The Solo Recital

Mark had his solo piano recital on Saturday August 27, 2011. He had several songs he has been working on. He and his teacher settled on six songs for him to play. The recital was at his teacher's house and about 35 people were in attendance.

We wondered if the recital would actually happen since we had an attack of stomach flu the days leading up to the recital. Most of us were over it by showtime, but it was touch and go for a while.

Lauren made the programs for the recital



Mark warming up before the recital



Mark playing Brahms at the recital

 I have uploaded videos of each song to vimeo. The links below will take you to the videos. The times of each piece are listed next to the link. (We also have an audio recording of the recital that is a little better audio quality than the video. If anyone is interested in the audio only, I can make it available to you.)

Mark talked a little bit to start the recital. He played three songs, took a little break and then played the final three songs. He talked briefly before each song. I have added some of his interesting comments. They are direct quotes, so they are in the first person.  Click on the links below and press play on the Vimeo site to watch the videos.

Debussy Arabesque No. 1 (4:05 - Missed the first few seconds of the piece)

"From this point on all of the pieces I'm playing are generally in chronological order. I'm starting with Beethoven. He lived during the 1700s and 1800s"

Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 No. 1 in C Minor (5:16)

"The next piece is Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor. This is one of the hardest pieces I've learned to date and it's the longest one in the recital."

Chopin Ballade No. 1 in G Minor (8:54)

"Now we're going to take a short break, for my sake mostly."

"An Intermezzo is a lullaby"

Brahms Intermzzo Op. 117 No. 1 in E-Flat (4:16 - Missed the first few seconds of this piece)

"As we get nearer to the present, the composers start to get a little... weirder. It's less regular harmonies than we are used to, so these last two pieces are kind of an acquired taste. This next piece is the most contemporary piece I'm going to be playing."

Ginastera Danza de la Moza Denosa (3:19)

"Yes it's supposed to end like that."

"This last piece is another one of my favorite pieces and hard pieces. It's also really long. It has a lot of different themes so don't applaud until you're sure its over because it sounds like it's over a few times."

Prokofiev Sonata No. 3 in A Minor (7:48)

He got a standing ovation when he was done.

He did awesome. We are proud of him.