Tuesday, July 28, 2015

15. Impromptu


Another reading piece. The arpeggios are for the most part diminished and ascending, but the interspersal of a reversed pair of notes strangely fits. I guess its because everything's pretty much out of whack and anharmonic already. The sudden descent merely throws a wrench into a trajectory that's already rugged. Playing was not too difficult. With a little effort, I could have memorized it. In fact, I did inadvertently (or is it fortuitously?) memorize the main arpeggio refrain. I didn't think it presented any especial technical difficulties, so that's why I didn't spend too much time on it. I did, however, like the angling of the fingers for the diminished arpeggios though: 1-3-4 at 45 degrees. I think maybe J.T. puts easier pieces in so students can practice their tonal quality on passages that aren't difficult to play. I've been doing that with Bach's Prelude (in F), Scarf Dance, and Hungarian. I was shocked into this tonal quality obsession by hearing some really trashy playing on YouTube by people playing on really really good grand pianos. So "singing tone" has become my watch word from now on. I'm even trying to pull it off with Bach, that's how dedicated I am to it. Always cantabilise!

But I digress...

This is the best part. Since it was the most technically challenging, I practised it quite a bit beyond mere sight reading. It sounds like the expansion and contraction of some kind of wave-like object. And I hate to say the word "accordion," so I won't. It got a little confusing for my fingers to do the intricate finger switching in the right hand. And notice how that B is held in the left hand. You would think it would be easy to just hold down a note, but actually with all the other notes being played above it, your hand kinda wants to lift and then replay the note at least once. Can the note even be sustained that long? Almost three bars! 

I also like the F-B at the end. It contributes to the lilt; expands the wave and feels like those leaps in your stomach when there's turbulence or speeding on a hill. Anyway, after this we return to the arpeggios, and then do a few variations with lots and lots of modulation.


Alan Chan's rendition

No comments:

Post a Comment