I recently got the Einaudi sheet music book (the best of) and absolutely love playing his music! I have a couple of questions though regarding technique which hopefully someone can help with (I know there are a lot of Einaudi fans on here!)

In 'La Linea Scura' the first 2 bars have an Ab held for 2 bars yet there is also an Ab, the same Ab, played on every beat....how is this posible?

How much pedal do people use? I find it sounds better with lots of pedal, maybe releasing on every chord change, or every bar/beat depending on the music.....but in, for example La Linea Scura the music specifically calls for pedal in certain areas, such as bars 47-48 which would suggest it is not used elsewhere??

Also, throughout the book there are things under the score like 1C or 3C....what does that mean?

Thanks for your help......in the meantime, I'm off to play Le Onde

i'm not sure what they means...those 1C or 3C... they will be chord indication if they ar under the chords... if they are at the bottom of the score..there might be a reference at the back of the book refering the piece..

Took me a while to realise that the 1C and 3C are pedal markings.
1C = una corda (left pedal) 3C = tre (?) corda (no left pedal)

I think it sounds best with liberal amounts of pedal

QUOTE

In 'La Linea Scura' the first 2 bars have an Ab held for 2 bars yet there is also an Ab, the same Ab, played on every beat....how is this posible?

I think it means that the Ab should sound continuously throughout these bars but should be reinforced on each beat.

yep 1C etc are pedal markings.

glad to see someone else buying and playing his music, well done you!! LOL

There's a huge thread on Le Onde somewhere on this site!

Yes, here!

thanks for your replies now I have another question - to do with pedaling again!! If anyone else has the music to look at it would help. In Due Tramonti bar 28 onwards there is a low d octave played throughout the bar (semi-breve) but also the left hand is needed for other accompaniment on beats 2 3 an 4. The only way to do this is to use the pedal all through the bar? (sounds a bit messy?) The reason I ask is because on some pianos there is a middle pedal which (i think!!) is used to sustain only certain notes so I wondered if this is what is needed? Maybe I'm just thinking too much and should just enjoy playing it but am interested if other people have had similar problems playing his music?

by the way....if 1C is left pedal and 3C is no left pedal what does 2C mean?

by the way....if 1C is left pedal and 3C is no left pedal what does 2C mean?


Both pedals!?? LOL

2C is just an older, rarer way of saying 3C

Aha!! I have just checked in my AB theory book (something I should do more often!) and 1C is una corda which means one string, 2C is due corda (2strings) and 3C is tre corda (3 strings). On a grand piano the left pedal moves the hammers to the side so they only strike one string instead of three. On early pianos you could choose between 1, 2 or 3 strings, so due corda was used for 2, but is very rarely used today. (although I'm guessing that if you half pressed the pedal you could get it to strike 2 strings?) On an upright piano the hammers are moved closer to the strings producing a softer tone. It still strikes 3 strings but the same pedal notation is used.

2C means the same as 3C nowadays- it did mean "2C" literally in the past, but now just read "3C"...

And I checked in my AB theory book too!

My first piano after I graduated and when I was living in a small flat was a studio piano with bi-chord action - which I understood meant two strings per note and not the usual three. So on that instrument I could play 1C and 2C only.

Just a bit of trivia!

Maggie