Scriabin Prelude Op. 11: No. 9 in E major
Scriabin Prelude Op. 11: No. 10 in C sharp minor
Scriabin Prelude Op. 22: No. 1 in G sharp minor

Craig Dukes(aka LVB1770)


Scriabin - Prelude Op.11 No.9 (1:42)
Scriabin - Prelude Op.11 No.10 (1:22)
Scriabin - Prelude Op.22 No.1 (1:30)

Hello Craig and welcome to Piano Society. I've just listened to your Scriabin recordings and think you play very nicely. We like to know a little something about people when they first come to us, so can you please tell us a little about yourself, and what kind of piano you play on, recording setup, and are the recordings recent, etc. One thing I noticed about your sound here - the piano sounds a bit in the distance, yet there is some clipping. Maybe because the files are 128 kbps? Not sure about that. You can go up to 192 kbps here on PS. And too bad you got that big 'twang' at the end of 22/1. I hate when that happens - which it does to me too, sometimes.

Craig,
Welcome to PS -- our home away from home.

Very good and enjoyable performances of these Scriabin preludes.

As far as the sound, the main thing that I noticed was that it seemed boomy in the bass. Since the bass is so present, that may account for some of the distance that Monica is noticing. I have had a similar problem with the piano that I have avaliable to me at my church. The treble is weak so I end up with too much bass. I haven't found a complete solution (I haven't tried equalizing yet). I've tried getting the mics (they are the built in ones on my Zoom H4) as far away from the bass as possible, pointing them away from the bass end, or getting them near the treble end while using the music desk to block out some bass.

Scott

Thanks Monica, I just subscribed to you on You Tube. You play very nicely as well.
Check out my You Tube site at: http://www.youtube.com/LVB1770

About me. I joined Piano Society some years back. See my profile at:
http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=599

I finished building my piano studio a while back. Check it out at:
http://lvb1770pianostudio.com/

I met Scriabin’s Great grandson (his Grand father was the great pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky)
on You Tube and took lessons with him but had to stop for transportation and financial reasons.
I also met Scriabin’s Grand daughter. One day I'd love to start lessons with him again.

I don’t like my old recordings on Piano Society and would like to do removed them if possible.
They were made on my old grand. I now have a Yamaha 6’1” C3 Conservatory grand. I use
Apple’s Final Cut Pro software with my iMac, a MOTU 2408 audio interface, 2 MXL condenser
microphones, 1 Audio Technica microphone under the sound board, a Behringer UB183FX-Pro
mixer and a pair of KRK Rokit 8 monitors. I sometimes use AKG K240df headphones to monitor
when I record. It helps me to monitor noise during recording.

The recordings are recent except for Op.11 No.10 which was recorded in November 2008. As for
the clipping, I don’t hear it on my end so it may be compression. I compressed the recordings at
160 kbps so I will try 192 Kbps for new posts. I will experiment with my mic placement to make it
sound less distant. The 'twang' at the end of Op.22 No.1 is a troublesome note none to the C3 model.
I’m always having my tuner voice it out but it always comes back. Thanks for your feedback Monica!

Thanks for replying Scott! I look forward to hearing your recordings. I’ll try moving the
mic under my soundboard and maybe changing my EQ to see if that help with the boomy bass.

Craig

Good performances. I like the Op.22 one best (but I did not know that one).
The Op.11 items, which I know well, seem a bit too heavy-handed to me, the main problem being balance. The LH is often far too prominent and the voicing not always right. I won't quibble over the sometimes idiosyncratic interpretation, complete with old-style left-before-right, seeing as you have like a direct line with Scriabin. I'm not a Scriabin expert and maybe this is how it should be played.
The sound is good but not as good as I would have expected from a studio recording. I heard some noise which sounded rather like heavy breathing.
Anyway these can surely be put up on the site. I will remove your old recordings if that is you want.

Ohhhh, sorry Craig. You know....a little birdie was telling me that I'd seen your name before, but it just didn't click. I remember your other photo was funny and made me laugh.

I have a Yamaha C2 and maybe that twangy string is common on Yamahas...I dunno. It doesn't happen all the time - of course when it does, it's when I'm recording.

I'll check out your youtube channel later - must get back to work now....

I have nothing to add to what has been said already. The best one, in my opinion, is op 11/4.

These are up. Please check if all is ok.

Chris, about your comment of one hand coming before the other in these preludes. You mention that maybe this is "original practice". I believe it is so. Some years ago some recordings were published of Brahms playing some of his music and this was one of the things the reviewer mentioned.

Unbeknownst to me, I have just come acroos your interpetation of Prelude op 16/4 on YouTube. Slow and good.