Recital recordings

At long last...
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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


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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


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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


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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.