<p>Hi guys, I’ve uploaded a few recordings of piano playing at my website - <a href=“http://www.freewebs.com/wmgan/music.htm[/url]”>http://www.freewebs.com/wmgan/music.htm</a> - do listen to them when you have the time - I would appreciate comments. I know that I have a tendency to rush, especially in baroque and classical works, which is I think one of my biggest problems.</p>
<p>By the way - and unfortunately - this AREN’T the recordings I sent to Yale… I didn’t have time to do a proper recording before the EA deadline so I sent in a unprofessionally recorded live performance with a high degree of background noise. I think if I’m deferred, I’m going to send my new recording to them, just in case it may help - though I suppose they wouldn’t listen to it…</p>
<p>I haven’t listened to all of them yet-- the Scriabin seems to be a bad link, it takes me to a “this page cannot be found” message. In general, very nice playing. Your technique is impressive, and you do a good job of illuminating lines among running notes. Your phrasing is well thought out, and your articulation exceptionally piquant. That said, I do think your dynamic range could afford to be broader, and I would like to hear a broader conception of line in the Bach fugue especially. All the phrases are equally important in this recording-- the structure of the piece is not apparent. In the Mozart, this problem is less pronounced. You avoid the pitfalls of excessive romanticization rather well. Also, sometimes the articulation becomes mannered, to my ear. You could afford to relax some note endings, and give a little less attention to the accompanimental figures. They become distracting; you might pay more attention to how to support the melody, and less to creating an appealing effect with the accompaniment alone. In general, if you can keep your exceptional articulation while giving more thought to melody, you’ll have something really unusual. Congratulations on your great work, and good luck in your auditions.
I hope they’re understanding about recording quality. I recorded myself on minidisk, but my teacher didn’t have the right equipment to transfer it directly to CD, so she had to take it through tape and then back to minidisk, which meant about a 50% loss of sound quality…</p>
<p>Thanks, fiddlefrog. I’m glad you said I avoided excessive romanticism, because I did think my baroque and classical playing was somewhat romantic and I was hoping I didn’t overdo it. Thanks for your comments! I’ll work on emphasizing the melody over the accompaniment more.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why there’s a problem with the Scriabin - I’ll try to upload it again when I have the time. I actually have two other recordings - Rachmaninoff’s Polka and Prokofiev’s 3rd Sonata - but I had trouble uploading it. Sigh, both the computer and the Internet connection in my hostel su**s, to say the least!</p>
<p>Did you upload any of your recordings on the Internet? I’d love to hear you. Who knows, we may both end up at Yale or Bard or Peabody (are you applying to Oberlin?) and get to play chamber music together. =)</p>
<p>I haven’t yet done any uploading-- I’m not that technologically literate. I’ll probably try to once I’ve got some better quality recordings to post. No, I’m not applying to Oberlin. It looks awfully good on paper, and the Conservatory’s really nice, but I visited it, and the atmosphere really turned me off. Oh, well, there are lots of other good schools.
Did you look at Rice?</p>