Week Two: Rachmaninoff's "Strawberry on the Keyboard"
Hello and welcome to the WEEK TWO Main Thread for this challenge! 
Alright everyone - this is the thread where we'll all be posting our daily updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Twice a week between March 20 - March 27 I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Here is this week's assignment!
One of Rachmaninoff's famous statements about piano playing is that
"One must imagine a ripe strawberry sitting on the key - and you have to push through it!"
in order to create that rich sound so necessary for his music!
What does this mean?
In order to push through the strawberry, you must have a firm yet relaxed finger, but also feeling the depth of the key (not playing too "shallow"). The most important aspect however is that the speed of attack will be consistent, yet perhaps a LITTLE slower than you might normally use. This is one of the secrets to creating a round, warm sound.
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This is the first couple pages of the Prelude op. 32 no.5 that have been working on.
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Ching Lee Goh Thank you Ching Lee!
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Alice Lin Sounds beautiful and dreamy, great playing Alice!
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Juan Thanks Juan Carlos!
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What a dreamy feeling with lovely balance and breath! Can't wait to hear all of it!
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Here is my week 2 update- the whole piece but recorded in sections. Muddled my way through it. I had to memorize most of it as there is a lot going on so very hesitant still in parts. Hopefully I can have a smoother recording by the end of week 3. Definitely a workout for my brain
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Vidhya Bashyam love the dreamy feel of this!
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Natalie Peh Thanks! Can鈥檛 wait to hear your beautiful Melodie :)
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Vidhya Bashyam You have progressed far! I haven鈥檛 been able to spend much time on his Liebeslied. It will take me a longer time to re-orientate around the swing and jazzy harmonics. I am at the moment working on reviving a prelude from Op 32.
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Ching Lee Goh I can't wait to see your video, Ching Lee!
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Ching Lee Goh Thanks. You are reviving 32/12 right? It鈥檚 on my list to revive too :) Would love to hear your version.
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Vidhya Bashyam Yes, here is a snippet as I messed up towards the end鈥y problem is maintaining clarity and control. Hope to post a complete one in a few days.
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Ching Lee Goh Sounds great! Reminds me how much I love this piece.
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Vidhya Bashyam such great progress in just a couple weeks on a complex piece. I agree with the brain workout with Rach- even in the simpler sounding pieces more things get uncovered as you keep working on it.
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Ching Lee Goh I love this one too! I also hope you post a video of the whole thing at the end.
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Vidhya Bashyam Sounds very beautiful, evocative, you quickly create a gorgeous atmosphere.
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Ching Lee Goh Great playing, can't wait to see the complete version!
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One of the first things I noticed about the piece I am trying to learn (Melodie, Op 3 no 3) is the long phrasing, which must be even more challenging if it were a vocal piece!
As it turned out, Rachmaninoff did compose a vocal piece, not sung with voice nor with words. The cello sings beautifully in this version of Vocalise, Op 34 no 14.
Enjoy!
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Natalie Peh I absolutely love this piece.. It鈥檚 so haunting. There are so many beautiful versions on YouTube (vocal, cello and piano solo). The piano solo transcription by Zoltan Kocsis has been on my to learn list for a long time. Thanks for sharing this lovely version! Here is a vocal version too:
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Vidhya Bashyam wow.... this gave me goosebumps! Beautiful!
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Natalie Peh This is one of my VERY favorite pieces in the whole wide world. It inspired me to learn cello in the first place! (Although, I'm dropping the cello now...no time to do TWO instruments, LOL).
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Gail Starr Then you should do the Vocalise piano transcription then sometime (Yuja and many others play the Kocsis version). Of course not as beautiful as cello but still great.
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Vidhya Bashyam You are brilliant! I had totally forgotten about that version. How do you know so much???
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Gail Starr I listened to pretty much all of the Rach pieces at one point to see if there was anything even remotely possible for me to play and found a few :) I have the sheet music if you decide to learn it sometime.
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Vidhya Bashyam You are WAY ahead of me! I am just getting to know basic Romantic repertoire because until Tonebase, my music hobby was only playing chamber music. I have GIANT gaps in my knowledge, LOL.
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But, I'm pretty sure I have read through every single Classical & Romantic Trio, Quartet and Quintet! And performed a bunch of them, too.
