So I’ve been hard at work, consuming a total of well over twenty-four hours over the past two weeks to present two pieces of grand music via YouTube.
[note color=”#FFCC00″]• Beethoven’s “The Hunt” Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major (Op. 31 No. 3):► I. Allegro
► II. Scherzo – Allegretto vivace
► III. Menuetto – Moderato e grazioso
► IV. Presto con fuoco[/note] Alternatively, here’s the entire sonata as a nonstop playlist:
My recording this barbaric four-movement sonata in its entirety was strictly for the YouTube-friendly pre-screening audition into the University of North Texas (I really don’t like the Classical Era much). I know I made some massive blunders in the second and fourth movements, but believe me, these were the best takes of them all; each movement took a minimum of three retakes. I’d rather play for 10,000 people than for a single camcorder; I’ve always felt that way since my first experiences playing for the machine half a decade or more ago.
It was personally funny to see myself walking up to the piano in the original, unedited video sources; I was totally exhausted by the time I was flopping down to the bench to retake the second movement (I recorded the last three movs. backwards, starting with the fourth) in one monstrous three-hour session. The first mov. was initially for the Bösendorfer Competition—which was disappointing, not because I didn’t advance (as I can certainly put the time to great use in other ways and am not sad at all about being rejected in itself), but because I was given no explanation in the slightest about the decision, which is a real kick to finances. It cost over $100 just to apply and what frustrates me is that absolutely nothing potential was learned at all, except that I probably shouldn’t bank so much into competitions. That’s it.
Enough; that’s the closest to a sob story you should ever read on this blog! The point is that the competition is the reason the first movement’s video (which was recorded two weeks earlier) bears a different setup (i.e., I foolishly wasn’t thinking acoustically at the time, ha; many thanks go to a great friend’s unceasing advice). Grad school deadlines crept up quickly after the competition’s own.
In contrast, I didn’t play for exactly 10,000 people in this much older recording from October 2009 below (more like about a dozen or two audience members)… but either way it should have gotten onto my channel ages ago!
Joshua Chandra plays Debussy’s Toccata (from Pour le Piano)
(Audio only)
All glory goes to God for His gift of music to humanity, in both composition and performance. May we continue to share his intelligence and reveal His organization of the universe through music!