Saman by Ólafur Arnalds - Day 1101 Progress

Here is Saman by Ólafur Arnalds. When he composed this piece he posted the score to Twitter before the release of actual audio and it is a great thread to look through. There are a few talented pianists that produced quality renditions from the score alone before hearing the piece as intended by the composer. Both the thread and the score are here: https://twitter.com/OlafurArnalds/status/1014840741418426368

Ólafur Arnalds is Icelandic and Saman means "Together". I take this to be a (very short) allegory for the fact that the piece gets both of your hands working together.

People who follow by ramblings closely will recall that I said that To Zanarkand was a masterclass in how not to learn a piece. Saman is another of my abandoned pieces from early in my piano studies (I think I made it half way through the first page). When I came to re-approach this piece recently I tried to do it 'correctly'. Lots of slow practice. Very deep score engagement (I can't perform it without the score). It stands as a polar opposite to To Zanarkand in that regard. Oddly, I tried to record it before heading away with the family for Easter holidays and could not get a clean take which is pretty unusual for me. I recorded two other pieces on first take in the same session but emptied the rest of the camera's battery into SFA for recording this. I think that is probably because the piece is at the limit of my abilities (the others weren't).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my performance.

This was bounced out of my Kawai GX-2 Aures 2 as MIDI into Pianoteq 8. I used the Blüthner cinematic but dialed the hammer hardness way back to produce a soft and mellow sound.