9/28/2005

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G

Many people consider this excerpt to be one of the most difficult in the standard repetoire. The excerpt is in two parts. The first part is here. The thing that strikes me immediately is how badly I rush several of the quarter notes at the beginning and especially the half note in the 3rd bar. It will be back to the metronome on this one. The half note is also out of tune. I need to concentrate on making sure that every note is clean, as there were several little clams. In general I am pleased with the style and overall feel, but it needs some real work before it is performance ready.

The second part is here. I have worked on this one much less and it really shows. Besides the sloppy beginning I think that the most noticable problem is the intonation of the high Gs (the note at the end of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th phrases). I also drag a little bit at the ends of the phrases that end on the upbeat of 4 instead of going up to the G. Except for a beat or two that got slightly out of control near the end I think that the last section is fairly good.

The way to fix all of this except for the intonation is by slowing it down and working with a metronome. This is actually how I have been working on it, but obviously I need to continue. I would love to know what you think.

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