Thank you, John. And I'm so glad to hear another person say that my sound is okay. Only took me about five years to figure out this stuff...

Monica,

The opening has really great articulation and a lot of spirit
The second piece is very well stated and
I would recommend playing the third piece more quietly.

The fourth has a lot of expression. I love the differentiation of musical ideas.
The fifth piece is very well articulated. I feel that the tempo will pick up with a little time.
The sixth piece I feel with a bit more time will have a bit more drive.

Thank you for sharing a performance full of new twists and turns for me.
You play this with original and subtle insights, your phrasing is absolutely spot on!

-Kaila

Pianolady wrote:


Well, that´s o.k., everyone has to decide that for oneself, of course. But I have studied music (and from this I can be called "professional" in some way, because I have my pianistic "State examination" after having studied for 10 semesters, though my profession is "music-teacher" at a high school and not giving concerts and living as a professional pianist, who has to earn his money with that) and I trust myself to know, where it could be adequate in a stylistic sense or not to do such things. Concerning that I have enough self-confidence and I think, it´s adequate.
I´m glad, by the way, not to have to earn my money as a pianist of profession by giving concerts and so on. It gives me more freedom to fulfill my own creative ideas of interpretation!

Yes, Andreas, everything you play is much more than adequate. I, however, have still so much to learn - I doubt I'll live a long enough time to learn and finish my current projects, though.

@Kaila - I should properly thank you for listening/commenting here, instead of my other thread. So thank you and if I ever play and record this set again, I will first drink much more coffee!

I have exactly the same feeling for myself, Monica!

I have finally given an ear to these and have found out we are old friends! I have known these ever since I was so tall or high or whatever, as my father owned (and hopefully still does) a recording of these, albeit for string orchestra. I recenly acquired a copy of this in the piano version and have actually stried to learn it.

Having downloaded it I notice it to be, at 4' something, 2' shorter than a string orchestra version I have, which is a lot. I want to listen to it again with the score, but I have noticed, as others have, the octaves in No 2, which are not written in my score. No. 3 I feel should be a shade slower, while No 4 I would have make it a bit quicker. Otherwise I wish I were able to play like this.

Thanks for listening/commenting, Richard. That's the way it was for me too - I didn't think I had ever played Bartok before, but then I learned that I had way back when I was 12 or 13 years old. Anyway, as far as the timing of each piece - I tried to follow Bartok's metronome markings. Regarding no. 2 - yes, I played octaves on the repeat. I took that from Bartok, himself! I think it's neat and adds a nice little change for the repeat. Wonder why he didn't just write that in the music....

I have tried the octaves on the repeat of No. 2 and it seemed familiar. It seems that the string version I mentioned ealier does the same. I wonder why Bartok did not write it out on the piano score. A late thought?

I have just checked the string version: the melody is repeated an octave higher, but is not doubled.

This is the third time I have heard this piece (piano solo). Nicely played, in my opinion, although it sounds a bit reserved to me. Particularly at about 3'2" until the end, I think you could have let it go a bit more. Very nice nevertheless.

I played this piece in a concert with a violinist several years ago. This makes me want to learn the original solo version now

Thank you for listening and commenting, Dave. And welcome back! This is a neat set of pieces, isn't it? I have never heard it with piano and violin before.

Here in Australia the violin version is on the syllabus as a grade 8 exam piece, and it's very popular. I must have played it with about twenty different violinists. Number 3 is entirely in stopped harmonics: it sounds very spooky!

Well, I really need to go find that version with violin on youtube or something and hear what it's like.

For me, number three is not spooky, but rather very, very seductive. So is no. 4. I love the harmonies!

Monica:

Here is a recording of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th dances with the violin. I cut the other dances out because I am not satisfied with how they came out. I think you will agree that the harmonics are spooky, or at least other-worldly.

Wow, Dave, that was very interesting! Thank you for letting me hear it. And ok I admit that the 3rd one sounds very spooky played on the violin. It would make a nice soundtrack if you are tip-toeing through an old house in the middle of the night - complete with creaky floors, a cat yowling nearby, cobwebs brushing across your cheek, a sense of feeling cold air, the fleeting dark shadow of a figure you think you just saw, something touched your shoulder, the hair on the back of your neck stands up....

Boo!