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    A Piano for Quieter Times

        Here are some pieces played on various pianos.  Although my piano lessons ended when I was 10,   I got the classical-piano bug later at almost age 40 and started in again, so these are non-virtuoso works but favorites.  While the sound on the pieces using the spinet is not exactly ideal, I hope you'll enjoy some of these.

        If so, you can keep any from the download area.

        Mp3.com chose one of the pieces for a month-long promo-feature recently.  I was happy they liked it that much


    From a review at New Classical Mp3s
    "I listen to a lot of people's pages on mp3.com, but I rarely get past the first track or so.  I listened to this woman's entire page.  There is an essential artistic quality here which touched me very much ... She presents herself as an amateur pianist, but these performances are extremely well-thought out and with a concern for the essential quality of sound, which is what is missing in most performances I hear on mp3.com.  The repertoire is well-chosen for her technique and tastes and is first-rate in every way." --Paul Wehage   (Saxophonist, Composer, Conductor, Music Publisher)

        How can one not use a generous quote like that one?
        I've added, since that quote, the Andante from a Schubert sonata, a Brahms Intermezzo (both played on a test digital-piano), and a Bach-Siloti transcription (played on the replacement Yamaha P80).
        Also, the Chopin Nocturne in c# minor (posth.) heard in the film, The Pianist and Scriabin's Etude Op.2, No.1.

        The lo-fi modem samples below, especially the Bach-Siloti, are in mono, which can remove some treble and sustain.

        Next time, try my Classical Oasis one, which takes a while to load but has some really fine classical pianists and, for more mellow easy-listening A Piano for Quieter Times Station for more variety (less Classical) in slower music.
        I've also made a station for Rachmaninoff preludes, some less familiar, played by mp3.com pianists.

        All of the pieces here are also available, for playback on any hi-fi CD system, on an mp3.com CD at their minimum pricing.


    Classical Music Makers - Founding Member
        More info here


    Ampcast light classical here

       
    Thanks for visiting and for any thoughts via my Guestbook.


    What do the Play/Download buttons mean on this free music page?
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        If you like a song, you can download it here at no cost, in "hi-fi" versions for faster computer playback.

    Let's use this vast left-column space.

    I'm currently learning mp3 self-promo for
    novices (you can tell?). This is an experiment.



    Quite Surrealistic Onsite Sighting.
    The M.B.S.T.I.A. 2003
    Artists Undiscovered Award Nominees



    I liked a lot this compliment from the amazing SunMachine site (by "Aynz"):
    The "Moonlight Sonata" again




    Station recommendations for this page

      Kui Min's Classical World station

      (I love Kui Min's playing, and this was kind of him.)



      FreakControl's Fantastic Females station

      (Definitely a fun-read for an old gal.)




    Some Notes
    On the somewhat unusual Louis Couperin Unmeasured Prelude, it'll help to look at the score (below) and what mp3.com calls the  "song description"  for more background.
        This one is played on a touch-sensitive electric piano using the "vibes" setting for its bell-like melodic notes though one will need to bear a non-authentic vibrato as well as a boomy and undefined bass, but the writing is interesting.

        From Dart's re-examination using the
    Bauyn manuscript for Louis Couperin's
              Unmeasured Prelude No. 9:
            Page 1         Page 2         Page 3








    Also try FindMp3.Org


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    "Scriabin Etude Op2 No1 (1887)"genre: Classical General
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    This gorgeous etude contains left hand melodies that vie against the right hand's sighing phrases. The Downloads area at Amazon now has this (2nd) version.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Yamaha
     
    "Rachmaninov Prelude Op 23 No. 6 - Take 3"genre: Romantic
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    The 2nd half of this less familiar Rachmaninoff prelude includes some exquisite progressions. Some performers play this piece slowly (Cliburn) while others like to play it quite fast. The marking is 'Andante' and if that's kept for the treble, then the bass can be rather frantic sounding, so I've chosen the slower tempo. Will be redoing it someday for more tension and direction in the first half. I had the benefit of my neighbors' grand piano, and this replaces the earlier spinet version.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Carmen and Alan's Kawai grand, July 14, 2001
     
    "Chopin Nocturne 20 in c# (The Pianist)"genre: Piano
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    This is one of the nocturnes published after Chopin's death. It contains several melodic ideas that later turn up in the Concerto in f minor. I've seen 3 "manuscript" versions of this nocturne and have used the choices I liked best. See Peter Katin's recording of this to hear the more daring original 3 against 4 in the A Major section, from the first manuscript by Chopin.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Credits: Yamaha P80 piano from kraftmusic.com
     
    "Bach - Siloti_Prelude_in_b"genre: Classical General
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    A Bach prelude transcribed by Alexander Siloti, born in 1863, who wrote it for his daughter. This is a somewhat hypnotic piece that grows on you (or at least on many of us). It was probably transcribed before 1900 and has a romantic-era bass, with somewhat unpredictable progressions, against the well known Bach prelude's righthand melody. It's become a tradition to play this with a repeat, in order to bring out voices not heard the first time ............The "lo-fi" modem version is in mono with loss of legato.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Yamaha P80 piano from kraftmusic.com
     
    "Beethoven Moonlight Sonata [i] - Take 2"genre: Classical General
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    This piece is so well known that some of us forget how beautiful it is. This was played on my neighbors' Kawai grand.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Carmen and Alan's Kawai grand, July 10, 2001
     
    "Chopin Prelude No. 20 in c minor"genre: Classical General
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    The quality of the sound that continues between the chords in this piece, even on the lightest pianos, has always interested me This was played on my neighbor's Kawai grand.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Carmen and Alan's Kawai grand, July 10, 2001
     
    "Amy Beach - Dreaming, Op.15 No. 3 (1892)"genre: Piano
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    Amy Beach wrote "Dreaming" in 1892, and it opens with the feel of a dream pulling us. Beach's progressions can surprise and there are unusual configurations in the movement of the bass. . . . . . . .A pianist who played with the Boston Symphony when she was 16, she also composed symphonies and a concerto which were performed by major orchestras in her lifetime. As of 1940, only 3 of her 150 opus numbers remained unpublished, an amazing record for any American composer. . . . . . . . . . Her musical style is reminiscent of Brahms and MacDowell. . . . . . . . From The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers: "Typical of the late romantic period, her larger works exhibit lush chromaticism, many altered chords, broadly spun-out melodies, involved development of themes, and complex harmonies. Her songs, now considered sentimental, rely on a natural gift for melody, but with piano accompaniments rarely simplified."
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Carmen and Alan's Kawai grand, July 14, 2001
     
    "Wistful Argentinian dance - Take 3"genre: Piano
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    This ruminative danza, a favorite of mine, is played here on my neighbors' Kawai grand. It's the 2nd of 3 danzas by Ginastera, the Danza de la Moza donosa, and is about a wanderer who pauses for awhile on a hillside to watch a rural woman doing her daily chores outside, before continuing on his journey. . . . . . Since I still don't know how to Edit sounds, this was recorded in one take . . . . . . . . . . . This is somewhat melancholy while having very upbeat qualities. A friend described it this way after hearing it: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "The entire work seems to straddle between sunny and sad, like a grey day with a bit of sun working its way through, on and off. Even the end, with it's dissonant, piquant final notes, doesn't help resolve the piece."
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Harry Fox Agency License #: 1020000033 - Carmen and Alan's Kawai grand, July 14, 2001
     
    "Schubert Sonata in A, D664, No. 13 [ii]"genre: Classical General
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    Schubert's Sonata No. 13 in A, D664, 2nd movement, is a very economical piece with some simple but quite beautiful changes. I just noticed that in measures 33 and 35 I forgot to move to D on the 2nd beat. Next time on that one!
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Yamaha P80 on loan, hurt in shipping. Returned.
     
    "Brahms Intermezzo in A Op.118 No.2"genre: Classical General
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    One of Brahms's most popular intermezzos. I tried for a more flowing version than I generally hear but will do a 2nd, more weighty one for a different mood.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
    Credits: Yamaha P80 on loan, hurt in shipment. Returned.
     
    "Rachmaninov Prelude Op 23 No.4 - Take 2b"genre: Romantic
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    This piece, with its intricate competing lines, repeats the reflective opening theme in a more emotional statement near the end. The spinet's lack of sustaining tone and clarity isn't helpful, but I love the piece. You can hear several fine mp3.com renditions of many of Rachmaninov's preludes on my Rach_Preludes station at http://mp3.com/stations/rach-preludes.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
     
    "Schubert Impromptu in G-flat - Take 2b"genre: Romantic
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    Schubert's famous impromptu in G flat, on my Baldwin Spinet, the klunky sound of which may be closer to the fortepianos of that day :-) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The set (D 899) first appeared without this piece (#3). Per the Barenreiter edition, it was 30 years later that the publisher's son issued this piece along with #4, "...whereby No. III was transposed to G major instead of G-flat major and the meter reduced to a simple alla breve measure so as not to frighten pianists at first sight..."
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
     
    "Schumann - Widmung [not Liszt] [1b]"genre: Romantic
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    When sung, a beautiful short love song by Robert Schumann. This is a version with the vocal line played on the spinet and with an accompaniment close to what's written but without doubling the voice part. The accompaniment's very lean and spare but would be gorgeous on a rich-sounding normal piano. I used the Int'l Music Company's book of "85 Schumann Songs for (high) voice and piano" which appears to have a misprint in the bass in the 5th bar from the end, which I played as written, something I discovered at the site below which has the original version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Schumann's Widmung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text by Friedrich Rückert . . . . . . . . . . . . . You my soul, you my heart . . . . . you my bliss, o you my pain . . . . . you the world in which I live . . . . . you my heaven, in which I float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Full lyrics and translation at: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/r/ruckert/schumann25.1.html
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
     
    "Louis Couperin: Unmeasured Prelude #9"genre: Baroque
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    This is a 17th Century unmeasured-prelude in free-form style (whole-notes only; no bar lines). The timing of individual notes is determined by the practice of the time plus clues given in the phrase-groupings. It was played while recorded via the small memory module of an electric Yamaha YPR9 piano, using a non-historic Vibes setting. Scans of the score pages are on http://andrys.com/couperin.html webpage, and links are also in the Main Section just above.
    MP3.com CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003 - buy it!buy it!
    CD: A Piano for Quieter Times 2003
     
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