Probably nobody will listen to these because they are repeats, also because it's a holiday weekend - I know for sure that one of my friends here is on his way to a vacation right now!...so...well...um...here they are anyway. (I'm not going anywhere )

Chopin - Mazurka Op.59 No.2 in A flat major

Mompou - Cancion y Danza No. 3

Mozart - Piano Sonata K.570 in B-flat Major, III: Allegretto

btw - this mazurka was the very first piece I recorded for PS about seven years ago. The recording was terrible - I thought Robert was going to ban me.

If you want a good laugh, you can watch some more dumb videos I just made for each of these three pieces. Took me all day of recording yesterday, and all day today trying to sync up the audio and video. I thought things were supposed to be getting easier, but they're not.

http://www.youtube.com/user/monicapiano ... Uk7AQC80b8

http://www.youtube.com/user/monicapiano ... T3_USMw2l8

http://www.youtube.com/user/monicapiano ... PTwoeK-2hw

Hi Monica,
I have listened to the Mozart and the Chopin. Both recordings are most beautiful and sound perfectly. I couldn´t discover one mistake or slip. They also are played musically. A little idea of improvement could be to make a bit more contrast between piano and forte at the beginning of the last part of the Allegretto by Mozart, but that´s minor in a recording of that high level.

Have a nice summertime!

Ha, they are "the" pieces! Welcome back to AR, Monica!
I watched all the three videos and thoroughly enjoyed them. Excellent, that you played so well from the memory. And you look like really enjoying the music and your playing itself. Great!
But I have noticed a couple of sorts of minimal break in the Mozart, which were probably caused by playing from the memory. Nevertheless, you had a really great improvement compared to your last recording of that Mozart. Congrats on this good job!

Hi Monica, I listened to the Chopin and thought your playing had a pleasantly lilting aspect to it. I'm not very familiar with Mompou, so thought I should listen to it also - charming music. Well done.

Hi Monica,

As you'd probably guess, I watched your video of the Mompou "Cancion y Danza". I very much enjoyed it. Here is a composer who lived in the age of "modern music", but stuck with a tonal approach. It's a very buoyant, pleasant and colorful piece but with some tricky passage work too from what I can observe. Although I'm not familiar with this piece, my impression is that you play it very effectively and with much expression.

P.S. I'm envious that you can memorize. That's impossible for me now. Worse yet, when I open up a score in progress, it's as if I'm seeing it for the first time.

David

Thank you, Andreas! Dynamics seem to always be something I can improve. I hope you have a nice summertime, as well.



haha - Thanks, Hye-Jin. I'm glad to be back! And yes - these are THE pieces. I wanted to record them while I could still play them from memory. Now that the competition is over, I know I'll start forgetting them shortly since I no longer have to play them one-hundred times a day!



Thank you, Andrew. You're right about Mompou's music being charming. Also interesting and quirky - I really love it. Except there are lots of stretches too wide for my small hands and so I have to improvise at times. Still fun music, though!



Thank you, David. Don't worry - it's hard for me to memorize too! These three pieces took a great deal of work in order to make them stick in my brain. And I'm right now trying to memorize Granados' Goyescas no. 2 - a piece I've been playing/working on for a long time, but it's taking forever to memorize. Not sure I ever will get it in there!


Ok, well, I'm so anxious to practice new music now. Thanks again everybody! btw - I didn't know that this quote function works this way. It's great - no more having to copy and paste things all the time...

Hi Monica, I've listened to the Mompou and the Chopin. I think you've done a great job, congratulations!

Best,
Alexandre

Hi Monica, all the pieces were well played with charm and musicality. I guess all good things come in threes as well?... It was a joy to listen and see you perform these three pieces. - I liked the Mampou, as I wasn't familiar with it.

Sounds like you were in a cheery mood?... You seem to have a lot of fun at the keyboard with the video running.... In that case, let's play then:

- The first video you have a pony tail - light, fun, festive. You look all of 25.... I heard that!... OK then, 27 max! But, that's my final offer!

- In the second video the hair comes down and the glasses are worn - watch out folks! With the 'professor in the house' look, I thought play time was all but over, until the smiling self econo-cooling gesture at the end. My suggestion would have been to wave onto the keyboard too, to cool down those smoking keys, especially after playing several pieces in a row! We don't want those white keys to turn black from overheating.

- I think the third video is a first time event - Wow! we finally get to see your right hemisphere! Equally impressive as the left. However, the big question now is, what happened to the person who spoke at the end, after the video was turned off?... For his sake, I hope he was close to the nearest exit.

Playtime on PS is over for now...

Thank you Alexandre and George.

@George - I like the way you play! And that was one of my sons. Both of them are home because it's summer and they are like elephants (and pigs). There's always noise going on in the house and you should see their bedrooms!