Week 4: Share It

Koshka Thank you! I enjoyed your prelude, and the cheeky black cat in your pocket. 

Mary Manuel I know, I know... Nothing is ever truly finished! But your performance of this piece, which I had never heard before, is gorgeous. It sounds absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!

Mary Manuel 

I’ve never heard this piece before. It has such a lovely, gentle sound, and you play it beautifully. Thanks for sharing!

Juan Carlos Olite Thanks for your kind words Juan Carlos!

Meiko Thanks for the encouragement Meiko!

Mary Manuel It's incredibly beautiful :) Such soothing and uplifting I feel listening to you. 

Mary Manuel SO fluid and lovely! Great playing. Those Earl Wild transcriptions are great, and I love some of those mid-20th century jazz chords he uses. 
What keyboard are you using and/or piano library sound/plug-in? It sounds quite nice. Thanks and look forward to more!

Mary Manuel it’s beautiful, wonderful playing.

Andrew Smith Thanks so much for your kind words Andrew! I am using an old Casio Privia PX-5S keyboard which has a fairly decent piano sound. However, lucky for me, my son is an audio engineer and he used the Abbey Rd plug in for the piano sound along with a jazz club room setting to get the final sound. Looking forward to hearing your performance today!

Juan Carlos Olite excellent playing! Seems like a very demanding piece, indeed!

Juan Carlos Olite 

Such a beautiful performance! Your deep, expressive sound really resonates with me.

Juan Carlos Olite Beautiful playing!!.. wow! must be nice to be able to play like this. :-) 

Juan Carlos Olite Great job, Juan Carlos! You got soo far in such a short time!! Can’t wait to hear you play the whole piece. 

Juan Carlos Olite Bravo!  Thank you for your "extraordinary decision" to tackle this.  It truly has made my day.  This is marvellous playing of a very difficult but profound piece of music.

Also, surely I am repeating myself but I have to say each time you play how I am in constant amazement at your ability to so quickly be able to play from memory.  Yes, I know you work very hard to get this result.  I just know that if I would work exactly as hard as you it would absolutely still take me maybe one-hundred times longer or more to play from memory?  This is a skill I am so focused on developing and improving in myself.  

As I watched this I realized how much playing by memory is an advantage as you can look and focus on what you are doing rather than looking at the score and playing mostly blind.

I can personally understand your love for this work.  This Chaconne is my triple double secret Unfinished Business goal that I didn't even dare mention when I made my list known earlier.  In my case, my goal for many years has been to conquer the Alexander Siloti Transcription (after Busoni's Transcription and the Bach-Society Edition) of this.  My motivation in doing so was simply because it might be marginally easier than the Busoni two-hand Transcription.

Either way - Brahms vs Siloti vs Busoni versions etc. the hair on the back of my neck and emotional response is the same as evidenced here by your playing.  My hats off to you for the intricate left hand articulation you pulled off - especially after the 4 minute mark to the end.

Juan Carlos Olite Wow, excellent work!

I had dreamed of playing the Chaconne on the violin but I didn’t quite make it to that level.

Do I dare try it for the left hand on the piano? What were the biggest challenges? 

Am I correct in concluding that you used no pedal? No pedal, no right hand, there is a lot to love, lol.

Garrick Ohlsson talked about playing musically with one hand, and you did, you did!

Can you share the music with me? 

Jarkko Janhunen Meiko Peter William Andrea Buckland Larry K 

Thank you so much for your kind words!!

Larry, I'm very happy to share the score with you and everyone. It's the Henle edition, and you'll see that there are several passages with pedal markings by Brahms himself.

The biggest challenge? Perhaps maintaining a flexible and relaxed hand throughout the long passage from bars 89 to 120. I'm trying to alternate between the fourth and fifth fingers in the bass to avoid excessive fatigue, and I think it works quite well (from bars 113 to 120).

In any case, for many reasons, I think this piece is definitely worth learning.

Juan Carlos Olite Thanks! 
 

I figured out that the Henle edition HN 1187 was the one to get so I put in an order. I feel I have to give Henle their due.

I’d be happy to learn a few sections of it. It certainly looks like a challenge. 

I will keep your advice in mind!

Juan Carlos Olite So beautifully played Juan Carlos! The memorization amazes me. Can't wait to hear the whole thing.

Juan Carlos Olite amazing performance Juan Carlos , I wasn’t aware that this Brahms piece existed.  And again I am so impressed with the memory work 

just superb, I loved watching this 👏

Juan Carlos Olite Wow! This is amazing. Your music touches deep in my soul. 

Juan Carlos Olite I so much love your flow and deeply natural, authentic narration of this music!!!!
Somehow, Chaconne in Busoni’s version has been excessively popular in concerts lately, at least where I live. I got so tired of the pressed drama so many put in it, that feared I will never be able even to listen to it anymore. Which was sad, because I have the Brahms score and was hoping to learn it some time, too. Now I listen to your playing on repeat and some magic healing takes place. Infinite thanks, dear Juan Carlos! 🌞💐💐