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Topic: Beethoven - Appassionata  (Read 5880 times)

Offline bflatminor24

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Beethoven - Appassionata
on: May 17, 2006, 04:44:15 AM
Hey guys,

I'm a senior at Palo Alto High School. I'm going to be studying pre-law, and piano is my favorite hobby. I don't aim to become a professional. I just love to play.

I have a pretty extensive repertoire right now but I figured I'd post an old recording of mine, just the third movement of Beethoven's Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57. Tell me what you guys think!

Some recent pieces include:
Chopin: Etudes 10/4, 10/12, 25/11
Liszt: Paganini Etude No. 3 in G sharp minor "La Campanella"
         Transcendental Etude No. 4 in D minor "Mazeppa"
         Concert Etude No. 3 in D flat major "Un Sospiro"
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 3 No. 2 in C sharp minor
                       Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor
                       Prelude Op. 32 No. 10 in B minor
                       Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 4 in E minor
Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata"

If anyone is interested I can post other recordings of Chopin/Liszt/Rachmaninoff/Debussy.

Thanks! Feel free to criticize!

-Max
My favorite piano pieces - Liszt Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Hammerklavier, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Alkan's Op. 39 Etudes, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor.
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Offline piano121

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #1 on: May 17, 2006, 01:26:22 PM
Hi. Thatīs amazing. I love the way you reach a climax towards the end of the piece. You captured the spirit very well. Thatīs better than some pro recordings iīve heard, great playing.

Offline piano121

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #2 on: May 17, 2006, 01:27:43 PM
BTW, please post your other stuff. Iīm curious about it. Due to your level on beethoven, i must expect great stuff.

Offline airasia

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #3 on: May 17, 2006, 02:51:28 PM
How in the world did you have an old recording that had sound quality that good?  This sounds like a professional studio recording.

Offline airasia

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #4 on: May 17, 2006, 03:01:21 PM
In any case, it is very good overall, not really professional, a little bit too many mistakes, but the amazing sound quality hides many of them anyway.  It is still very good if you like a slower, less breathtaking version of the piece, which I don't prefer.  The only part that I have a problem with really is right before the arpeggios in the end, the rhythm is a little weird.  I'm glad someone had the guts to finally post this piece, I was going to if no one did.

Offline da jake

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #5 on: May 17, 2006, 04:27:32 PM
Really nice. Post more!
"The best discourse upon music is silence" - Schumann

Offline nicco

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #6 on: May 17, 2006, 04:41:52 PM
piano is your hobby and you play campanella, mazeppa and appassionata? These are some of the more demanding works for solo piano, so if you playing these like a "hobby" then its pretty amazing... For how long did you have a teacher?
"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Offline bflatminor24

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #7 on: May 17, 2006, 08:14:42 PM
Hey guys,

Piano is my favorite hobby and I'm really enthusiastic about it. I still have a lot to learn though, as you can see from my signature there are a few pieces I hope to play before I die (Godowsky's Passacaglia, Beethoven's Hammerklavier and Op. 111, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Chopin Sonata 2 and 3, Liszt B minor sonata, Alkan's Symphony, Gaspard de la nuit, and some others).

I've taken lessons for eleven years, and to be honest I wasn't serious about piano until my sophomore year in high school. The reason the sound quality is good is because this was done at a recording studio where I take lessons, for part of my college audition. So all the pieces have great quality. But please, I didn't want the good sound quality to cover up my mistakes as a pianist! Please, give me suggestions. If it wasn't breathtaking enough or I messed up the rhythm or whatever, let me know. I still have tons to learn.

I'm going to post one more recording, this one from my summer at Northwestern's National High School Music Institute. I think it needs to be a bit faster... but this was almost a year ago so it doesn't represent where I am now. Appreciate feedback as always. Thanks guys!

** Must add, doesn't the Godowsky Passacaglia kick ass? It is so underrated. Listen to Rian de Waal or Marc-Andre Hamelin rock this piece.
My favorite piano pieces - Liszt Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Hammerklavier, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Alkan's Op. 39 Etudes, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor.

Offline instromp

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #8 on: May 17, 2006, 09:16:54 PM
Oh my, :o ::)
so i listened to the Appassionata, which was convincing

And then i listened listened to the Chopin Etude which made me kind of suspicious and in the Tag editor it says the pianist is Tony MaCalpine, and i looked him up and he is a famous guitarist as well as a great pianist.
And this sounds exactly like his recording  https://www.mp3search.ru/m3u.html?id=84112

Hmmmmm, now why would you post this?
the metranome is my enemy

Offline bflatminor24

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #9 on: May 17, 2006, 09:29:54 PM
Oops, wrong file. Thanks!

Fixed it, here it is.
My favorite piano pieces - Liszt Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Hammerklavier, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Alkan's Op. 39 Etudes, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor.

Offline instromp

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #10 on: May 17, 2006, 09:48:12 PM
Oops, wrong file. Thanks!

Fixed it, here it is.

Ok thats better,i thought u were trying to pull a fast one,lol ;D ::)

Anyway, i think there were some missed here and there, couldnt really tell that much, but it was slower than regular tempo, i guess that must have been from a while ago. But great attempt at it :D, would like to hear it again when u have the speed up to par. Best wishes!

instromp
the metranome is my enemy

Offline dickreuter

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #11 on: May 18, 2006, 12:26:07 PM
Appassionate is superb but I don't like the Etude.

As I play the etude myself (see earlier postings in the forum) I can comment on it a bit:

- try to practice slowly as many passages are not precise yet
- try to bring some fire in it (especially on the 2nd page and at the end)

But it's a great start and if you keep on working on it you'll bring it to the level you got appassionata I guess.

Good luck!

Offline airasia

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #12 on: May 18, 2006, 02:58:03 PM
The wrong notes throughout Appassionata are pretty minor, I really have no problem with them at all.  Wrong notes here and there don't mean much to me at all, as long as it is effective overall.  For example the best recording in my opinion is Richter's live performance in Prague because he captures the spirit of the piece and plays with reckless abandon, even though he messes up some notes here and there. 

Offline bflatminor24

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #13 on: May 18, 2006, 06:20:16 PM
I definitely didn't have the etude up to par...I spent about two weeks learning it, whereas the entire Beethoven Sonata took me about a year. Guess that goes to show that practice does pay off.

As soon as a I record Campanella, Sospiro, and Mazeppa I can post those as well, if anyone is interested. Thanks for the helpful comments guys.
My favorite piano pieces - Liszt Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Hammerklavier, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Alkan's Op. 39 Etudes, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor.

Offline pianokid16

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #14 on: May 18, 2006, 10:30:04 PM
Impressive playing :o

Offline gouldfan

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #15 on: May 19, 2006, 03:42:25 AM
Wow !  Can you play piano or can you play piano ?  Wonderful music, impressive playing.  I'd love to hear more recordings from you !!

Offline dickreuter

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #16 on: May 22, 2006, 02:24:46 PM
Do you remember what kind of Grand Piano you were using when recording? Also I'd like to know how big the room was.

many thanks
Nicolas

Offline zheer

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Re: Beethoven - Appassionata
Reply #17 on: June 18, 2006, 08:28:41 AM
Great tempo, not too fast not too slow, however something went wrong on bar 206 - 211 . Anyway good luck with your piano playing.
" Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends" - Tom Cruise -
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