I present the following for your consideration. Not perfect, but hopefully suitable. Comments welcome. I made a very big difference in the engineering, and I hope you will find the sound nicely improved from my recent Rachmaninov contributions.

Piano: Baldwin SF-10 (7') with lid entirely closed
Mics: Shure KSM-141, matched pair in cardiod setting, in A-B config 8' away on stereo bar
A-D converter: Degidesign MBox2
Recording SW: Pro Tools LE
EQ: Mild bump on bass and decrease on treble EQ
Reverb: Preset Small-Room setting

Oh, and the edition I'm playing from is Alfred Masterworks Edition, edited by Maurice Hinson


Scriabin - Nocturne for Left Hand Alone, Op.9, No.2

I should know this piece but shamefully don't. It's really quite beautiful and it seems to me you have played it well. The sound is good but I have a minor caveat i.e. that (a bit like Rachfan's piano) the bass is a lovely full rounded sound but the treble is a bit tinkly and thin. I notice it's also a Baldwin.

I did notice at 2.17 a slight loss of fluency in the upper passagework (I know from experience how hard these types of passage can be in l.h. only pieces, due to the awkwardness of the hand being where it's not supposed to be on the keyboard. My teacher said it is acceptable and beneficial when playing such pieces to have the piano stool slightly rotated clockwise to facilitate access).

I studied this piece when I had a RH thumb affliction last year or so. It's not terribly hard but the passage work is pretty devilish.
I'm no Scriabin expert but it is well played with nary a flaw I could detect. The sound is good but gets quite metallic in the forte passages, as if the strings are buzzing and mic is right on top of it. This is a bit of a drawback to an otherwise fine recording.

Hi Eddy,

I had a listen to your recording, nice work! At times I felt I wouldn't have thought it was for the left hand alone, so you have achieved a type of smoothness for this type of playing that works in your favor.

About what Andrew said that the bass is rounded but the treble tinkly and thin. I believe this is do to your EQ settings more than your actual piano, as you wrote in your technical information. I personally can't hear the buzzing strings, but i realize I was listening more for the music than the audio aspect of the recording.

Sounds nice,

~Riley

Hi Eddy,

I've listened to this etude for LH twice and am quite impressed by it. (Listened with my brand new Sony MDR-7506 Professional headphones that arrived just today.) I think you play it very convincingly. You have fine agility in the LH, phrase superbly as the music unfolds, bring in the drama with well controlled dynamics, and play the long line in this piece. It's a very beautiful composition. Excellent playing! I should have played this piece by now... but like everyone here, there is so much music I want to play!

I didn't happen to notice any strings buzzing. Because of its ubiquity, I think most pianists are steeped in the Steinway sound. For some, Baldwin might be more of an acquired taste. The Steinway sound is like a robust burgundy, while Baldwin's sound is more like a fine champagne. Both pianos are excellent, but quite different and each has their adherents.

David

Hey folks thanks for the replies thus far. Doesn't anybody think this file is to quiet? I'm listening to it now and can hardly hear it!. I will remaster the file without the decreased volume on the master that I added.

Hi Eddy,

I think you're right. Playing it as I listen here, my speaker volume knob is about at the 2 o'clock position. Usually the "just right" position is at high noon. So I overcompensated for the lower volume. I would increase amplitude somewhat without overdoing it. Once you do that, for future I would look at the input level on your recorder and reset it. It might take some trial and error to get that input level exactly right, but once you find the spot, you won't have to fiddle with it again. If you have peak LED bars on the recorder, that will simplify the task by keeping the bars within green, not red limits.

David

Hi Eddy

Not a piece I'm very familiar with (have never played it myself though I think I heard Sofronitsky (?) on it some time ago), but what a treasure! Scriabin always seems to present such incredible contrasts of passion and intimacy.

Overall, I think you play this very convincingly. It sounds more finished to my ears than the Rachmaninoff, and it certainly must be no mean feat with your left hand having to do all the work Some very well-thought-out dynamic contrasts and rubati. A few of the faster runs and trills perhaps sound slightly awkward to me, and the pedalling a bit lush, but I know how difficult that must be with the balance in only one hand. Also a few places where I could see what you trying to do rubatowise but it sounded slightly more like a rhythmic pause or hiccup to me, but that's all pretty minor and I know we have our different opinions about that. The overall effect was quite solid to my ears for what you were attempting to do.

I too found the recording too distant and had to turn the volume way up on the computer speakers and even my Mac itself (which I rarely need to do), and it was still pretty quiet. Could it be partly that you played with the lid entirely closed as you say in your opening statement?

Anyway I very much enjoyed this. Perhaps even more so with my late Friday night inebriation

Joe

Sounded lovely and nicely played, Eddy. It's on the site.

Monica, thank you for uploading to the web. I'm away right now for CME and visits with family in Florida. Right now am sitting on the beach at the Ritz in Key Biscayne with a nearly full moon shining on the water. Man this is hard!

You're welcome! Save me some margaritas; I'm going to be down in that area in a couple weeks.

Hello, Eddy,

I listened to this yesterday evening. It is a new piece to me, though you have been talking about it for some time. I for one think your microphone setup is much better. The piece sounds well-played to my ears.

I notice you have read my post about the editions. Good! If I had it I could have followed it...

A problem with a sore on my middle finger of the right hand (dermatitis) made briefly wonder if I should also take up this repertoire! But then I am also liable to these on my right hand...

Keep up the good work!

Very nice, Eddy. It is not a piece I'm familiar with, and if you hadn't said, I should not have realised it was played with the LH alone.

I do agree that the recording is a little bit on the quiet side. I usually just use the "normalise" effect in Audacity to bump the max level up to 0dB or a bit under.

Eddy, I didn't know this piece, either, and the listening to your performance was a true enjoyment. To me the sound is not so satisfying. Since you seem to have a good recording-set, you probably have to make further experiments
A question: What did your RH do during the recordng?

That raises food for an interesting new discussion. What can you do with the RH while playing a LH piece ?
Possible options:

- turn pages
- scratch head
- fiddle with the recorder knobs
- smoke a cigarette
- arouse yourself
- cheat
- conduct

The possibilities are endless.....