Hi Sarah...
Thanks for asking abt the boy. Just heard he's pretty much still drugged to minimise the pain. So he should be OK. Will see him tomorrow evening.

Hi Storini,
I kept trying but my computer must be ancient or something. I can only hear the first 10 seconds!!!

Tess

Don't try to play the MP3's direct from the internet by just clicking the links.

Do a right-mouse-button click on the links, then select "Save Target as..." from the pop-up context menu: save the MP3's locally somewhere on your PC hard drive.

Wait for them to have fully downloaded, they are ~2.0Mb in size.

Then using Windows Explorer or such-like, double-click the downloaded files to play them through your media player.

Wow! That was be-au-tiful!

Well done, Sarah and Storini. It's amazing how in today's world and high-tech day, we can blend 2 persons' playing in different places into 1 piece of music! This RR has definitely GOT my vote!

Wasn't me I rather suspect it's more in tune than my recording was

By the way, da capo has this wonderful expertise/computer software of/for creating a violin score out of a piano one so we have stopped searching on the internet for the violin music. Odd that the piano music is so easily available! Even VN's teacher has it in his music library but not the violin version, he said. The player in a concert or a candidate in an exam, I would have thought, would have asked the accompanist for the return of the piano score thereafter, and then kept BOTH versions together some place - no?

Tess

I feel a bit sheepish saying this, in case I'm way off track...isn't the reason why you can't find the violin score for this piece....because the piece was written for viola, not violin??? . I'm thinking of Reger's Romance for Viola and Piano...and maybe some other instruments which I've forgotten.

It was originally written for Violin, no question. A variety of arrangements exist, according to my score for Viola, Violoncello, Flute, Horn, Clarinet, Oboe, and Trumpet (!).

The piano score shows the violin line, and as it's only two pages, you could play the violin part perfectly well from (a copy of) the piano score, though the print would be a bit small of course.

My copy doesn't say "arranged by" so I would assume that it was written for violin.

Heh heh, my first instinct was right - shoulda kept quiet! Sorry all!

No worry.

PS. Thanks, Storini, as you have probably guessed, your technical advice on saving the MP3 first was good advice!

VN told me tonight she needs a slow expressive piece. However, in her own words, "the problem is, he won't decide for me even though after he has played them all, I told him I like both REGER ROMANZE AND SALUT d' AMOUR very much?" He wants her to decide for herself and now, she tells me she is rather worried as she cannot make up her mind! I replied - Easy, let's have a show of "hands" on this thread to help you. Don't ask me!

Now then, WHO votes for RR? And, WHO votes for SDA as the better audition (slow contrast) piece? Please, please, help VN by voting!

Tess and VN

I need to listen again to Salut D'Amour (I may have the music somewhere... ) before I vote...

An MP3 of the Elgar is available here, though the performance is a bit slow IMHO.

The Reger makes a great short encore, but IMO the Elgar offers a lot more opportunities for a real artist to make something of the piece. As the main theme returns several times it is important to characterise each occurrence, and not just bash out the notes; that recording above gives some idea of the manifold options available in phrasing it.

The middle section contains some exquisite dialogue between the piano and the violin and these key moments must not be just played through - the piano part is not a mere accompaniment. Creating the right hushed mood in the coda isn't easy either.

Reger was a fine composer, but Elgar was a great one: take up his challenge!

Regarding the discrepancies in tempo in the Reger between the ABRSM suggestion quoted above of dotted crotchet = 63 and my choice of 40, I have a suspicion how this might have come about. If they started off with a metronome quaver beat, as one often does, they could well have chosen 126, which is very close to my choice of 120. Then, to produce the figure for the dotted crotchet they might simply have divided by 2 to give 63 as shown. However, this approach is not correct, as in the 6/8 metre used in this piece you need to divide by 3, and this divisor would then give 42, again close to my choice of 40. So, that's my speculation...

Storini's comments happen to be the same as my unspoken one - more scope for character and expression. Drawback of Elgar's Salute? It's a very common masterpiece and thus it may be quite tough not to bore the adjudicator with another version!

Any more votes and comments this week?

Thanks!

Hiya I'm not sure what grade these are but a nice fun one is Liberty Bell (Monty Python theme tune) or maybe something with a bit of swing like Chattanooga Choo Choo... they may be a bit too easy as I can play them !! tee hee

I haven't looked at the Elgar recently, but am wondering if it might go over the time limit? Wasn't it 3 minutes? Even at the slower tempo the Reger would be safely inside that. I generally tend to go for lesser known pieces if possible. Is Salut in a current or recent exam list? Many years ago that sort of "salon" piece used to get played a lot but it's ages since I've heard that one. Does VN need to decide already, or could she learn both and see if the choice makes itself as she gets to know them better by actually playing them?

Hope that helps, even if it isn't a "vote"!

She wants to learn both. She said she loves both of them but cannot make up her mind which one to choose as the audition piece ("AP") but she will play both for a charity concert next year. There's no hurry to decide which piece will rank as the AP but it's nice to know fairly soon for one GOOD reason - best to start with the AP first, next month, rather than with the later concert piece.

Thanks, EVERYONE, for all this great advice!!!

There's the answer. Start both, see which one she likes when she's actually playing it, and then decide in a week or so. Everyone has to play Salut D'amor at some point, but it's a little predictable for an audition at grade 5 standard maybe...the other piece is less well known.

VN's playing Elgar's Salut D' Amour in the background while I'm typing this. Sounds smoochy to me.

Do you folks think it odd that she says Salut feels like sweet, pink candy floss melting ever so slowly in her mouth? Sweet, heavenly and yummy?

Would like to know what you all think in terms of your feelings or expression (assuming you can pretend for one moment to be a child - well, what sort of feelings would you FEEL for this romantic piece when you have NEVER ever fallen in love?) as her thoughts are so different as a child. To what Elgar may have in mind? Bizarre.

I think that sounds like a pretty good feeling to be aiming for!

Thanks, Sarah, I really just want to understand her that's all (not really from a musical point of view but rather expressionwise). This is an issue of expression (general, not musical although they are related) and I appreciate your reassurance very much.

I recall that when she drew for the first time in her little life, it was at a mums and tots club, the lady who looked after infants/her that day was an art support teacher and she was so impressed by her unusual drawing of constant circles all over that she came up to me in the next room and swore excitedly that she's so expressive and creative that she'll grow up to be an artist! I gave her a weird look! Apparently, she said all kids start with line drawings first and it is the artistically gifted children that begin with curves and circles. Well, she's got one half wrong - VN did turn out to be creative and yes, she drew abstract art at school from 3 which absolutely astonish her nursery school! Black cat daydreaming in a flurry of myriad hazy colours in one piece or two 100% pure white snakes with tiny black dot eyes crawling on a dozen shades and colours quilt! It has never occurred to them how a child can see such a thing as 2 pure white snakes. There is of course no such thing. VN had just imagined it! This was strongly discouraged at nursery and school and as a result, VN was then "taught" how to re-draw "conventionally" by her teachers so that she won't look like the odd one out so she'd belong.

But expressive? No. Very very shy. I just popped into her room last night and asked whether I could have a recital and she said - No, mum, I don't want you to see my expression but you can hear me elsewhere - and I replied - OK, no problem as long as you are not shy in your JG audition. She'll be thinking of very colourful candy floss and I hope that's okay! Her teacher did say something abt it being strange to pitch such an emotionally mature piece at grade 5 since lots of students of that level are still pretty young.

Hmmm, what do they know of falling in love, eh?

Well, is it really nearly three months since this topic last came up? Doesn't time fly?

Anyway, regarding maturity of emotions, I wouldn't underestimate children. Their attachment to a favourite teddy bear, or a beloved pet, for example, can be quite as intense as more "adult" feelings, and the pain of loss similarly heart-breaking.

Only a few composers have been able to distill the magic of childhood in their music, Ravel and Schumann come to mind...

I don't think being shy means she's not expressive... in fact, from what you say about her playing, I'd say definitely not. Quite possibly she's reserved in how she expresses herself, but that doesn't = non expressive, if you see what I mean.

Some people have emotional maturity beyond their years, some in all areas, some just in music or art or similar. Sounds like VN has a dollop of expression beyond her experience.

I think "sweet, pink candy floss melting ever so slowly in her mouth? Sweet, heavenly and yummy" is actually a pretty good summary of the magic of falling in love, expressed in a way that she, as a child, can understand. In the end, whatever images enable her to play the piece expressively and well are good!