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Topic: Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement  (Read 7868 times)

Offline xhunterjx

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Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement
on: December 12, 2006, 11:43:34 AM
Please Criticize.
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Offline piano121

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Re: Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement
Reply #1 on: December 12, 2006, 07:34:30 PM
Absolutely beautifull. I´m very impressed with this recording. Great clarity, evenness. Very good dinamics. it´s a wonderfull interpretation of Beethoven.

Offline kd

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Re: Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement
Reply #2 on: December 12, 2006, 09:07:34 PM
I like it, it's such a nice and lively movement, though it obviously doesn't come from any "giant" sonata. I find your performance already very good, there were a few slips here and there, but I think you caught well the "soul" of this piece, you have quite a clear vision how you want to play it.
Perhaps you should think about acquiring better recording equipment. The outcome would definitely sound much better then. Now, the dynamics sounds a bit "flat" though you certainly use a wider range while playing.
If you are going to polish this movement in every detail, here's what I would think about:

Bar 7 (also 129): The C in RH is a bit too loud, there's no sf here.

Bar 12: LH is somewhat misty (recording quality?), I don't think you should use pedal here, this is a place for a clear beginning of the quiet passage.

Bar 32: There is C#E in RH on the 1st beat, not only C#.

Bars 38 & 42 (also 160 & 164): There's also a sf in LH, which doesn't perhaps to be as loud as in the preceding bar, but it should "stick out" from the melody in RH.

Bars 44 & 45: Watch out, there should be clear pauses in LH (while there is no pause in bar 45 in RH).

Bars 48 & 49: A small suggestion that the notes on the 3rd beat be a little shorter, so that it is clear that there's a pause on the 1st beat.

Bar 50-51: What you start at bar 51 should be at the same forte as the preceding octaves, otherwise there's no continuity.

Bars 59-66 (and similar bars later): The whole thing probably is too misty with the pedal. I would rather try holding LH on the 1st beat note as long as possible, and then make a clear sforzando on the 2nd (note that 2nd and 3rd beats are marked staccato while the 1st is not).

Bars 64-67 (also 88-91): More dynamic contrast would be nice here.

Bars 119-122: I don't understand the accents in LH, I think that this F#-D-F#-D-..., 12 notes in total, should be seen as a four groups of three, not three groups of four, or the whole thing isn't compatible with RH and the listeners will lose the rhythm here.

Bar 123: Try to make the return of the initial time more lively and optimistic.

Bar 134: Something strange with LH happens here.

Bars 139-144: Dynamics in RH becomes slightly unsteady.

Bars 156 & 160: Too loud. Everything is marked p here, sforzandos occur in the meantime (e.g in bars 158 & 162).

Bar 167: As in bar 45, you could make a clear distinction between LH (with the pause) and RH (without).

Bars 200-201 (ending): The LH note remains for too long. There should be no pedal here and the G in LH should be kept only for the 1st beat. With this G sounding longer you lose the effect of "disappearing into the fog" which is very important for ending of this particular movement.

But of course by all this above I'm not trying to diminish your really good work.
Are you going to learn the remaining two movements and perhaps perform the whole sonata one day?

Offline xhunterjx

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Re: Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement
Reply #3 on: December 12, 2006, 10:36:25 PM
Thanks for your feedback KD.

I do not plan to finish this sonata.  I never really cared for it that much in the first place, and am working on the op. 2 no. 3 for a complete sonata. I am recording all of these pieces for an audition to a performing arts highschool in North Carolina, US.  Unfortunately, my access to recording equipment is limited.  Surprisingly, the piano in the recording is a 9 foot concert steinway at the music school I attend.  Even though it doesn't sound that way. :)

Offline kd

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Re: Beethoven Op. 79 -First Movement
Reply #4 on: December 13, 2006, 12:15:39 AM
So have fun with op. 2/3. This is a larger work, definitely requiring a lot of time to complete, but it can give more satisfaction. Some time ago I worked on the 1st movement.
You might have a look at an old recording of mine:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,17159.msg183803.html#msg183803
Now from the perspective I see how crappy it was (both the performance itself - technically it was far from being perfect, and the recording method I used - I also experience the problem of accessing better equipment).
At least for me, the thing with recording is that it's easy to point out smaller and bigger things that should be corrected while listening, but it's very hard to remember all these small things when playing. So I know where I want to get better yet the number of such places makes full improvement very hard. From the recording you posted I infer such things are a lot easier for you than for me.
Actually I got this movement to a more advanced point, and then for some reason I can't recall exactly I abandoned the plan to tackle the whole sonata. Perhaps that's because I'm not planning to audition anywhere in the near future, so I play for my pleasure and sometimes I don't have enough motivation to deal with all these small details (so when I record myself I'm not very proud of what I make :) ).

Hope you'll have a good time with your new sonata.
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