Hello. I am new to this site (just discovered it today). I would like to upload three mp3's to see if they can be approved for posting on the site.

The files are:

-Prokofiev: Sonata no.6, 4th movement
-Lygeti: En Suspens (from etudes)
-Chopin: Ballade no.3

Please let me know if you need anything else from me, I'm not familiar with this system.

Kind regards,

Claudio Constantini
http://www.claudioconstantini.com

Hello Claudio and welcome to Piano Society. Before we go on, you will have to delete these files and resubmit them with a compression rate under 190kbps. Yours are 320kbps which make the files way too big for us. Also, since you have just stumbled upon us, I'd like to know if you are willing to visit the forum regularly and listen/comment on other members recordings, or comment in the other forums? We are trying to prevent people from wishing to become members of Piano Society in order to promote only their own recordings. One more thing - I am right now listening to your Chopin which sounds very nice, but when you resubmit it you need to cut off most of the applause and what-not at the end. There is about 45-seconds too much extra time.

Hi, and thanks for your reply! I dont have the slightest idea about compression so I'll have to look into it first and then resubmit the files. Thanks for the info.

As for your question regarding my willingness to actively participate in forums, I am willing to do so but in a limited amount, since I have very little free time. Unfortunately I cannot change this fact and I understand if it goes against your policy. Just please let me know if possible. If you can accept this then I'll work on getting my files right.

However, I think I must have understood this page wrong since I got the impression that it was meant to be a media for the promotion of the selected pianists. If its not the case, I apologize for my misunderstanding. Best wishes,

Claudio.

Finally got to listen to the Chopin (very busy day at work) and I LOVE IT! It was executed with great finess and attention to voicing. A superb rendition! I for one want it on our site. I'll listen to the Prokofiev next and expect to enjoy it equally. Thank you very much for posting.

I have to say that I don't entirely agree with this attitude. If Claudio is able to upload cool repertoire not already represented on this site, such as Ligeti studies, then I'm very happy for him to spend most of his time practising rather than visiting forums!

(The page at http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=2 specifically says that this site offers opportunites for people to promote themselves. Maybe that text needs to be updated, to avoid misunderstandings?)

Yes, I understand that we want to discourage people from just posting some recordings then disappearing. The sense of community here is nice, and it makes sense to support it. I for one enjoy the forum discussions a lot, and would like to see a larger number of people joining in. But there's some difference between discourage and prevent.

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I very much enjoyed the Ligeti. Rhythmically accurate with a nice subtle rubato, and beautiful tone quality. To be very fussy, I'd like to hear Ligeti's dynamic markings observed more carefully--he is so precise with what he asks for! In particular, the accents in the left hand need to be clearer. In bar 24 the left hand should be louder than the right, and from bar 27 to the end the two hands are practically equal: this is not romantic or impressionistic music, but Ligeti's own unique sonority.

But I know how difficult it is even to remember all those notes and rhythms. For a live performance, this is very impressive. Doing everything in the score is a near impossibility!

Do you plan to play any more of these studies? (I looked at the repertoire list on your web site and didn't see Ligeti mentioned at all.)

I'll listen to the Chopin and Prokofiev later when I have more time. Thanks for posting these recordings.

Your Prokofiev 6/iv is a totally credible performance. If I would have changed anything it would have been to do the Piu Tranquillo/dolcissimo, even more tranquill! I don't know the work personally but found your performance excellent. Thanks!

Hello, and thanks for the replies and comments about Chopin, Lygeti, and Prokofiev.

I have very few good recordings since I never plan to record my concerts, and I only get recordings when it's previously planned by the organization who hires me for concerts. So what I can offer in good quality are these:

Prokofiev Sonata no.6 (complete)
Debussy: D'un cahier de esquisses, La plus que lente, Etude pour les arpeges composees.
Lygeti Etude en Suspens (as already submitted)
Chopin Ballade no.3 (as already submitted)

However as I mentioned before I do not have time to actively participate in forums since I spend most of my time either working or travelling and when I'm home I try as much as possible to be with my family, therefore if this goes against the requirements of auditioning and being selected to appear as an artist in the website, I understand your decisions.

Concerning the comment from musical-md about Chopin, I'm very glad you liked it so much and thanks for the good comment. I was quite satisfied with it as well. About Prokofiev, I don't understand what you meant by credible performance (you mean it's believable? I'm not sure what that means). The Piu tranquillo is a change in mood rather than tempo, it means calmer (plus the dolcissimo in the leading voice), however it's different than the Andante which comes before at the middle of the movement. The chromatic movement of the diminished ninths in the left hand suggest a forward motion even if the mood is to be calmer than what precedes it (which by the way is a strong and very articulated part, so there must be some connection and balance when switching parts). This is of course only my (resumed) insight and yours is correct as well, it's just a matter of opinion and choice.

Concerning Lygeti and the comments from Hanysz, once again I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had to learn that piece very quickly since I was asked to play it (didn't choose it myself) and memorized it too quickly... perhaps too much so to pay attention to those details you mentioned. I won't be playing any more Lygeti soon because it doesn't fit in my schedule for the next 2 years of works I have to perform and learn. I do like his music very much though.

So, I hope to know soon if I can upload the music as an audition for your website.

Best wishes,

Claudio C.
http://www.claudioconstantini.com

Excellent playing ! I much liked the Ligeti and Prokofiev, though I don't know these pieces well enough to comment in detail. Maybe the Prokofiev could have been a bit more steely. The Chopin ballade is beautifully done with much nice details, though I find it a bit too soft-grained generally, not always reflecting Chopin's fiery temperament. Question of taste, surely.

Now this is a good occasion to revisit the discussion about the participation of professional pianists. We don't really try to 'prevent' them from joining, but rather try to coax them into participating in return for hosting their recordings. Obviously we like to have great recordings on the site, and don't begrudge any pianist a place here, but the aim is for PS to be a community of active pianists rather than a store of recordings. Well, both ideally

With only few exceptions, the situation with professional pianists is that they come in, submit some recordings from their own site or archive, we do the work to present them on the site, they thank us politely, and are never seen again. Sometimes they come back after a long time to submit some new recordings (but many don't) and go off again. Only very few of them ever bother to comment on other recordings and thus sharing some of their expertise. It's not really the situation we want, though we well understand that busy touring artists may have no time to visit a forum and listening to amateur performances.

Now, if a professional artist has his/her own website (and nearly all of them do) I am not quite sure why they also need a page with a handful of recordings on Piano Society. I think the remark in the guidelines about "promoting themselves" was meant to apply to pianists who are not already promoting themselves elsewhere. There must be tens of thousands of pro pianists out there, each having their own glitzy website, and we don't really fancy doing this work for all of them just to make their name a little bit more visible on the web. Even apart from the fact we don't have the resources for this (your friendly admins prefer practicing the piano too ).
Personally I tend to be disinclined to host pianists who have their own website with recordings.

I hope all this makes some sense. It's not an easy subject.

Hello Techneut,

I understand your point completely and I agree with it totally.

I will desist from future posts to this site.

I misunderstood the purpose and thought it was yet another useful tool for us concert artsist trying to make a name for ourselves in this highly competitive and rather cruel and solitary concert world, rather than an active discussion forum for professionals, amateurs and music lovers.

I think it is a great initiative but as you said yourself, many don't have the time to participate actively and it's not what I had in mind so I politely decline to participate further.

I hope I don't come off as an egocentric performer who only thinks of himself (that's not the case).

Best wishes to all,

Claudio Constantini
www.claudioconstantini.com

I'm glad you understand our point, Claudio, and that you are frank about your purpose. That makes you a honest performer rather than an egocentric one. Rest assured that nothing in my explanation is personal, it's just a policy that has evolved over the years. We wish you the best of luck in your career !

You are still welcome to post here of course, and submit recordings in Audition Room for feedback or enjoyment. It's just that we will not do anything with them, except delete them after a while (we can't keep everything forever).

I think it would be a shame if we couldn't host the Ligeti. It's not like we have multiple recordings of that piece already.

I fully agree. I'm sure someone here will some day try their hand at some of Ligeti's more accessible works like this. I've been toying with Arc-en-Ciel but got distracted. Meanwhile, there's lots of great Ligeti recordings to be found on YouTube.

Hello,
I have just one thing: great playing. Let's continue with your recordings!