Prokofiev: String Quartet No.2, 1st Movement (Solo Piano Reduction)

[@j.thomas1420]

Oh it's like a new sonata... Amazing

[@EggMCMUFFIN-e4l]

String Quartets are like sonatas in their form

[@j.thomas1420]

@@EggMCMUFFIN-e4l Yeah it's build like a sonata, same goes for symphonies

[@yeetthebeet]

sounds so cool on piano

[@Musicforever60]

Just wait, there'll be even cooler stuff to come

[@RichardASalisbury1]

Having heard your reduction of a mvt. from the 1st quartet, I had to listen to this, from Prokoviev's 2nd SQ, which I love even more. Thanks!

[@benharmonics]

I have to admit, when I saw what piece you'd chosen I had doubts, but your piano version is as convincing as I could imagine this piece can be on piano. In fact, the piano allows textures to be clearer, while the most rich and haunting parts, including 2:48 and 3:45, still sound appropriately rich and haunting. As always your virtuosity at both playing and page turning is impressive, as 5:05 and 5:16 demonstrate. On an unrelated note, the camera seems more zoomed in than usual. I'd love to know what other string quartets you've played, and you might laugh at this, but when I see Prokofiev transcriptions my mind always goes straight to Romeo and Juliet...

[@Musicforever60]

On the camera zoom, I set it up differently every time, so it just happened to be slightly more zoomed in

[@benharmonics]

@Musicforever60 I see

[@trees1]

This is a composer’s full score reading skill.

[@3m1ly.C0x]

one of my pianist friends sent me this… i’m a double bassist, but i have a huge affinity for string quartets. this is really incredible! it was so interesting to hear it in a different timbre and played so musically and accurately as well. really great job

[@brynjaraamfuglestad]

PROKOFIEV HELL YEAH!!!

[@iclodnelcutjwldlrow6386]

indeed

[@lylecohen1638]

Excellent transcription and playing! Interestingly, this quartet shares a theme with Myaskovsky's 23rd symphony, as both were composed during World War II, when the foremost Soviet composers were temporarily relocated to the then-Kabardin Autonomous Oblast for their safety, where Prokofiev and Myaskovsky both found folk tunes to use in their works. This quartet is also, to my knowledge, one of only two instances of Prokofiev using non-original themes, together with the overture on Jewish themes.

[@Petrospect1ve]

My favorite string quartet. Instantly subscribed and liked! Amazing work.

[@gururkeremsakar9812]

just waiting for the last movement !! keep going :)

[@zekeyeager445]

must be easy for you to read since you're used to reading sorabji's music. as usual, bravo Eric!

[@Mingled_RiverOWO]

Wonderful performance! ❤ Its nice that you included the original score for the strings :D

[@kofiLjunggren]

Oh sooo cool! Please do the first string quartet!:)

[@panickingbaguette9382]

Highly recommend the works of Villa-Lobos. Seems like something you’d enjoy

[@FueganTV]

Sounds great. And what a fun piece!

[@ausseamore8386]

Brilliantly done👍👍👍👍🎆🎆

[@seheyt]

Absolute insanity. You won the score-playing class. It's impossible to enumerate all the praise I could have. So let me just assert proof that I did watch and listen carefully enough to forgive you tiny error in 0:17 (b-flat instead of b-natural in viola) which you did correct in the reprise at 4:55

[@950name]

wow, i recently tried to transcribe the 1 part of rach 1 for solo piano in similar way while trying not to remove or add any notes to the original two piano version. Anyway, i think this opens many possibilities for extending the repertoire which is extremely cool. Also it's very interesting to see how all these pieces would feel and sound on a solo piano, so looking forward to hearing the remaining 5 pieces

[@KaikhosruShapurjiMedtner]

Awesome!

[@louisdeschamps4387]

sight read the alto clef is crazy

[@klop4228]

If we're doing string quartets on piano, maybe it's very basic, but I'd love to hear Beethoven's Große Fuge. But that's sort of a fundamental part of my state of being - I'm always looking for a new excuse to listen to that piece :P

[@Musicforever60]

There's already a solo piano transcription for that but it's not that great (obviously because it's reduced a lot). I checked that out probably a year ago

[@klop4228]

@@Musicforever60 I had a go at it myself and gave up about a third of the way into the first fugue haha. But it's one of those pieces I just love and love to hear alternate versions of. (Not to self-promote, but if you check out my uploads you'll see further proof of it haha.) In any case, it's one of the dude's Masterpieces, and imo one of the best chamber works in general.

[@stravinskyfan]

new challange: now do THE 3rd Movement!

[@Musicforever60]

It's probably be quite unsatisfying to play since, in many spots, nearly half of the notes need to be omitted to be playable. Even with 4-hands or 2-piano, it'd be impractical.

[@ţťþtţtt]

BREAK WAS WORTH IT.

[@zswu31416]

Will you ever transcribe Shostakovich string quartet 8 mvt 2?? I'd love to hear that!!

[@Musicforever60]

Already looked into that one and likely no, since I'd have to omit nearly half of the notes in some places to make it playable. Also, I'm a huge fan of the symphonies but not the string quartets.

[@manuhariharan4983]

Have you ever thought of playing Agosti's transcription of the Firebird for solo piano?

[@Musicforever60]

I learned that about 7 years ago

[@junehyoungKim-g4l]

Noice

[@FeZz810]

Think you can sight read symphonies?

[@Musicforever60]

Why sightread it when you can reduce it first

[@duqueadriano0081]

you should change the title to "playing a string quartet on the piano". Most people wont see the full title bc its too big. Other than that, amazing playing. keep up my king

[@Musicforever60]

Thanks for the heads up, though from my analytics, most people find the video through their homepage and it's fully visible there, so it shouldn't be an issue

[@samaritan29]

can you play medtner piano quintet solo piano

[@Musicforever60]

That has an accompanying piano part already

[@samaritan29]

@@Musicforever60 i meant to play all 5 parts piano solo so it be like another piano sonata

[@Musicforever60]

I looked at it and it's definitely not happening since the piano part must critically stay uncompromised and the strings are also playing in register out of range to incorporate. In addition, string quartets work because the timbres are homogeneous.

[@fazliddinerkaboyev6568]

Try Busoni sonatinas, please.

[@pianista-mediocre]

What do you think of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony? Do you think it would work in a piano transcription? (I don't think so, since the work depends a lot on specific timbres and some things that can't be done on solo piano)

[@Musicforever60]

I absolutely loved that symphony many years ago (and maybe still do), but there's no way solo piano will be able to replicate the scale of sound or specific timbres.

[@pianista-mediocre]

@Musicforever60 Technically, it also seems impossible to me. Especially the end of the second movement.

[@Piotr-jx4bu]

Was it very difficult techanically?

[@Musicforever60]

I'm gonna say, if you've played some of Sorabji's easier repertoire, then this is quite easy. I'm not being condescending, it's just it's like reading four staves and also there's a lot of voice continuity and hand jumps that are not present in conventional repertoire. For the other ones I've "transcribed", it's just extremely difficult regardless of whatever repertoire you've played, though it's also just the string quartets I've chosen that makes it difficult. Obviously, there's a lot of classical-era string quartets that are quite easy.

[@stravinskyfan]

do you have the sheet?