In honor of Chopin’s birthday tomorrow, here are a few of his pieces. Also, a friend I have spoken with recently said that birds are singing and heralding spring’s arrival. Not where I live, unfortunately, but I can dream, so that’s why the May Song is here too. Technically, I could have waited until May, but oh well. I really don’t know what tempo to play it, either. It’s marked tranquillo, and I’m not sure what that means other than tranquil, but how fast or slow is that? Also, you may hear a splice or two – two at the most. The other clicks are my clicky thumbs. They are double-jointed and click all the time. (another problem I have)
Comments appreciated!

Chopin Prelude No. 11 - B Major
Prelude Op. 28, No. 21 in B-flat Major
Chopin Mazurka Op. 30, No. 2
Granados - May Song Op. 1, No. 3

A very tasteful selection of pieces to celebrate Fraddy's b'day. I'm sure he appreciates all three. I know I do. I have no constructive criticism. I just relaxed and enjoyed your beautiful playing. Isn't that what it's all about?

The Granados was very tranquil and serene to me. I've never played it, but would like to. I hope they put it up on the site with the music. I would download it immediately so I could enjoy playing it also. Then again, I could order the music. But sometimes it's more fun being a tight wad.

Tomorrow's March 1. Maybe there won't be that much cold weather. It's too hot here this week. Supposed to go up to 88 by Friday. I'm using my AC. Eat your heart out! LOL

The Granados is pleasant and interesting in that I would not have guessed he wrote it. Doesn't have his characteristic sound. Perhaps written while a student, or shortly thereafter?

The Chopin is lovely. I know you love the guy and it came across especially clearly in these. Very musical!

I enjoyed listening to all 4 pieces. Precise and clear playing as usual from you, and your tone is beautiful too, especially in the Granados. Also tasteful rubato here.

One little thing maybe, that the melody in the Prelude#11 could stand out a bit more in order to "sing" . No easy task to have 2 separate tone colors in the right hand, especially also that the rh ornaments are in background compared to the rh melody. You do a bit for that, but it could be more (only my opinion).

Overall, a really worthy birthday present to the master. Thanks for that!

Thank you, guys. John R. and Schmonz - I happened to have the Granados piece in a book with various composers. All I know is that the May Song is part of a group of pieces he wrote called, "Stories of Youth". I would like to get more Granados piano music to play. There seems to be many 'collections', but I'm not sure which one to try first.

Olaf - Yes, I should try to bring out the top melody more on the #11 Prelude. Thanks for the advice.

John R - We're having thunderstorms today (which I like) Maybe spring is on its way.

These sound really good, but I have not listened to all of it properly. Will comment more tomorrow.

Granados wrote a great deal of juvenilia which are always charming and tasteful though not characteristic of his mature style. Apart from these, there's a couple of cycles you could think of,
in order of advanced pianism:

Valses poeticos (nice, Schubert-like)
Cartas de Amor (ditto)
Escenas Poeticas & Libro the Horas (6 gorgeous short pieces)
6 Pieces on popular Spanish songs (a bit more advanced)
12 Spanish Dances (ditto)
Goyescas (if you want the very best Spanish music next to Iberia)

Thanks, Chris. Now I have somewhere to start. Sort of. It's a lot of music! I just listened to all of your Spanish dances recordings - very nice! (I'm a little late, but I didn't know you then )

That was really good, Monica! You sounded more relaxed than ever playing these pieces, esp the May Song. I loved it; and from the sound of it, you did too!

PS: I'm still alive and kicking, just very little time for forums as of late.

Pete

I've been wondering about you, Pete. Glad you are still around.
Thanks for listening!

A class job as usual. You get better all the time ! And not a wrong note to be heard. How do you do it ? The piano sounds great but I think you have your input volume set too high, there is some clipping in the forte passages.

I much enjoyed the Granados piece, which I did not know You play it really glowingly and should definitely do more Granados. Perhaps you should consider playing this entire set (Cuentos de juventud) as you don't hear it often and it seems to be better than I thought it would be.

The preludes are very nicely done. In the No.11 indeed the LH is too prominent but otherwise a strong performance of this ravishing prelude. In the nr.21 I find the phrasing a bit too short-winded, I think the lines should be longer. The LH could be a bit more smooth and flowing. Great passion in the forte middle section, well done.

The mazurka sounds altogether more relaxed and lyrical than my version. I badly need to re-record that... My ideal tempo lies somewhere in between my fast and your slow tempo. I am relieved you also have some wrong notes in that tricky 4-voice part, though not as obtrusively as mine And you really need to know the piece to even hear these.

I'll put all of these up the site asap. The Granados will go in the 'Misc' section as it so far is a one-off. Should you consider the whole set it could move to a separate page. Hurray for the Spaniards !

All these are up. Please check for errors.

I have it on 14 or 15. I'll check that next time.




I am definitely going to check out more Granados. Thanks again for all the info.





Yeah, it just figures - I played this for my teacher yesterday who said basically the same thing. He taught me a new way of playing this, thinking more about the beautiful, gentle RH melody over the LH, which can be smoother but with a hint of tumultuousness . So I have one week to work on it and I may re-record it if I am able to produce the right sound.


See? I do make mistakes.

Thank you for your input.

[quote="pianolady]See? I do make mistakes.[/quote]
Yeah but the kind that only I seem to hear. Those don't count

Maybe you have the right about that fast tempo. Play it fast enough and nobody catches the mistakes.

I usually have my input level at about 12 and that can still clip if you really bang it but one seldom do.

Ah, Granados makes me wish for May. We have still snow where I live but according to the weather news, it should rain the next coming days and perhaps after that, we can get spring. But where I live, there usually comes snow a couple of times in April and actually, when my daughter was born at the 9:th of May in 1999, it was snowing! But that is rare.

You play all the Chopin beautifully Monica. I know the preludes well even though there is a couple of years since I played them and these are really well executed. A bit different interpretated "than mainstream recordings" in some passages which it comes to dynamics and accents but I really like it as it seems like you have a clear musical understanding what you want to achieve.

Chris said, "not a wrong key" but I am pretty sure there I hear a tiny slip in the 21:th prelude at 1:21 but you hide it really well with the pedal .

The end of some of the "sketch alike" preludes are alwats a bit difficult, like Chopin not really had a clear program for it and they tend to fade away. But I do prefer these before overlong endings as he sometimes do in his larger works (nothing comparing to Liszt though who can go on in minutes before finding the correct chord ). On the other hand, it might be the case that it should not feel really finished but rather start of next prelude. I believe they are clearly connected and fits best executed as a chain where all the tension built up is neutralised with the last prelude's deep D, D, D.

The Mazurka is also really well played and quite exact as I want it to sound.

Overall, bravo Monica!