TMonk

Really into this nocturne rn. Gives me the chills while listening in headphones at work

TMonk

if you get a spare moment, this is a fantastic performance of once of my favorite waltzes. The dynamics and expression are superb:

TMonk

Found the whole set. Never heard of this guy till now, but he kicks ass. The Scherzo is a knockout; his Kung-Fu is strong. The Berceuse is light, dreamy and just lovely.

Hermes

Continuing work on the Tempest sonata. Progress is about a page every lesson. One could ask and it is a legitimate question, why would I continue to take lessons? We use the first 45 minutes of an hour on the past material and I effectively get a grade. Yeah, nothing changes. Professors cannot help themselves. It is sort of a pass / fail meaning, let's not start any new material until I have learned the techniques in the previous material.

Then we look at new material. I may and should have previewed the new material. We go over the new material and it always has something interesting and tricky to do that is not obvious. For example, the next page moves to where Beethoven writes in 4 voices (two in each hand). That means each voice will get a different treatment. Fortunately, the notes in the right hand and left hand are the same but an octave apart. One voice has to shimmer somewhat muted while the other voice creates a more drama/ emotion. Together, they sound like two pianos / instruments versus one. Not so easy to do. And of course, this is where my Bach training is invaluable. Beethoven uses counterpoint quite often in his sonatas.

This is level one stuff in this sonata and is at best competence and far away from genius.

As my FTP and sprint power waxes and wains, my music theory, technique and knowledge grows with leaps and bounds. At least something is growing.

This video is for TMonk and maybe others. Barenboim hosts a masters class on the Tempest. The student plays and then Barenboim joins him for critique. The student is really good and Barenboim chops him up like so much sushi. Barenboim is the best on Beethoven.

TMonk

Very cool Hermes. The video drew me in right away with the clips from the Waldstein sonata early on. Also, I have seen many videos on Youtube of Barenboim playing music I love, so it is cool to see him in the video. There is a great video of him and Martha Argerich playing Schubert's Rondo in A Major - also an Argentine pianist. I will watch more of the video later.

Glad you are progressing with your music Hermes.

TMonk

Yes I'm Country, (And That's OK)

Doge

For your namesake...
See production link. The Electric Recording Company.

TMonk

Very cool audio tech and history for the audiophiles out there. A bit of that was lost on me, TBH, but I did enjoy the history.

The referenced "Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane" album is indeed a huge classic and heavy on my personal rotation. I probably listen to it monthly, I'd guess:

TMonk

Rehearsed with a vocalist last night, as we are going to perform a set at my drummer buddy's birthday part tomorrow. Straight ahead jazz and American songbook type stuff. Buddy wants me to bookend that with some solo jazzy/bossa/bluesy stuff. We wants some classical too, which doesn't really seem like party music to me, but w/e. Maybe I'll start with my limited repertoire of Chopin, Debussy and Satie.

TMonk

Fortunately for me Satie was quite minimal/modern in his style, so he's easy to play. Good for a novice level classical player like myself. I have accomplished Gymnopedie and Gnossienne no 1, and am now moving on to Gnossienne 4. I have it mostly "down pat" already, there's not much to it. It's highly modal (aren't they all), haunting, beautiful.

This pianist performs them slightly faster than most, but still has great feel. For those that care to continue listening, the next Gnossienne number 5 is quite lovely. Very enjoyable to listen to. But, not as easy to play:

Hermes

When it comes to classical, we are all Cat 4s at best. I like Satie a lot. I play Gnossienne no 1 as well as others. I learned it many years ago. Looking at it through a Bach lens (interesting idea), I now hear voices and the subtle distinctions possible in the music versus a melody and accompaniment. How could I make it more haunting? FWIW, my teacher always says that slow pieces that seem easy are the hardest to perform and get right. Why? The speed makes the artist more venerable to noticeable errors where as fast pieces with a lot going on hide errors and the audience rarely knows what is actually correct.

TMonk

Ha, cat 4 for me, maybe... But I would put you at cat 2 or higher Hermes!

On a similar note, it's funny how we tend to speed up on pieces that we are not comfortable or confident playing. I think this may be to hide errors, as you had mentioned. It takes some command and execution to play something without rushing.

mollusk

Last night I played the first half of Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything. Some really nice stuff on there and some insipid stuff. That's Todd.

TMonk

been on a hard Peter Tosh kick lately. Specifically the "Mama Africa" album. This track isn't form that album, but I love it! I like the bimodal rhythm/chord structure. It makes it dynamic.

mollusk

Listening to Lucinda Williams Car Wheels whist cooking dinner. Great song writer

Funny story. A guitar and bike friend of mine wanted to go to Tally from Gainesville to see her. My wife thought that she must be some young hottie. She went with us was was blown away. Turns out she is older than me.

Also love Courtney Barnett as a song writer.