Live recital recording 02-20-07

Bach English Suite No. 2 in A minor BWV807

Joshua Hillmann, piano

Bosendorfer 290 piano

I. Prelude
II. Allemande
III. Courante
IV. Sarabande
V. Bourree I & II
VI. Gigue

Another very good recording from you. Was it a bit too romanticized? Not for me. I'm definitely not an expert on Bach, but for me your interpretation was very effective. I enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for sharing it with me.

I basically sumed up everything in the Beethoven 32 var. post. But it never hurts to say it again: "bravo!" You are talented and the piano sounds great. I am looked foward to hearing more from you. Regards.

Finally, someone recorded something from the english suite. Something I started but never finished 2 years ago. Thank you!

I agree with previous posters and it is very good and your technique must be really something as well as your memory. How do you memorize? I do not hear a single hesitation.

The only thing I would recommend is to hold back a little and not make the implementation as "pianistic". And what I mean by that is that it is not the instrument that should do the job, it is the music so hold back the instrumental effects a bit and make sure you make room for all melody lines. A little more detached playing would probably do it.

But this is a matter of taste and if you do not agree, just ignore my ideas .

The recordings are up on the site!

Memory is always slow for me for some reason... though once it's finally memorized, it's solid.

Yeah, I have a tendancy to try and work the piano too much, instead of letting the piano do the work, that's something I'm working on. It probably would be clearer had I been able to close mic the piano, but wasn't able to do that, so there's a lot of ambiance in the recording. Over the course of about 4-5 months I was experimenting with different ways of playing and performing this set. First I was using a VERY detached touch for clarity, but then decided against it and went for a an almost legato touch on most of the 16th notes. Still trying to be clean and clear, of course..

I don't think it's too romanticised overall. If I could do it again, I would make the Allemande a bit faster, but most of it I was very happy with -- except that darned ending! Oh well...

Thanks so much for your comments!

PEACE!
Josh