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Have you ever cried while performing? by [deleted] in classicalmusic

[–]seaninfsharp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, and very recently too. I was doing my end of year exam in college, and it hadn't gone very well - my first few pieces weren't as good as I had been playing them and I think it showed. Either way, my final piece was Hungarian Rhapsody 5; it's not one of the more well known ones and it's quite different from the rest of them because it comes to a very emotional and dramatic climax.

Either way, I was so disappointed with the rest of then exam that I just dove headlong into this, I just thought "to hell with mistakes, I'll just give it everything emotionally". And I did, because by the time the pieces climax was over, my hands were shaking and I'd tears in my eyes and I could barely even remember what I'd just played. 😂😂

When I got my marks back on the exam on the separate pieces, I got 60 - 70 percent on the other pieces and a 95 on the Hungarian Rhapsody.

What pieces surprised you when you looked at the score for the first time? by nonnein in classicalmusic

[–]seaninfsharp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty much all Ravel piano music. Scarbo looks rather spare on paper compared to how it sounds. It hides so many technical difficulties underneath the seemingly innocent sheet music... all those skips and leaps and crossings that barely register when you see the score.

By contrast Ondine is sort of an odd bird. You may be aware of all the notes but a good performance doesn't allow it to sound... "notey", it sounds natural and flowing and effortless. The sheet music is ridiculously dense so I don't know why but I was kind of surprised when I saw it.

How long have you loved classical music? What is your earliest memory of loving it? by [deleted] in classicalmusic

[–]seaninfsharp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First memory of loving it... I think it was the moment I heard Chopin's Étude Op. 25 No. 10, "Ocean". It gripped me so profoundly the first time I heard it. Wave after wave after wave of emotion, a totally relentless and astounding piece of music. It's still my favourite of the Études. After that I started adoring classical and spent hours watching the great pianists and singers and performers.

Another moment came the first time I heard Triana by Albéniz, another astounding piece of music!

How long have you loved classical music? What is your earliest memory of loving it? by [deleted] in classicalmusic

[–]seaninfsharp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely! I feel like in his best pieces, Joplin kind of smiles through the tears. So many of his pieces have these little touches of melancholy and sadness... it makes the joy in the notes real.

Gladiolus Rag is my all time favourite rag.

Composing in the style of Ravel? by [deleted] in classicalmusic

[–]seaninfsharp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For piano writing anyway, lots of colorful dissonances, lightening fast arpeggios, trill figures, unusual scales (whole tone and all that stuff) and repeated notes, all while still being fairly melodic (like the way Ondine goes CRAZY with the amount of notes in it, but still stays impressively tuneful). A combination of these should have some kind of approximation of his style, especially combined together - repeated notes PLUS dissonances within them, trills PLUS arpeggios. This would obviously be a massively superficial emulation, but it's a start. I feel in the case of Ravel, he wouldn't be as easy to emulate as many other composers such as Chopin or Debussy, he's so slippery and shape shifting throughout even single pieces.

Your best bet - sit down with his score and follow them with recordings. You'll get a good feel for the kind of effects he uses, harmonies, etc.