Some more re-recordings. The previous ones from 2009 were not really bad, but I felt Liadov deserved better - especially since Hye-Jin and David also discovered this endearing composer. Also, the new strings and new recorder do provide a much richer sound (as does the playing IMHO)

Liadov - Op.11 - Trois Morceaux - 1: Prelude in B minor (3:40)
Liadov - Op.11 - Trois Morceaux - 2: Mazurka (In Dorian Mode) (2:16)
Liadov - Op.11 - Trois Morceaux - 3: Mazurka in F-sharp minor (3:03)

Hi Chris,

I listened to the Prelude where I know it best. Very nice playing indeed. I agree with you that with the restringing of the Gaveau, this is a better sound than your earlier rendition. Super!

David

Thank you ! I would hope that not only the sound quality has vastly improved, but also the playing.
Too bad you don't like Mazurkas

Very nice to hear this music. Thanks!

Yes, Liadov's piano music certainly deserves to be heard.
It is puzzling why so few, if any, great pianists care about this music.

Good question. Maybe you should consider recording the complete works. You could be the first.

Hehe, that would be quite a task. It's about 400 pages of music. In these days of complete everything I would not even be sure I was the first.

Hi Chris,

Work has been very demanding, so it is great to have some time to listen again.

Morceaux No.1
Very beautiful tactic of having the last note of each melodic phrase hang over the left hand acoompaniment. This created quite an engaging interpretation. Gorgeous tapering off throughout the right hand decrescendo passage. Impressive sensitivity throughout. Very beautiful expression of the left hand repeated intervals, assertive and yet melodic. Bravissimo!

Morceaux No.2
This piece is very interesting and sounds folk like. The embellishments are nicely done, crisp and well mastered in the Mazurka style. Just a suggestion, perhaps a bit less pedal in the opening.

Morceaux No.3
The pedaling is well done, allowing the beautiful twists and turns throughout to be easily identified with the gorgeous interplay between melody and harmony ringing through.
Very story like playing. The fusion of styles, folk like and romantic are beautifully woven. Thanks for sharing.

Kaila

Wow thank you Kaila, some praise !
Either you are being too kind or I must be doing something right here. Some of both, probably.
I worked long and hard on these pieces and I think it shows.

I really enjoyed the prelude in B Minor.

But sorry to be picky but in general I think you could exploit a more soft sound.
Especially in the LH in the prelude. I feel you have mp - f dynamics down
but could use more exploration in the pp - mp areas. Anyway, this is
just my minor comments, I'm so privileged just to be able to hear so
many pieces. Thanks for all your hard work.

You're right. Playing gradations of p, pp and ppp is the hardest thing there is, and I'm not doing such a good job of it. Partly to blame on the piano having a ratner heavy and uneven action, and partly on the recording flattening out dynamics. This Prelude is extremely difficult in that respect, with the wide-spaced double-note LH accompaniment carrying more than 4 times the amount of notes as the RH.

well... and there's always the soft pedal. i just watched Horowitz from his famous return to Moscow

recital from 1986. he is NOT afraid to exploit that thing. he played the same E Major Scarlatti you played.

And he puts the soft pedal down for almost entire sections at a time. but his piano also had a special

action too and it was professionally recorded so what can ya do right?

I definitely do not like the sound of the soft pedal, at least on my grand, and avoid its use as much as possible.

Many (no one intended here) think there are only two positions for the una corda (soft) pedal: none and shifted all the way. This is not the case. The sound is modulated when the strings are struck by any other of those two extremes too. Often you can get interesting sounds by striking the string not with the valleys on the hammer (no pedal) but on the incline of the felt (slightest shift of the action), or on the crest of one of the shoulders on either side of each string. Repeated use of the soft pedal to it's extreme position begins to create a new valley there over time. One shold explore these nuances. I use this often to try and tone down the extreme brightness of my piano.

Edit: This of course only applies to grand pianos, not uprights.

Hi Eddy,

I completely agree with you. The soft pedal can indeed assist in achieving very quiet dynamics, but it can also serve to change the timbre of the sound. When the soft pedal totally shifts the hammers to the right, over time the strings, which have already grooved the hammers at rest position (when the soft pedal is not in use), will likewise groove the hammers while the soft pedal is in fully shifted position. So there can then be two sets of grooves on the hammer, whereby the soft pedal ultimately become ineffective in quieting volume or achieving a different timbre during full shifting of the mechanism. Many pianists have found that to be the case in concert halls, but with quick experimentation have found soft felt elsewhere on the hammers and used it to good effect by simply depressing the soft pedal to a lesser depth. It's just as easy to do this maneuver at home. Of course, at some point hammer voicing will be required to refurbish the striking surfaces. In the meantime, the hammer grooves can also be brushed with a brass brush to eliminate metalic residue from the strings, but that is a only a temporary remedial solution at best.

David