of minor ones. A couple of pedaling errors that Monica K and Anthony B might notice, because they know the piece so well. And I wish I had come in stronger with the RH at about the 3:04 mark.

But all in all, this isn't bad for me, and I am reasonably happy with it.

Mom3gram... bananas? I hereby make a promise to you that I will eat a banana on the way to the church (where our recital will be). I found, during the 10 or 15 takes it took to record this version, that a good deep breath (combined with a bottle of Zinfandel... not White Zinfandel, mind you, but the real stuff) is a very helpful relaxer prior to the first measure. I'm all for trying other proven methods as well, because I bet I will be a bundle of nerves on recital day.

- Aw2pp, who hopes the Hilton in Toronto has a piano somewhere.

1 comment:

AnthonyB said...

I had thought I left a fairly long comment over here the other night but maybe I hit preview instead of publish (these things can happen from time to time.)

The iMeem content played for me (well, sorta as in only the first 30 seconds.) Maybe one needs to sign in or something to hear the whole piece so I ended up using the trusty box.net link.

I'm fairly certain I heard some of the sloppy pedal work but overall the piece sounds pretty decent.

Since you shared your recital audio I'll share the link to my recital video. This isn't the same audio that is in the recital. The ending on the video is acutally more accurate to the sheet music but the recital version sounds OK the way it is.

I sure hope you can pull off a decent live version in a few weeks!

Una Mattina ABF Recital Video by AnthonyB