Performance by Cinnamonbear (Andy Strong) from Recital Russian Themed Recital - 2016-10-15

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Performer: Cinnamonbear (Andy Strong)
Location: Rockford, IL
Experience: A great many
Composer:
Piece: Kabalevsky Prelude and Fugue Op. 61, Nos. 1 and 2
Duration: 233
Music Link: click to play
Video Link:
Music Source: Dmitri Kabalevsky, "Six Preludes and Fugues for Piano," Opus 61, (Soviet Composers Authorized Edition); (New York: Leeds Music Corp., 1963).
Instrument: Steinway D (9' concert grand at Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center)
Recording Method: Tascam DP-004, into Cubase
Info: Prelude and Fugue No. 1 has been with me for a long time. I remember sitting next to my dad on the piano bench when I was five years old, my younger sister sitting on the other side of him on the bench, and she and I would ask him to play it over and over again. That was in 1966, which means my dad got this book of music when it was practically "new." When I finally started to learn to play piano, I was motivated to learn it myself, and it was one of my first recital pieces. I think I was eight or nine. A few years after that, I started working on Prelude and Fugue No. 2, and had it well underway in my teen years, though I never played it for anyone until a few years ago... This past summer, I hit my double nickle and for some reason was compelled to look at the other P & F's in the book. Somewhere between 15 and 55, I must have had some kind of cognitive leap, because all of these pieces now make sense to me in a way that they never had before, and they are all delightful in their own mysterious and quirky ways. I'm sorry I did not have no. 3 ready enough to share in time for this recital. By an odd quirk of timing, I was asked to tune the Steinway concert grand at the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center earlier this week, and took the opportunity to record these sweet little pieces on the freshly tuned instrument. It is the first time I have ever had the privilege to tune or play such a piano, and it was a joy! The performance is wobbly in places. But that is par for the course. : )