Week 4 – Play Through & Share

Peter Golemme OMG! Awesome (video transitions too!)

Vidhya Bashyam Thank you Vidhya. Yes Schumann's strategic use of dissonances really create an aura of complexity around what might otherwise be conventional arpeggiated chords. The balancing is an ongoing challenge, as you don't have a lot of time to linger on any of the melody notes due to having to pop right back onto the arpeggios.  Especially with the leaps. which add a high-wire-act level of tension that may enhance the emotional content of the music.  I'm really enjoying learning this piece.  Glad you like the production.  I obsess over the details of audio and video almost as much as I do the music!

Priya Viseskul  Thank you so much Priya, yes this piece is very direct and concentrated.  If it's giving you goosebumps then I'm encouraged that I'm succeeding in delivering what I'm hearing in the piece . 

To me the place where that effect is most prominent is the beginning of the B section (e.g. mm. 9-10), where he follows a half-diminished chord with an expecially dissonant  chord that I'm calling a diminished 13th.  for example in the first B section m. 10 it's a straight F chord, root position plus octave, played on top of a Gb octave in the Bass.  then he does the same thing in the next B section (mm24-25), transposed up a 4th -- a Bb Chord on top of a B naturalBass.

I call that first chord an A dimished 13th, and same with the second one -- I call it a D diminished 13th, i.e. specifically a D dim rather than some version of a B diminished or F diminished or Ab diminished. in each case because its characteristic sound seems to derive from the clash of the sixth degree of the scale (e.g. a Bb of the D dim scale), played aginst the 7th degree (e.g. the Cbb of the D dim scale).  I'm not sure that's correct textbook harmony nomenclature, but it helps me make sense of that combination of notes!

Juan Carlos Olite thanks Juan Carlos, that's high praise coming from you after that masterful Rachmaninoff display!

Kerstin thank you Kerstin, I feel the same about your performance of that very intricate excerpt from Chopin's Op. 61!

David H. A. Fitch Hey David, so glad you like it   and thanks for the comment on the video transitions too (I'm like the baseball pitcher who wants to hear feedback on his hitting!) --I'm new to all the video technology and still astonished at what you can do with these incredibly inexpensive programs!.  

Peter Golemme wow!, certainly tempestuous! That energy is captivating, right to the end.

Peter Golemme Now that was a truly romantic performance! I also love the camera edits. Fantastic!

Peter Golemme Wow, I’ve never played this piece before, but it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I found your recording and the scene transitions such a joy to watch 🙂