Week 1: Wanderer over a Sea of Fog! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "The Romantic Era" challenge!
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When is a piece of music romantic for you?
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Napoléon Coste - Op 38 No 1
When I saw the theme of this month's challenge, my first thought was J.K. Mertz. But then Coste came to mind, and I remembered how much I love his 25 Etudes de Genre (Op 38). They are intermediate to advanced in level, and I think they are very beautiful. They strike me as the natural extension of Sor's studies into the Romantic Era. I don't think I'll be able to play them all in this challenge, but I'll start them and see how far I get. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind and move on to something else!
Here are the challenges I had on this first one:
- Avoiding too much squeaking on the bass notes (I'm not sure I handled this too well).
- String damping, both on the bass strings and a bit on the treble strings. I've been working on this skill for a long time now, and I am slowly getting better at it. It's still difficult for me in several places in this piece, though.
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Eric Phillips Very good, Eric. I am fairly new to Coste
(couple of years I think). It surprises me how little his music has been played, considering how good it is. -
Jack Stewart I could not agree more. I’ll try to do my part in rectifying that.
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Eric Phillips Very nice Eric. I've heard of Coste and heard a couple of pieces in the past but I'm not familiar with his music. Looking forward to some other gems from you!
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Derek Thanks, Derek. I think he's under appreciated.
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Eric Phillips That was beautiful, and it was so musical that it didn't sound like an etude at all. (the first few bars reminded me of one of the Beatles' tunes, Michelle?)
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Wai Thanks, Wai. It does sound a bit like Michelle at the beginning. Maybe Coste stole it from the Beatles!
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Eric Phillips Great Eric, you're definitely in your element here! I'm not very familiar with Coste music, that's great you're planing to go through this opus.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise. I'm not planning to do the whole opus right now, just some of my favorites. The whole opus would take me too long, as several of them are quite advanced.
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Eric Phillips lovely! I like Coste
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Eric Phillips I agree with Blaise , it seems that you are comfortable like a fish in the water. You played so nice, thank you!
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Moyses Lopes Thank you, Moyses. By the way, the water is great. Why don't you jump in?
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Eric, outstanding as always! Like Jack, and many others, I have heard far to little of this outstanding composer. Well done, very expressive, nice dynamics in the middle! Bravo!
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Paul Kennedy Thanks, Paul. I wish I were up to playing some of Coste’s major works, but these studies are very enjoyable. More to come.
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Coste - Op 38 No 3
I decided that, rather than just going in order through Coste's Op 38, I would instead go to my favorites. To try to play all of the opus in sequence would be at least a year long adventure for me (if not more).
Number 3 is a really beautiful prelude in D minor. I did make a few changes to Coste's fingering that, in my opinion, make it more legato. I also decided to add some slurs to the repeated figure in measures 5-9. Let me know what you think of the result.
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Eric Phillips That was beautiful, Eric - playing and composition. I look forward to hearing more of his etudes
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. Hoping to post number 4 tomorrow.
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Eric Phillips This is lovely - I look forward to learning more about Coste and Opus 38 looks like a great collection. Bravo!
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Rick Lord Thanks, Rick. It is a great collection.
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Eric Phillips aaww, I love it!
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Eric Phillips Coste is always an old love
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Eric Phillips Just gorgeous Eric. It’s one of my favorites. I might try a recording later….
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joosje Please do! I'd love to hear you play this.
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks, Stefanie. Glad you love Coste.
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Eric Phillips , great! Thank you!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
