First Professional Recording!

[Jage Halperin]

I wrote this piece "Pastoral" for my father's birthday on April 17. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it so I posted my version on pianostreet.com, where it got a very nice response, especially by the pianist/teacher David Finney, who inquired about the sheet music. This morning he read through it for the first time, recording his initial impressions, sending me four takes and one fragment (his Zoom recording device's memory card was by then exhausted). These are just his initial run-through, but I'm very happy thus far!

 

http://www.box.net/shared/drh42gl7bt

[Jage Halperin]

The files...

[Doug Lauber]

Harmonically it's interesting and competent, but I felt like I wanted a little more rhythmic variety, rather than a constant plodding march. -not a drastic rhythmic change but some subtle variations. Also, I'd like a motif to latch onto. Maybe it's too even or too subtle for me, in general. I think it does have a lot of potential.

[Johan Halmén]

I think you've caught the idea of a pastoral very well. I wouldn't want any more rhythmic contrast to it. I followed the sheet music while listening to the complete mp3. Some bars I would perhaps write a bit different. It appeared to have some melodic lines that went across the staves from right hand to left hand. Such melody lines could be more visible in the notes. I'm not sure whether there were meant to be such voices, maybe the interpreter found them and emphasized them or maybe I imagined them.

Some passages sounded a bit thin, like I would want some other chord, or a more completed chord sequence. But then again it might lose its air of subtleness and "stilleben", the static pastoral scene.

Looking at the sheet music I imagined myself playing it on the piano. I'm very fond of Db major. And I'm also very fond of the magic in Cb major not being same as B major. I know there's no acoustic difference, but still, I hope you won't change the last part notation to B major.

I remember playing compositions in F# major and compositions in Gb major. And the whole tonal world was very different. I have two explanations to it. First of all, there might have been a consensus among composers about the difference between F# major and Gb major and hence they always picked the right key depending on the composition. This I know nothing about. Or the difference is all a trick that my own mind has made up.

[Jage Halperin]

Mr. Finney had the idea that it might sound better at a much faster clip than I originally wrote...this is what he sent me ths morning. What do you think?

[Doug Lauber]

Wow- what a difference a change in tempo can make. No comparison. Mr. Finney's new version rids the piece of a monotonous plodding feeling and makes it lighter, more airy. I like it a lot now. :)

[Mark Grand]

The faster tempo is a definite improvement.