Scriabin Nocturne for LH alone, Op. 9, No. 2

andrew · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:07 pm

techneut wrote:

hyenal wrote:

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.....

When playing in public, take an incoming call on your mobile/cell phone from a carefully planted audience member, thus making it adequately clear to the audience (who may not have noticed it is l.h. only) that you are ONLY USING ONE HAND!

musicrecovery · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:38 am

Hi Eddy,

You did a fine interpretation of this piece. It seems to me, that the recapitulation demonstrates your ideal vision of how to present the soaring melodic line while keeping the inner notes at an appropriate degree of shading that makes them relevent and important but none the less secondary. The recapitulation sounds very secure and the impression that two hands are being used is absolutely stellar.

The middle part is climactic and dramatic. It works.

I feel the opening could be a bit more secure and the shading between the inner notes and the melody could be just a tad more pronounced.

Thank you for playing this wonderful piece in a bold and extroverted manner.

Kaila Rochelle

hyenal · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:45 am

andrew wrote:

techneut wrote:

hyenal wrote:

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.....

When playing in public, take an incoming call on your mobile/cell phone from a carefully planted audience member, thus making it adequately clear to the audience (who may not have noticed it is l.h. only) that you are ONLY USING ONE HAND!

I actually amused myself at the option "cheat" at most, so I find Andrew's option for public performances very proper :lol:

techneut · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:53 am

andrew wrote:

When playing in public, take an incoming call on your mobile/cell phone from a carefully planted audience member, thus making it adequately clear to the audience (who may not have noticed it is l.h. only) that you are ONLY USING ONE HAND!

That would be a gimmick worthy of Igudesman and Joo

It's probably done by someone before, or else it should.

But if the audience is so thick they have not noticed it before, they probably won't notice it after, and just be annoyed because they think you are leaving stuff out to take the call.

richard66 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:18 pm **Posts:** 921

Jokes apart, I did notice Berezovsky in one video keeping the extra hand on the piano top.

A good gimmick would be to play the 1st part of a concert with both hands and then, during the interval, to suffer an accident. An anouncer comes and says that the pianist has injured his right arm. Doctors have come and put a cast on, but mever mind, the concert will goi on, albeit with a slight change of programme...

Again, not joking, I remember my mother telling me she had gone to see Nicanor Zabaleta once and at one point there was a blackout. He did not even miss a beat, but went on playing as if nothing had happened.

hyenal · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:24 pm

Quote:

Jokes apart, I did notice Berezovsky in one video keeping the extra hand on the piano top.

I saw the same thing! He was playing a Godowsky's transcription of one of the Chopin etudes, right?

andrew · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:04 am

hyenal wrote:

Quote:

Jokes apart, I did notice Berezovsky in one video keeping the extra hand on the piano top.

I saw the same thing! He was playing a Godowsky's transcription of one of the Chopin etudes, right?

Yes, I've seen this too. I've been led to believe that you should keep the right hand stationary on your right leg, out of the way of the audience view of the left. I assume he's doing it to make it abundantly clear it's a one hand piece, but I'm sure it must obscure the view of the keyboard to some extent.

musical-md · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:27 am

andrew wrote:

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).

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for listening. Yes, there was a blip in the fioritura work. Interestingly, about your teacher's comment, I actually trained very specifically to do the opposite. That is, when playing with both hands at one extreme of the keyboard, I trained to turn my shoulders slightly in the opposite direction! You will note that when playing at an extreme side with both hands, it is the inner arm/hand that really has it difficult; rotating in the opposite direction (clockwise for bass work and conter-clockwise for treble work) actually eases the burden a bit on the "inner" arm.

Regarding the sound quality, I am approaching more of what I am after for the recording; once I get it "right" then I'll likely re-record my recent submissions with better executions.

BTW, that Thalberg was very nice!

musical-md · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:37 am

jlr43 wrote:

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 :shock:

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

Hi Joe,
Thanks for listening. I appreciate your overall approval and do admit that I need to continue to master the "faster runs and trills." The recording volume was too low because I dumbly lowered it: to about
-4.5dB. I won't do that again. Closing the lid on the piano has reduced the "metalic shine" in the sound that was objectionable to me. Beyond that, I don't wish to go much further because I actually prefer a piano with a brighter treble sound.
Thanks again.

musical-md · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:40 am

musicrecovery wrote:

Hi Eddy,

You did a fine interpretation of this piece. It seems to me, that the recapitulation demonstrates your ideal vision of how to present the soaring melodic line while keeping the inner notes at an appropriate degree of shading that makes them relevent and important but none the less secondary. The recapitulation sounds very secure and the impression that two hands are being used is absolutely stellar.

The middle part is climactic and dramatic. It works.

I feel the opening could be a bit more secure and the shading between the inner notes and the melody could be just a tad more pronounced.

Thank you for playing this wonderful piece in a bold and extroverted manner.

Kaila Rochelle

Hi Kaila!
Thanks for listening and commenting. In short, I appreciate your critique entirely. Thanks for the encouragement.
Eddy

musical-md · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:55 am

richard66 wrote:

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!

Hi Richard,
Thank you for your supportive words. If you've got any issue with your RH, this is the perfect time to take up this stuff! The associated Prelude (Op.9, No.1) is less demanding athletically but equally difficult for voicing. I highly recommend it. The score may be downloaded at http://imslp.org/wiki/Prelude_and_Nocturne_for_the_Left_Hand,_Op.9_(Scriabin,_Aleksandr).
When I was young (no point saying younger any more

) I trained with H. Berens Training for the Left Hand, Op. 89, a set of 46 Exercises and 25 Studies. There are some nice LH studies there. Check them out at http://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Pflege_der_linken_Hand,_Op.89_(Berens,_Hermann).

Eddy

musical-md · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:00 am

@ Jim and Hye-Jin: Thanks for your supportive words! I'm glad you liked it. You ought to try this piece sometime!
To settle the mystery,

while I played with my LH, I simultaneoulsy created a charcol drawing of my first born son with my RH! :wink:

richard66 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:18 pm **Posts:** 921

musical-md wrote:

@ Jim and Hye-Jin: Thanks for your supportive words! I'm glad you liked it. You ought to try this piece sometime!
To settle the mystery,

while I played with my LH, I simultaneoulsy created a charcol drawing of my first born son with my RH! :wink:

From life?

musical-md · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:04 am

Monica or Chris,
Attached is a file of my Scriabin Nocturne with the soft volume fixed. I would appreciate it if you would replace the first with this one. I can now hear it from my laptop speakers.

Thanks,
Eddy

Scriabin - Nocturne for LH Alone, Op. 9, No. 2 (5:32)

techneut · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:09 am

Done !

Scriabin Nocturne for LH alone, Op. 9, No. 2

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