Schumann - Sonata g minor op. 22 mvt 1 (2nd recording)

I think I should think bigger in this piece. I had some break from this before that recording, but I almost remembered the notes ;).

Mainly I should fix kind of mannier of accenting the first beat in bar. Work more on contrasts. And show more left hand, especially where there is some melody. And of course fix mistakes...

Chopin - Etude C major op. 10 no 1 (1st recording)

This was so bad... It was just my first try to play this piece in middle tempo with pedal, but it seems it was slow tempo ;).

From video I see I don't make many serious movements mistakes - especially the writst rotation seems to be quite relaxed. I don't feel any pain. Sometimes I do weird gesture when I start passage - I need to fix it. My main problem are middle notes in passages, sometimes I don't feel them.

I don't see a point in writing which passages exactly went wrong. Mainly these which are wide and this famous A-major. Before that recording the passage C Eb A Eb was the hardest one for me - I use fingering: 1245, but now it's not as hard as A-major.

So I recommend myself practicing more using chords, some rhythms. Practicing passages alone in faster tempo. I've to feel what notes are in the middle of them.

Chopin - Ballade f minor op. 52 (5th recording)

This wasn't so bad.

Overall it started to have some sense for me. There is sometimes a moment, when everything just "clicks" in a brain about certain piece. Of course there is a lot of work before me, practicing piece like this is like never ending story...

Overall I should avoid sameness, and fix the coda. And fixing a coda is probably a mental thing...
I should work more on the first theme motive - to avoid repeating it in the same way. And also those repeated notes - I've some ideas about them, but still I'm not sure.

Issues:

• don't rush in first small culmination, keep tension in bars 51-53
• fix the passage which goes upper in bar 74
• what happen with synchronization in bar 78
• why I can just play right notes in the second theme, especially in bars 88-90 and 96-100
• start the descending passage in right way in bar 101
• listen to left hand in bars 108-110
• don't ruch descending passage - even slow down a bit in bar119
• listen more to left hand in bars 125-128 - this "trill" comes from the main theme.
•  more smorzando in bars 133-134 - feel it
• listen more to "A" in bar 134 - start the b flat softer
• be sure of notes in the whole "fughato" section in bars 135-144
• don't be too indifferent in bars 145-151
• more melodically sixteens (in middle of passages especially) in whole section in bars 152-168
• listen to sounding of chords in bars 173-174
• have more time to finish that phrase in bar 176
• remove manierism - some show differences in bars 177-184
• focus on clean passage in bars 195 and 197 - it's mental thing... Just have mental strength to do it.
• feel the keys in thirds in jumps especially in bars 195-196
• practice starting from bar 217
• play bars 227-231 like waves

Chopin - Ballade f minor op. 52 (4th recording)

I don't know why I'm so nervous, when I'm recording my playing. Today I was focused, but still there were some slips. Usually in spots when I recently changed fingering or something. When camera is on I feel that my fingers are lighter in a wrong way. I just don't feel the bottom of the keyboard. Maybe it's caused by my piano bench - it's too high for my instrument, I can't lower it more. I'll buy new one probably next month.

My stamina is definitely better - my heart wasn't pounding so hard as last time after culminiation in D flat major.

I would say that the section from the beginning to the second theme wasn't so bad. The section at the end, where is the second theme in D flat major also. The worst part was in middle of the piece and I should focus on this part.

So here are my remarks to my recording from today:

Mental issues:

• fix fingering in bar 154
• more clean inbars 161-166
• passages in bar 195 and 197
• right hand in bar 214
• right hand in bar 216

Issues:

• more melody in bars 36-37 in left hand
• don't accent the C in bar 49, it's an end of a slur
• fix double notes in bar 54
• learn the notes in bars 79-99 (hands separetely)
• fix left hand in bar 106
• fix the acciaccatura in bar 111
• fix the descending in bar 119
• what happend in bars 121-122?
• learn the notes in 135-144 (hands separetely)!
• hands together in bar 169-174
• don't accent the beats so much in bar 173
• learn right hand in 177-179
• more top notes in passages in 191-194
• take off the pedal before Coda in 210 
• thirty two note should be played with left hand in bar 220

Details:

• more colors at the beginning - listen to e minor for example (bars 1-7)
• listen to the directions of left hand more in the first theme (bars 8-57)
• don't slow down too much in bar 57
• more clarity in section 58-70
• work more on accelerando in bars 74-75 and ritenuto in 79
• don't play to fast in bars 125-128
• don't slow down too much in 152
• take time in 184
• don't rush in 190
• more stable tempo in Coda (bar 219-224)
• more tension in left hand chords in bars 231-232

Chopin - Ballade f minor op. 52 (3rd recording)

There are some nice things and some bad things, but I think there is an improvement in the most important things - time. I think now it's the time to focus on being free in this music, more rubato, more imagination. Of course the final and the chords before it was a disaster. But it's not about practice sometimes, I believe that these isuess could be caused by mental things. I felt nervous when I played and I wasn't comfortable at keyboard.

Generally after fixing some issues it'll be a time to build a structure of this piece, be more free and give everything to the music.

There are three spots, where I failed:

1. after the second theme, when I couldn't remember the melody in right hand and I had to start passage once more
2. chords before final  - I started the stretto to soon and I couldn't play those chords in this tempo.
3. dotted notes in final - I just didn't practice right hand alone in the final tempo 

Issues:

• learn the left hand in section in bars 46-57
• do a crescendo in bars 58-62 
• shape a phrase in the second theme (bar 80)
• fix the whole section in bars 100-107. I don't know what happend there. Especially pay attention on slurs when the passage is going up and the sixths when it's going down.
• fix the acciaccatura in bar 111
• shape diminuendo in 118-120
• fix the acciaccatura in bar 122
• learn the melody and the second voice in bars 125-128
• pay attention at slurs in bars 135-151
• fix the trill in 161
• fix the passage in bar 163
• fix the left hand in bar 166
• in bar 177 there is sf in left hand
• fix the passages in bars 195, 197
• fix the chords in bars 198-201
• fix the right hand in bar 219 - probably I can't play it in tempo, and it's a spot where everyhing started to collapse.
• fix the right hand in bar 231

Details:

• sing more the beginning, more legato
• think more about the direction of repeated notes in the theme
• more legato in otaves section
• less noise in 58-62
• work on the second theme
• show the left hand in bars 125-128
• shape dynamics in bars 175-176 
• some phrasing in bars 181-191 and accents in left hand
• bar 202 - more time at fermata
• start the final with more power (there is sf and forte)
• left hand should be quieter in the sixteens in final
• the ending passage shouldn't be so etiudish...

Probably I'll practice the whole sections to interpret them alone. The sections with second theme I'll practice together. And I'll count during playing the stretto chords before final.