PDS' YT Channel

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

YT Time, y'all! Channel is here.

New Video: Schumann, Album Leaf Op. 99 #4

(These will be turning into proper videos soon)
Chopin- Etude, Op. 10 #9: MP3

Schumann- Album Leaf, Op. 99 #4: MP3

Ravel- Prelude (1903): MP3


Sooo yee. Let me know what you guys think!

[daj]

Ahh, Classical recordings! <3

Get ready for lots of comments and reviews haha (if you don't mind) ^^


I spent a bit of mobile data listening to your Chopin Op. 10/9, haha. It's the only piece I can properly judge without reference.

Mm, it's pretty good overall! Your octave legato is effective, the merging of the left hand and right hand parts is excellent, and you have good musical shaping! I like. Maybe a tiny bit of work is needed in the climax to smoothen that part up (you know what i mean). But once that's through we have a good recording ^^

I think the one thing that bothers me a lot about it is the dynamic contrast. Yes, you do observe your f/pp switches, but only your right hand does it . It's a problem I faced too haha, and you must have gotten some feelings of awkwardness when you heard those parts in the playback . It's a tough obstacle to work through because the left hand passages are tough to control, but it's possible! ^^

All the best for your future recordings; looking forward to seeing more

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Many thanks! I actually didn't touch this for about 6 weeks or so, and brought it back for an audition recording.
Definitely agree with your comments, and I appreciate you using your data to listen!
Now it's a YT video

[AwesomeYears]

Looking at your other videos, I'm actually currently playing Mazurka in G Minor ! Your other songs are nicely played, I'm not much of a critic but good job!

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Oh God, that mazurka recording was terrible...
Maybe I'll re-record that soon. lol.

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

New recording: Ravel, Pavane for a Dead Princess.

[daj]

New recording: Ravel, Pavane for a Dead Princess.

Died somewhere at the sight of that name. It's the first piece I gave up due to "physical limitations", haha! xD (my hands naturally can only stretch 9ths, so yeah go small hands :p)

You've executed it pretty well (ending aside, and you know it hehe), you've observed the contrasts and balanced your layers with care, and it generally sounds good! ^^ Extra kudos to the first A return, because that was sensitive and gentle, exactly as Ravel wrote it. Pulling that off while maniacally reaching for 10ths in both hands is...really tough. So well done on that!

The A sections in general were superbly done. I heard some discrepancies in the layers but y'know, being human is a thing and it could be your mic'ing. I stand by the belief that you worked hard enough on the layering to get it right.

The one thing I don't really agree with is your interpretation of the loud chorale part at the end of each A section (and the B sections). The first one was a liiiittle harsh but that's okay. Then at the second return I realised what the irky bit was - you were tailing off the phrase leading in to the chorale. In most recordings the phrase kinda-continues, with a tiny little break between the perfect cadence in the soprano and the beginning of the chorale part.

In fact, I just thought of a cool way to illustrate this, hehe. ^^ Imagine the main part is being sung by a very sad soprano (we knew that) and the chorale is sung by a chorus of equally sad people. In which case we have an antiphonal (i.e. call and response) thingy going on. Imagine this:

A section, ending:
Soprano: "...ohhh, and she is dead -" (E; D-G-F#-E)
Chorus: "WHY IS SHE DEEAAADDDD? OHHHH WHY OH OHHH WHYYYY" (i think i matched the rhythm?)

B section, 1st time:
Soprano: "...screewww it, just screw it -" (A-B; A-B-C#)
Chorus: "SCREEEWWW IT; MOVE ON WITH LIIIFFEE NOW..." (also imagine the operatic "sc" sound)

...yeaaaah. Extreme example, hope it illustrates something.

So with this idea (antiphony) in mind, maybe you could re-consider how you end those phrases if you ever do another recording! ^^

Hope that helps a little! Great work once again, hoping to see more~

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Not a youtube video, and really just me promoting myself but still, I did some recordings for my college auditions. Hope you all enjoy!


https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkz2vihnu4h28n1/body%20and%20soul%2Charrison.wav?dl=0