Dropped with a bang!

The guitarist is John Williams and the transciption is possibly by Tarrega, tough I cannot swear to it. Albeniz used to say he liked Tarrega's trancriptions better than his own originals for the piano.

Oh, is that passion It could be me but I think this is just sickly sentimental, and would not be surprised if Albeniz' remark was tongue-in-cheek. Or maybe he meant it, being such a generous nature.

It's time that someone takes up Godowsky's cheeky elaboration of this Tango. I've thought about it but never got serious.

And yet it was the guitar that introduced me to Albéniz. Up to this day I am to hear the Leyenda played on a piano!

Very nice! I prefer the first one which sounds more natural, to me at least. The second one appears to have some odd echo effects in the first half.

Hi Everyone!

I think I was most inspired by this lovely rendition by Alicia de Larrocha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU2kPTgJGeM (can I embed this video using the code feature?)

She does a little octave doubling in bass, but otherwise plays it in a pretty straight forward manner.

I was busy with lessons and kids yesterday, so didn't get a lot of time to hop in and participate yesterday.
I want to answer your posts, so here goes, all in one reply ~



Thank you so much! I am glad you like it.



Well . . . it *was* Valentine's Day, ha-ha! Seriously, I agree with you here. Plus, there just isn't that much to work with in this little piece. I think it is expressive, but like you said, in an understated sort of way. I didn't want to overdo the rubato, either. Already felt like I was pushing it a little, but it always seems like more inside my head than what comes out of the piano. I must work harder at listening while I play!:)



Thanks for your comments, Richard! I love it when my kids make up duets along with me, usually right around the octave I need to play next, so it ends up being rather comical. Wow, the guitar performance is quite different from mine! Somehow I think that style works better on the guitar than piano. It's nice, but I think it would feel too plodding on this big instrument. If only I could do the vibrato . . . Thank you for sharing the guitar recording. I do like it, and it's good to have for comparison. So much of the Spanish piano repertoire seems to be influenced by the guitar repertoire.



Thank you, Eddy! You know, I think I must have old-audio ears. I listened to a lot of vinyl up until graduate school, and still have a bunch of LPs.



David ~ Thanks for listening. I am inclined to agree with you on this. Maybe I could find some middle-ground with the reverb. I am still new to using the editing software, so surely I can make an adjustment, but maybe on a future piece. I still think my mic placement has something to do with the dryness of sound. Hmmm.

Felipe ~ This is my first foray into the music of Albeniz. Really enjoying it! Thanks for your comments.

Monica ~ I'd like to keep the first version for the site. Thanks for your time and comments! I appreciate it. Hope you are enjoying your new job! That would be a huge change for me. I'm used to the 3:30-8:00pm routine, LOL.

~Adrienne

edit: just cleaning up some formatting

I have a student learning that for a competition . . . on piano! Guitar styles have been represented in keyboard works forever -- I love to find examples in the music of Bach and Scarlatti. I get really excited about it, and my students look at me like I have three eyeballs, ha-ha!

Thanks, Andrew. I agree with you about the echoes. It just sounds manufactured to me (as it is!) -- I'll need more time to learn how to edit for reverb.

Maybe it might be an idea to post a 4-hand version and see what happens!

Richard ~ Ha! That would not be so good . . .

You might be interested in hearing this transcription. I think it's superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MajxyjWrlPM

Ok, first version is up. Regarding my job - it is a huge change for me too

I got a terrible shock at the end of that recording. Not through any fault of yours, Adrienne, except that your name happens to sort right before Aerosmith in my computer's music collection. I was not expecting a sudden blast of hard rock after such a nice piano piece.

Good playing, there. Albeniz isn't a composer I'm very familiar with, but I have had an idea I ought to learn more about him. If you'll allow an uninformed opinion, I tend to agree with Chris. It doesn't strike me as a piece that wants a lot of blood and thunder or sentimentality. I thought your approach was very tasteful.

Hi Adrienne,
Very nice rendition indeed ! I find much emotion in your tango, but hidden behind nobility and a very iberian pride, which is I think the good attitude with this music. As for the sound, I took the original version and made a very slight mastering, with more loud range and a very discrete reverb. What do you think of it ? I won't be upset if you stick to yours (among the two first, I prefer the one without reverb)...
Looking forward to listening more Albeniz by you ! Regards,

Hello François! Thank you very much for the remastered version. I definitely like it better than the second version I posted with the reverb. I think I'll just keep the original version on the site, though. Think there is something about the dynamics and the mic setup that is creating too much echo effect in the louder middle section when reverb is added, and the dampers seem to thunk a bit -- maybe my piano is especially noisy, ha-ha! Not sure if these things are avoidable/fixable in edit (I know next to nothing about editing music files).

Just started playing these pieces from España a few weeks ago. I really enjoy them, and would like to record the rest of the suite. Hope to get back to that here very shortly!