Thursday-May 15, 2003

Haven't updated in almost three weeks. So far, I've pretty much learned up to page 8 (memorized up to pg 7)--which is around the 6-7 minute mark. There was one week where I barely touched the keyboard..but this week, i've been playing maybe an hour a day and I do see progress. I probably need to set realistic goals as I'm usually beat from work. Now I know why it's recommended to play a little everyday than to make-up for it in one long sitting. I finally got my Yundi Li recording, which I've listened to a couple times through. I like the recording and of the 6 or 7 recordings of the Sonata that I have, this is probably my favorite recording. He plays the piece rather fast (completes it in 29 minutes, similar to argerich) and has less reverb/pedaling than Argerich's debut recording with DG. One criticism I have with his playing is that the molto crescendo leading up to the Grandioso (b. 105 on page 6), he plays it w/o much rubato and hesitation. I prefer Claudio Arrau's playing of this...more "depth" and poignancy. Then again, Yundi Li writes that he could make certain parts sound better, but he elected not to b/c it would go against his understanding of the piece or something like that. On page 4, with the octave chords (both hands synchronously) i have to practice it slower and make sure I hit every chord cleanly and accurately. If I mess up somewhere, I ought to start all over.

I've played up to about page 11 (where it starts to get challenging...)-b.312.

Goal for next two weeks--learn pages 8-15 (up to the Recitativo).