just watched the Ondine. Nice job. i still cant get this piece to work very well. i recorded it, but yours is miles better. gonna watch some of the other stuff too.
Actually I must say Ondine definitely wasn’t easy, but of everything I performed, I practiced it the least… for some reason I didn’t find it nearly as difficult to keep in shape.
Something about that movement feels more natural than Appassionata or Mendelssohn, as ironic as that might be (consdering Ravel’s unidiomatic writing as a pianist).
Now I finally get to give my hand a rest and go hardcore violin for a May concert (hopefully).
The link doesn’t work for me randomly, says it can’t find server.
I’ve read through some of Ravel’s work (concerto for left hand, gaspard,…) and I’ve performed Jeux d’eau, and I must say it’s some of the most pianistic writing I’ve ever played. It all just feels SO good under your fingers, all you really need a loose and relaxed wrist. Not that that’s all there’s to it, but actually playing Jeux d’eau must’ve been the “easiest” work on my program. It just feels so good and there’s nothing about it that was “oh shit, now it’s the hard part”. It all feels ‘safe’.
Reading and learning Ravel is something else though
Gaspard is well beyond me at this stage but having listened to it a million times following along with the score, ondine seems really hard, because you have to have absolute control over sound/colour. Or maybe I’ve been listening to Michelangeli too much.
Well, I haven’t looked through any other Ravel - this was my first
I just know that Scarbo and IMO Le Gibet was some of the most unidiomatic writing I’ve encountered; awkward chords, bizarre 5-1 crossovers etc - not to mention everyone complains about the beginning of Ondine, which varies so much depending on piano.
I’ll have to tackle something else - maybe Tombeau or Miroirs
What you say about the wrist is so true; I finally conquered that problem of the wrist/stiffness through my shoulders, and that happens to be around the time Scarbo started to feel much better.