CHOPIN AND BARTOK

Riley had another recital.  He again played 2 pieces at Trinity School (it's on 90th St.).  They have a very nice Steinway grand and he can make a great sound!  He played two pieces, first was the Bartok Romanian Folk Dances. Bartok originally wrote them for piano but I've played them many times as a solo violin piece or as a string orchestra piece. The dances are fun!

After the Bartok, Riley played the Chopin Etude in C minor, Op 25 No 12.  It has a nickname, "The Ocean", I suppose because all of the arpeggios sound like the swells of an ocean. There are a lot of notes! When Riley first brought it home to practice I thought, "he's going to play THAT!?" Well, he practiced it and he played it!

(I have used two different video services, YouTube and Vimeo, because YouTube will put an advertisement on the Bartok. The Romanian Dances are still under copyright. So it's YouTube for the Chopin and Vimeo for the Bartok)

"Practice Recital"

Riley played a short but intense piano recital last night. It was at his teacher's home and was only a "practice recital" so there are a few bloopers and minor edits in the video. He played a Bach Fugue, a Chopin Nocturne, an intense Capriccio by Brahms and concludes with the Rachmaninoff C# minor Prelude.  He's not due to perform the pieces until early February. 
Also, this past Tuesday, Veterans Day, was a lovely day though a bit overcast and we hiked up Bear Mountain (about an hour north of the city) so there are lots of new pictures on the website (click on any of the photos).