A Song without Words

On Friday I recorded some of Mendelssohn's Songs without Words. They were not note-perfect but reasonably good in musical terms, so I've gradually been uploading them to my YouTube account. Here is a "Presto agitato" that is more like an Allegro molto weak-o, but is all right nonetheless. As it was not filmed in the customary darkness, the viewer may admire my nose in profile. It turns out that the best way to reduce the crackling noise and droning sound quality that is annoying in my other videos, is to place the digital camera on the flute-case on top of the piano, and to lay a thin cotton scarf under it. That's what I did on Friday, and that's why the sound quality should be painless for a change. There was a drama during the "recording session" that the camera didn't properly capture, and that was Ge. opening the right half of the door in the background in order to inform me that the buns that had been in the oven were ready.



On the whole I haven't been very sanguine about the future (and present quality) of my piano playing, and in New York it looks as if I'll have to abstain from it entirely. On the other hand, I am contemplating bringing along my violin, and listening to masterclasses and student concerts at Juilliard, which is a very exciting prospect. The problem with the piano has been that I haven't had training for a long time, and I'm reluctant to place my playing in the hands of other people, for fear that they won't expect enough of me, or that they will make me focus on technique so that I lose sight of the music itself. Secondly, I have always doubted whether I want to play the piano for any purpose other than my own amusement, and the amusement of anyone who happens to listen and enjoys it. Thirdly, I think that I presently don't have the mental acuity or the intuition or the life experiences that are needed so that I can play pieces as overarching narratives, discover new (viz. more accurate) ways of understanding and playing single notes and phrases and entire works, and compel my fingers to be less clumsy (the music occurs almost more in spite of them than because of them).