Piano question

[George K]

Are there any piano players here?

Good.

I've been a real slacker this last year - no teacher makes for laziness, and not having a project makes for inertia.

So, for the last month or so, I've been tinkering with resurrecting one of my old pieces.

It's the Prelude and Fugue on a theme by Handel by Manuel Ponce.

I played the prelude a bit faster than this. This is about the tempo I played the fugue at, with A LOT less rubato. Fugue starts at 5:45.

Link to video

At 8:50 or so there's some descending thirds.

I've always found those thirds vexing, perhaps because I didn't have good fingering for that part.

Suggestions?

Oh, for an insanely fast version of the fugue:

Link to video

Of note, it's one of those rare pieces that calls for the sostenuto pedal on the third note at the beginning of the prelude.

[Klaus]

As an easy preparation for those thirds, I'd suggest you first learn Chopin 25/6.

[Klaus]

More seriously, wouldn't it work to simply play the bottom notes with 3-2-1-3-2-1 etc. (which can be played "legato") and then 5-4-3-5-4-3 etc. for the top notes?

[Klaus]

I just see that there's a similar section in sixths, not thirds, which looks way harder.

[George K]

@Klaus said in Piano question:

More seriously, wouldn't it work to simply play the bottom notes with 3-2-1-3-2-1 etc. (which can be played "legato") and then 5-4-3-5-4-3 etc. for the top notes?

That's what I originally tried, but I was having difficulty crossing the "5" on the second iteration of the thirds. Perhaps, LOL, I just need to practice more.

Regarding the 6ths, are you talking in the prelude?

Fortunately, that's played slowly, and other being a bit awkward, I didn't find it all that difficult.

[jon-nyc]

Can you slow down the video to 0.25 speed and see what his fingerings are?

Great piece by the way.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Piano question:

Can you slow down the video to 0.25 speed and see what his fingerings are?

Great piece by the way.

Yeah, it's was fun to play too!

At 8: 55, the first time, it looks like he goes 5/3, 4/2, 3,1, 4/2, 3/1, 4/2, 3/1.

The second time, at about 8:58, it looks the same.

However, the third time, at 9:02, he starts with 4/2, 3/1, then lifts and goes to 5/3, 4/2, 3/1

Am I seeing that correctly?

[Klaus]

@George-K said in Piano question:

egarding the 6ths, are you talking in the prelude?

Oh, I can't read. In the small youtube window I confused octaves with sixths. Still doesn't look easy to do in tempo.

[George K]

I've long been a fan of Handel's keyboard music, and at one time I had one of the suites under my fingers. Jon heard me play butcher the allemande from the E major suite a couple of years ago.

But getting back to the Ponce....

Here's the fugue upon which he based his piece.

Link to video