Topic by KerriS

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Topic: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

Hi all -- me again! It's been too long (been very busy with work). This time I'm sharing a performance of 'Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13. "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile', recorded August 24, 2024.

Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/kerri-shotts/pia...-cantabile

Listen on Youtube: https://youtu.be/v1dQYNv-HDU

This has been a challenge to get up to a level I'm comfortable sharing (even with some editing)—so much nuance is required to clearly separate out the melody while also ensuring dynamics throughout the piece are well presented.

Normally I'd post a link to SoundCloud, but this seems to be one of those pieces that gets copyright claimed even though it's in the public domain, and so I'm having to dispute the claim to get the track re-listed on SoundCloud. Youtube has also decided the video is claimed (different performer) but at least for now they're letting the video stay up, so not going to bother fighting that one just yet. I guess I'll take the compliment that my performance is anywhere near as good as the two recordings that matched against mine! Update: SoundCloud reinstated the track, so I've added link above.

Performed on Yamaha NU1X; rendered with Pianoteq 8.3 w/ Bosendorfer VC Warm as the base preset in Logic Pro 11. I removed the reverb on the preset and replaced with Logic's ChromaVerb (Cathedral) preset. I also adjusted the piano curve to better separate melody and accompaniment during playback. This probably only works on my Yamaha NU1X, but in case any one is interested:

Global Velocity = [0, 18, 41, 57, 73, 88, 102, 116, 126; 0, 8, 29, 51, 69, 86, 98, 107, 109]

All other parameters on the preset are unchanged.

Logic Mastering Chain:  ChromaVerb (Cathedral, 0% Attack, 75% Size, 70% Density, 3.5s Decay, 85% Dry, 15% Wet) -> Linear EQ (low cut) -> Compressor (Vintage VCA, -44.5db threshold, 1.4:1 ratio, 0db make up, 0.7 knee, 26ms attack, 48ms release, -12db auto gain) -> Normalized

Editing: In addition to a few tweaks to velocity and a couple of timing fixes, the original recording was a bit... overzealous when it came to the tempo of the second half, so I did stretch the MIDI out in the last half to how I normally play it. I think I probably had a bit too much caffeine the night I recorded it! (Of course it's also fun to see how widely my tempo varies across performances -- I find I range anywhere from 4:45 to around 6 minutes for this piece depending on my mood.)

Last edited by KerriS (06-09-2024 15:15)
Cheers,
~Kerri

Pianoteq 8, Organteq 2, Yamaha NU1X, Yamaha P515

KerriS's Website

Reply by johanibraaten

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

Great work, both with the interpretation and the sound design, thanks for sharing! I’m especially impressed with the opening presentation of the main theme. The tone of the Bösendorfer sounds beautiful and your playing is equally lovely. It’s funny that you’ve chosen this piece because I often use it to try different pianos and presets in Pianoteq. I think it exposes one of the most challenging aspects of Pianoteq (or any other modeled piano) and that is to get an expressive tenor range. I think that the tenor range still can sound a bit artificial and an area where sampled pianos sometimes still can have an edge. But in your recording it sounds lovely!

Last edited by johanibraaten (06-09-2024 12:19)

Reply by Pianoteqenthusiast

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

Hi Kerri!  This is so beautiful. There are so many people playing the piece, but this is surely a lovely rendition.
Beautiful, romantic, enchanting - reminds me of the beautiful summer nights up here in Finland where it is still light at 01.00 and the lovely stillness of nature right then.
I especially like the slowly rising crescendo from 2.43 and the climax 3,05 - 3,09.
Thank you Kerri for sharing.

btw, in your post 14.7 ”Colors of the wind”, when I commented your piece, I thanked you for your comment on my hammond experiment:

”Thank you Kerri for that ”O.M.G” and that  ”Jaw literally on the floor” about my hammond experiment with Organteq. That's the nicest, most beautiful, comment I've ever got. As a special thank you, you get here an example with Orgtq + Modartt's guitar as well”.

https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...niment.mp3

I suppose you have not had time to read it.

Best wishes,

Stig

Reply by KerriS

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

johanibraaten wrote:

Great work, both with the interpretation and the sound design, thanks for sharing! I’m especially impressed with the opening presentation of the main theme. The tone of the Bösendorfer sounds beautiful and your playing is equally lovely. It’s funny that you’ve chosen this piece because I often use it to try different pianos and presets in Pianoteq. I think it exposes one of the most challenging aspects of Pianoteq (or any other modeled piano) and that is to get an expressive tenor range. I think that the tenor range still can sound a bit artificial and an area where sampled pianos sometimes still can have an edge. But in your recording it sounds lovely!

Thanks so much for your kind words! I too am finding it a really useful piece to test out various pianos and how they respond to nuance across the entire range of the piano. I found a new appreciation for the Bosendorfer Imperial sample that comes w/ the NU1X as I was exploring the options available to me -- I may have to post a sample and eventually figure out if I can convince PTQ to generate something similar, because I quite like being able to edit and master using just my iPad vs needing to be tethered to the piano.

Cheers,
~Kerri

Pianoteq 8, Organteq 2, Yamaha NU1X, Yamaha P515

KerriS's Website

Reply by KerriS

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

Pianoteqenthusiast wrote:

Hi Kerri!  This is so beautiful. There are so many people playing the piece, but this is surely a lovely rendition.
Beautiful, romantic, enchanting - reminds me of the beautiful summer nights up here in Finland where it is still light at 01.00 and the lovely stillness of nature right then.
I especially like the slowly rising crescendo from 2.43 and the climax 3,05 - 3,09.
Thank you Kerri for sharing.

Wow -- I think I'm jealous of those summer nights!!!! I've not had a chance to visit Finland, but maybe one day!

3:05-3:09 gave me no end of trouble when mastering since I turn off PTQ's limiter when using Logic... I tweaked and tweaked to avoid clipping through there while avoiding the rest of the piece being far too quiet. It also just broke my brain and fingers trying to learn this section with any degree of accuracy, but I got there in the end... mostly... ~ish!


Pianoteqenthusiast wrote:

btw, in your post 14.7 ”Colors of the wind”, when I commented your piece, I thanked you for your comment on my hammond experiment:

”Thank you Kerri for that ”O.M.G” and that  ”Jaw literally on the floor” about my hammond experiment with Organteq. That's the nicest, most beautiful, comment I've ever got. As a special thank you, you get here an example with Orgtq + Modartt's guitar as well”.

https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...niment.mp3

I suppose you have not had time to read it.

I'm so sorry I missed it -- the mix of the organ w/ guitar is sublime -- each one melts into the other while also managing to stay distinct. I think there are definite creative possibilities there, and I'm so glad you shared. I can't imagine the kinds of tweaks you had to do to get the organ to sound like that -- it still floors me every time I hear it (and also makes me want to exercise my organ skills -- it's been many, many years since I played organ with any regularity). I don't think I'd have thought to try the two together (mostly because I'm horrible at multi-tracking) but it's a really wonderful sound!

Cheers,
~Kerri

Pianoteq 8, Organteq 2, Yamaha NU1X, Yamaha P515

KerriS's Website

Reply by J. Unruh

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

Hello KerriS,
very nice interpretation of this composition by Beethoven. Many thanks for the recording.
Best regards
J. Unruh

Translated DeepL

Reply by TJ76

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Re: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 "Pathetique" II. Adagio cantabile

I'm not much into classical pieces today but used to be bathed in it as a kid by my mother.

Your recording instantly brought me back that good and warm side of my upbringing. This is exactly how this genre of music should be played and sound. That's my LvB...

Thank you for that one!

Cheers

TJ