Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Recital recordings

At long last...
Thanks for your patience. The Odeo widgets should work for you now. If they still aren't, please comment again to let me know.

I finally listened to my recording of the recital. I used to listen right afterward, and always hated what I heard. Too many emotional overtones, I guess. I now let an adequate period of reflection pass before I listen, following the excellent advice of my last cello teacher (T2-). My far more generous assessments:

Chanson Triste


powered by ODEO

I am still amazed at how difficult it is to maintain character and intonation for the entirety of a note. I was really struggling with concentration during this piece, so was happy to finish without major snafus. I was also glad that my piano teacher had asked me to perform this for my piano class earlier in the day, because the harmony from the piano wasn't what I had imagined. It would have been really tough to hear that for the first time during the performance. There are the two shifty bars in the middle interlude that need more work. T- recommended a sequence of double extensions to avoid having to shift between every note. And I would like to polish the interpretation some more. It sounded too monochromatic to me.

Breval Sonata in C, Allegro


powered by ODEO

I thought this went very well until I completely murdered that triplet entrance near the end. I liked the character overall, but it could stand more exaggeration. I didn't notice too many technical details that need work, so feel free to point out anything I am deluding myself about.

Beethoven Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 1, 4th mvmt


powered by ODEO

Alas, the pre-performance run-through was better, but for being under performance pressure this was not bad. I'm very happy with the tempo, much faster than we believed we could achieve when we started. And it hung together well even through the technical bobbles, also far fewer than we anticipated. We'll be performing this again next week, the first time we've repeated a performance. It will be interesting to hear what two weeks of rest will do, as we've switched gears to start working on the Hummel.

And an aside regarding recording quality. This was recorded on a Sony minidisc recorder model NH1, using an inexpensive mono channel microphone, buried in a bag under a chair in the second row, below the level of the stage. Certainly adequate given those parameters, but I really should get a decent mic and set up to record more optimally.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those Odeo player widgets aren't working for me. Tried last night and again this morning. I want to hear!

cellodonna said...

It's not working for me either. (disappointed) I want to hear it too.

gottagopractice said...

Sorry, folks, and thanks for letting me know. I had problems with that widget last time, too. Just got home from orch rehearsal, so will get to troubleshooting as soon as I have has some sustenance.

Anonymous said...

clap! clap! clap! clap! clap!

Did you play cello in the piano trio or piano? What a fun piece.

I like all those pieces. Wish I'd been there. I'd be very pleased with myself if I played that well in a recital.

I'd never heard the piano part for the Breval sonata. It really goes nuts, doesn't it? I like it.

cellodonna said...

Bravo, GGP! Well done.

And very inspiring. Thanks for sharing. But oh dear ... my Breval doesn't sound like that... so, guess what? ... I GOTTAGOPRACTICE!

gottagopractice said...

Heaven forbid I should play the piano in public! That was an all-'cello recital for me, PFS.

Thank you, cellodonna, and glad I could be of assistance ~g~.