Émile Prudent; Piano Concerto No.1 in G min, Op.34 (1850)

[@tuomaspalojarvi3300]

Very worthwhile, rare discovery. Thank you so much for your dedication to this!

[@Darrel_Hoffman]

Thanks for listening, this was a fun one, especially the third movement - even if it took me twice as long as usual. So many notes. Fun to play as well, though I'm not nearly at the level where I could play this in public with an orchestra or anything.

[@4candles]

Great to hear this! Thank you for your work on making it available.

[@Darrel_Hoffman]

Thanks for listening. It's too bad I can't seem to find his second concerto (nicknamed "Prairie"), beyond the solo reduction on IMSLP. I've played it myself (sans orchestra of course) - it's short, only one movement, but there's some good stuff in there.

[@4candles]

@@Darrel_Hoffman Yes it's a pity that 'La Prairie' isn't available in any of the reliable world catalogues - Paris would be the obvious place to start, but it doesn't appear in the France Union Catalogue, so is perhaps either lost or in private ownership.

[@composerjalen]

What software/VST are you currently using to play the MIDI?

[@Darrel_Hoffman]

I do my note-entry in a program called Mozart, which I've found is the fastest and easiest for that of all the programs I've tried. I used to use Mozart exclusively, but (starting from the Kleeberg Concerto) I now export MIDI from that and import it into MuseScore, which gives much better sound quality. I do all the polish now in MuseScore (articulation, ornaments, dynamics), but Mozart is still way faster for the basic note-entry since it can be done entirely from the keyboard, while MuseScore (and most other programs I've seen) require constant switching between mouse and keyboard, or sometimes using both at once, which really slows you down. I know a lot of people use Sibelius, Encore, Finale, Dorico, and a few others, but those are all a bit expensive, while MuseScore is free. (Mozart isn't free either, but I've had it for years - granted I'm a few versions older than their current one.) To be slightly pedantic, the output from MuseScore is not technically MIDI but a newer format called SoundFonts. I think it's still MIDI under the hood, but with some enhancements. MIDI has been around a lot longer, but it has some major limitations - First, you're limited to 16 channels at a time, which these concertos definitely push against. You can share channels and play multiple notes at once, provided they're the same instrument, but if 2 instruments on the same channel need to play the same note but with different lengths, you just can't. This also applies to instruments which can be played in more than one way - e.g. pizzicato vs. arco on strings need to be separate instruments, so you either need to use more channels, or do lots of voice-changes every time it switches. Also it's not possible in MIDI to change the volume mid-note. Not a problem for the piano as real pianos can't do that either, but most of the other instruments can, so that's harder to deal with.