Reinventing Solo Piano Concert

[steviegfc]

I don think it's a technique tt shuld be "used" like some math formula. If u feel the song and feel the headbang then fine, but not just use it to generate enthusiasm when ure not feelin it. Mono (jap band) does that too. If it's not you don do it, but if ure a crazy person like me, den WTH!!! hahahahahaha

 

[piano_ex]

Your Scriabin, really really needs a lot of re-working ...... Sorry ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zthWKLYYMk&feature=related[/URL]

http://www.box.net/shared/538cbalc0r

 

[Cheez]

Actually, I would have interpreted and played the Scriabin quite differently. Agree that it needs some work.

As for Romance No. 1, with some maturity, each player could have brought out the key sections more and be more expressive as a whole. Composition and arrangement is...OK, but I would arrange it differently to bring out certain parts.

They are good attempts. I would say it's just lacking maturity, which will come with time. Keep it up.

 

[steviegfc]

dude did you watch the girl in dreadlock yst? Straits time Life section did a cover up on the concert seems pretty awesome, Btw, Life! also cover the Cliburn award which feature top prize winner a blind guy and a chinese guy (shared prize), you should really watch the chinese guy Zhang Hao Chen, he plays good music, intepretation I mean, the other guy while hes good, I have no doubt he won some sympathy vote as the chinese guys's miles better in my opinion.

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Rwxe7FJwk&feature=channel_page"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Rwxe7FJwk&feature=channel_page[/URL]

 

[Dreamaurora]

I watched her. Her playing was excellent and kudo for her for attempting such a difficult program. One thing about Straits Times though is that most of time it will post favorable reviews of foreign solo artists, but they are less kind towards local artists. Many local classical artists I know spoke of this apparent bias. It is also common to have two reviews with completely opposite point of view. Last year Minoru Nojima's concert in Piano Festival was criticised by Frank Demeglio of Business Times as being cold and boring, but Chang Tou Liang who wrote for Straits Times though it was really excellent and refined. I watched the concert and personally loved it but I can see what stirred Frank's opinions.

I think as I get more experience performing classical recitals, I actually are more forgiving towards other artists, as I am fully aware that preparing even a short recital requires a massive amount of work. And it does not help that in this era of engineered CDs, audience nowadays expect very clean and polished playing throughout even in live playing, which is really quite a task. If you have followed the Cliburn webcasts, you will realise quite a few of the competitors were quite inconsistent and many had lapses or errors. But this is understandable considering the amount of repertoire they had to prepare for the competition. But this fact may be lost to normal layperson. You just can't please everyone in general. That's why to be performing artist have to be a little thick skinned.

Anyway as a budding artists I always want to improve, that is I do not mind putting myself in the middle of the crosshair. Anyway, what exactly do you mean by lacking maturity? I appreciate your comments, but I could use a more detailed comments than just some ambiguous terms, like for example how would you play the Scriabin?

 

[Cheez]

One of the reasons I tried not to post critiques too often is becuase critiques are as they are - subjective. I've been negatively and positively criticised on my pieces. I try to take all in context, but not brushing the negative too quickly. One of the negative comments I had is that one of my orchestral composition sounded too much like Hans Zimmer, and it was too much like one of his film compositions (of which I actually did not watch nor heard it...). Well, that could be taken as a compliment, but to me that was actually offensive to my creativity. My first reaction was defensive. But when I cooled down, I realised that certain part of orchestrations does have certain colour similar to his. So I checked that into my memory and watch it for the next composition.

So...with that out of the way...I would like to say that when I post critiques, I do it after days of thinking first, and if I think the person can receive it well and intended it for good, I would post it. In this thread, I waited for 3 days before posting my opinion.

Back to it. Dreamaurora, I think you have the technique. And I think you would go far. If you have a recital, I would probably go and listen, and would probably enjoy it.

When I say maturity, it's more a subjective feel towards how you play a piece. It's not a negative criticism towards technique. It's how a piece is communicated to the audience. It's more than how the player feels the piece, but whether the audience can feel it what the piece is meant to convey. It's the "message" behind the piece, what "story" the piece is suppose to convey. When to exert more pressure on certain passages, when to do that ever-so-slight rubato etc.

Sorry I can't explain more. I'm limited to expressing these things. As for the Scriabin, forget my comments. Everybody interprets it differently anyway. So it's OK!

You did well! Hope we can collaborate one day! Do a duet or something!

 

[Dreamaurora]

Anyway, I have managed to get a properly recorded live performance of this Scriabin Nocturne in a live student concert i did some time ago in Lee Foundation Theatre. I think it could also be the quality of the recording. The one I originally posted was recorded on my Kawai upright with a Zoom H4. This newer one was recorded live on a Steinway D in a proper concert hall setting approximately I think one month plus after the home made recording. Maybe this one is more to your liking?

http://www.box.net/shared/6h6rzsyz6h

Anyway, yeah I agree, criticising is often a very sticky subject. That is why I always refrain from criticising unless I can give constructive comments to go along with them. That said, you still can't please everybody. Even great artists have their detractors i.e. Great pianists like Horowitz can ellicit two completely separate reactions from music lovers, either you love it or hate it.

 

[steviegfc]

Hey dude, I just had a listen to your new track, all I can say is good job, I can feel you put in yourself in the music. You know I am reallly probably among the lousiest critic among here, but I really do like your latest piece.

Btw I have lost touch with piano for quite a while (3 yrs), last one I was on the verge on grade 8 but did not take the exam due to my o'lvl last time, any suggestion where should I start again, for exp from scales or something.

 

[Dreamaurora]

Actually I was quite surprised when I got this recording. When I played it in concert I recalled I was not actually very pleased with my playing, but it sounded so much better in this live recording. Although obviously I have made some more adjustments to my playing before the concert, still I think the superior instrument and acoustic plus proper recording equipment really made a difference. I think this illustrates the importance of artists to make proper recordings of their playing or compositions.

 

[Dreamaurora]

Hey dude, I just had a listen to your new track, all I can say is good job, I can feel you put in yourself in the music. You know I am reallly probably among the lousiest critic among here, but I really do like your latest piece.

Btw I have lost touch with piano for quite a while (3 yrs), last one I was on the verge on grade 8 but did not take the exam due to my o'lvl last time, any suggestion where should I start again, for exp from scales or something.

If you love piano, I do encourage you to come out and perform. Sure, it may be tiring preparing even a piece for live performance, but nothing beats the exhilaration of sharing your music with other people. It also helps you to keep your technique sharp and help you to find flaws that normally will not crop up unless u play for other people. This new track was recorded sometimes in last October and I am still working on the Scriabin intermittently to make it 'better'. I recognise that some of my movements were still rather awkward and they affected the sound projections. Nonetheless, thanks for all the comments, in this line, we really often get more nonsensical comments than positive ones in this line. Anyway, I don't think you are a lousy critic. I think sometimes non-musicians actually can listen to music more purely because they are unaffected by prejudices or preconceptions.

If you want to start again, the first thing is to pick a few pieces from the level where you stopped. Then you should ideally consult a teacher who is very experienced in fixing techniques to slowly ground your technique to be solid. This means plenty of specialised finger exercises along with the usual scale and arpeggios. My teacher is from Montenegro and educated in Moscow Conservatory. I was grateful for his guidance because he really showed me the most efficient way to play piano. Many students find they hit a wall when they attempt advanced repertoire because their technique could not pull off the pieces, or worse they injure themselves i.e. countless of pianists have injured themselves playing Liszt's La Campanella or Balakirev's Islamey.

Anyway, everybody does interpret differently, this is true. But I think I can decipher why you feel my first home made recording lacks the 'message'. I played it rather quick without much breathing points between the phrases and the top melodic notes could be more prominent. I always made it a point to find faults in my playing. I think too much ego kills artistry, unfortunately I've seen people who think they play so well they cannot even take the slightest criticism and remain stagnant throughout their career.

 

[Cheez]

Yes, I like the second better. The first one sounded slightly more rushed than the second.

By the way, there's a difference between criticising (which is always negative) and critiquing (which is meant to be constructive). We should not criticise, but we can critique.