I have recorded a second performance of the Impromptu op. 90, no. 2, Es-Dur, by Franz Schubert. I play it by heart and the A-section is quite decent now. This will not be my last version, so I don´t mind, if our site-admins do not upload it on the main-page (but you may do it, if you prefer it to my 1st version, so I also offer you the mp3-file below). I personally am not satisfied with two or three slips in the B-part and the run in the reprise in the bars 232-237 is a little bit too fast, so I will re-record it one nice day (sooner or later). The piece is recorded in just one take, so I couldn´t edit the places I mentioned above.

Here is the video-link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdNm11YiWE

The mp3-file below is exactly the sound-track of the video above.



Inspirations and remarks are very appreciated.

David, I like this version much better! It sounds much more coherent and less breathless. Your playing of the A material at the return (after the B section) was REALLY well played (especially before it repeats)! You play the B section with a curious bit of Vienese Waltz rhytmic jilt to it. Any comment on that? I wish you could hit that penultimate chord without a hesitation but I know its difficult. (Also, I could have sworn you are playing Gb major chords as intro into the B section instead of my recommended F# major chords ).

Eddy, you mean "Andreas", don't you?
Andreas, I didn't listen to your previous version, so I cannot compare. Anyway as Eddy noted, the A section at the repeat is much better than at the first time, where I think more evenness and avoiding unnecessary accents are required (but at the same time I bet you'll say the accents are your artistic choice ). I hear that you scarcely use the pedal. It shows how good you can play without pedal, but I think this piece would profit much from appropriate uses of pedal.
BTW how was your trip to Leipzig? Show us some photos of the Thomas Kirche!!!

musical_md wrote:


Oh, thank you, I feel honoured, since David is an excellent artist on this page and his opinion means much to me.



Hm, I like my A-part before the repeat more, because I think, the bars 64-68 compared with the parallel place in the reprise are more decently played. Despite of that, I don´t notice too much differences between the first and the second A-section. But I will reconsider that.



Yes, for me the B-section has a bit of the character of a dance. Of course, not of a real dance (just the origin lies there in a dance), but something like a "dance of life", which expresses all the Schubertian suffering, resignation and the (hopeless) eruptive attempts to fight against the destiny.



Yes, really, I always beat on some wrong notes, if I want to come in very sudden in that penultimate chord. But, I think, a little hesitation so shortly before the end is also a good marking of end.



Especially since there are so different keys to play comparing a Gb major chord and a f-sharp-major chord.

Thank you for your comment.

hyenal wrote:
.

Please, read my lines above I wrote to musical_md concerning that. Accents? I don´t really play accents, which are not in the score, I think. Which do you mean exactly? And yes, the little rubati I do here and there are absolutely part of my artistic concept and they are adequate in a romantic piece like that, which is not an etude in the sense of Czernys finger exercises!


This time I simply wanted to have a clearer version and I like it like it is. And btw, I do use pedal here and there, which can be considered as an appropriate use of pedal.



You can have a look at my thread in the General Forum, if you like. I couldn´t make fotos, because I have filmed all the time, so I will have to wait for the fotos my pupils made. I think, I will post some as soon as I have some.

Now wait a minute! Please don't start denegrating Czerny . I love his stuff! Have you not played from "The Art of Finger Dexterity" or his "School of Legato and Staccato"? Heck, even many of his "School of Velocity". I love Czerny ... but then I just love practicing mecahnics too (though I don't have time for it now). Czerny studies can be very fun and satisfying and should be approached with all the artistry that someone can bring to them.

Oops! Ok "musicusblau", give me a break. Why don't you put a name in your signature block? I'm new here and have trouble trying to figure out who all the user names are. Is there some need for anonymity? Everyone should use their name in their posts. just my opinion

The dance of the Impromptus. I am working on my version too. Can you wait 10 years or so?

I shall give an ear to it in the morning and try to say something intelligent.

Thanks for the help. Now if someone could tell me Andreas' last name, and then if I write it down somewhere, and ... or well. It was the thought that counts.

I think that is a good point. Nicknames are confusing especially if we then use the real names to address each other.

musicusblau - Andreas Pfaul
And
david - David April
techneut - Chris Breemer
pianolady - Monica Alianello
and so on...

Now now now! This is an improvement! You take section A slower and this makes it much more fluent and allows much more nuance. You certainly allow yourself some liberty with section B and I like your dinamic range.

musical_md wrote:


I respect and accept this your attitude, of course, and I´m far from denegrating Czerny, since I have practised many of his etudes, when I was younger (with all my artistry I could bring to them then ). But let me say, I see a little difference of expression comparing a Chopin-etude with a Czerny-etude f.ex.

musical_md wrote:


What, didn´t you know, that we pianists are the most searched people by the FBI?! So, I better don´t tell you, Eddy M. del Rio, that my name is Andreas Pfaul, isn´t it?

richard66 wrote:


Thanks so much for that encouraging comment!