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?
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Over the last three days I have been focused on learning the first 28 measures of Gilulianni's "Le Rose" from "Choix de mes fleurs chéries, Op. 46, No. 9. I've been working on fingering choices and just trying to get a feel for each of the phrases. It is a masterful composition and satisfying to play! I will need to connect the phrases more carefully and avoid getting too sloppy with the tempo as the notes becomes more familiar in my hands. I'll plan on posting up a follow up video in a day or two to share my progress.
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Rick Lord What an incredible start, Rick! Such beautiful tone and phrasing! When you go dolce (like at 0:35) my heart melts. Thanks for the score - this is one I’d like to play someday too.
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric - it is definitely a heart melting piece with one gorgeous phrase after another. You should definitely have a go at this piece. Loving the Coste studies you are working up and have them on my list now.
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Rick Lord That was wonderful, Rick. I am usually not a fan of Giuliani but this is really beautiful. This piece has an emotional depth that I don't frequently find in Giuliani. ( I am in the process of re-evaluating my opinion of Giuliani). Really looking forward to your progress on this.
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack. I must admit that I have not spent much time with Giuliani's compositions but learning this piece has like you, sparked my interest. I do have a brilliant recording of John Williams playing Giluliani's Concerto No. 1 in A Major, Op. 30. It also has Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata in A minor on the album as well - good listening for this Romantic Era challenge!
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Rick Lord Oh my god, so beautiful, it's like there's a little soprano sitting in your guitar singing the most beautiful arias! Incredible job; I especially enjoyed the little tenuti where you went up the neck to create these shining highlights! Amazing!!!
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Rick Lord how beautiful!!!
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Eric Phillips mine too!
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Martin Thank you Martin. This is really a piece that offers a singing melody and the little soprano is trying to make the most of it. As for the arpeggiated run and tenuto, that's a little trick I learned from Matt Palmer's brilliant performance of this piece. A little flash never hurts right?
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks Stefanie, it is an inspiring piece and enjoyable to learn.
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Rick Lord Superb interpretation, Rick! So lyrical! Thank you for the experience!
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Moyses Lopes Thanks Moyses - glad to share this beautiful piece.
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Rick Lord wow, that’s heartbreakingly beautiful. Thank you sooo much, Rick, for these moments of pleasure for the ears - and soul!
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Rick Lord that's indeed a beautiful piece of Giuliani and you already play it so well!! Do you know any of the others from the same opus, I wonder if any are at the same level of quality? I can't wait to hear it in a couple of days
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Rick Lord That was breathtaking, both the performance and recording quality were all professional level. Thank you for sharing, it was really inspiring!
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Rick Lord This is beautiful Rick. I've not heard it before - well played. I enjoyed, listening to it.
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Rick Lord Beautiful Rick! This is a very nice piece; my favorite of the Flower Suite (my name for his pieces named after flowers, not his).
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joosje Blaise Laflamme Wai Derek Paul Kennedy Thank you all for listening and for your kind comments. Hope to get the full piece up by this weekend. Enjoying all the wonderful submissions and exposure to beautiful repertoire that everyone is playing.
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Coste - Op 38 No 8 (May 4 initial attempt)
I'm now moving on to the eighth study in this opus (sorry Martin , I thought it was number 9 in my reply to you yesterday). This one is a considerably more difficult piece of music, and will take me a while to get it up to speed. In the video below, I have made some fingering choices (which I have already changed) and practiced it for about an hour. It's quite slow and full of mistakes.
I'm sorry the video is so long. The new material ends around 3:15. After that is a repeat of the A section already played.
In the upcoming days, I hope to break the piece into sections and practice each section more intensively. I have quite a few obligations over the next few days, so I'm not sure when my next post will be.
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Eric Phillips Great start, Eric. This looks really challenging. Not only is there a lot of leaps, the music itself is tricky to hold together. /You've got a good grasp of it.Looking forward to your progress.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. It is challenging, but when played well, it is very effective. I'll see if I can get it there.
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Eric Phillips I have no doubt you will.
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Eric Phillips Another wonderful piece - you amaze me with how much music you can learn in such a short time. Sounding quite solid already.
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Rick Lord Thanks, Rick. The pace might slow down a bit in the next few days as I have a lot on the calendar.
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Eric Phillips this is so lovely.! Nice change of colors. I’m looking forward to hearing your progress on this piece. It’s a very rich musical miniature.
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Eric Phillips what a step between this one and the previous one? Coste forgot to fill the gap! The musical material is becoming interesting and your playing too, great Eric!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
