Help me choose which Beethoven - Op 110 or 32 C minor variations

[dinosaurtales]

I have not yet received the music, nor heard the variations, so I have no basis to go on yet, BUT......

I LOVE Op 110.  Can anybody tell me a bit about its history?  Was Beethoven stone deaf yet? Or was he in the process?  Did he know he was sick?  That piece is soooooo sad, it's a bit unlike most other Beethoven sonatas, which may be dark, but more "relentless" or "in fits".  This one is quite different, and beautiful.  I am trying to figure out if I can pull it off.  I did the Appassionata a couple of years ago and did (if I do say so myself) a good job of it.  Do you think this one is a good candidate given that?

What do you all know about the variations - cool?  Better?

[TheHammer]

noone?

Well, Beethoven worked on the sonata between 1819 to 1821. Which means he was deaf, indeed.
It is indeed a very melancholic piece, a bit of a circle, it seems to me (first movement appears very balanced, very calm, all is fine, but sad. Second movement destroys this a bit, although at first listening it doesn't seem to be an "aggressive" mov., it just doesn't really fit the mood of the first. Third movement tries to find the balance again, first the recitativi and the Arioso seem to mourn about the lost 1st mov. Not until the first fugue tries to regain this calm feeling of the first movement - albeit with completely other means. It nearly prevails, but again the Arioso tempo (Ermattet, klagend = exhausted, lamenting). Finally, the first mood is recaptured (and surpassed) after the second part of the Fugue. (<-- just my two cents).
Oh, another thing. If you want to do some further work on analyzing Beethoven (which I haven't done), you could compare this sonata to certain passages of "Missa Solemnis" or even his late Bagatelles (sorry, can't help you with this, but if you look at op.119 nr. 11, you will see what I mean... there are many similarities between, say, measure 3 of the Bagatelle and the first two measures of the sonata).

Anyway, technically it should not present any problems considering you already mastered op. 57. I think both are more or less equal in technical difficulty (depends on each individual, but they are comparable).

Cannot say too much about the Variations. Not that they would be bad or something, they are sure worth learning, and are perhaps not played as often as the  op. 110 (although this one isn't overplayed, cannot be, is too beautiful).
Beside this, I would take the sonata over nearly any other piece of music (hehe, except some other LvB sonatas...). Seriously, if your only concern is to play the better piece of music, you have no other choice than op. 110. Go for it!

[jehangircama]

I have a similar question: the ATCL exam has both op10 no.1 and 32 variations C minor. Which one do you think I should do? btw the programme I'm working on looks like this:
Beethoven op.10 no.1 sonata/ C minor 32 variations
Rachmaninov Preludes no.s 5 and 10.
Chopin Fantasie impromptu op.66

What do you think of it? Any comments would be appreciated. thanks.

[anda]

op.110 is definitely much much more difficult than the 32 variations (at least for me it was). the variations, taken separately, are quite simple technically, and (except for a few of them) also musically. visit pianosociety.com, there are 2 recordings (if my memory serves me right) of the variations there - not he best, but sinadinovici's should give you a pretty clear idea. also, radu lupu has a very interesting (to be read: strange, good and yet...) recording of these variations - i don't like it much (but then again, it's a matter of taste)

very good point about the bagatelles op. 119; just one more thought: during his last period, beethoven was quite "obsessed" about string quartetes, which i find reflects in all his last three sonatas (109,110,111) - esp on voicing and polyphonic matters (and moe, but i can't find my way in english, sorry)

jehangircama: is there a time limit for this programme? you should take into consideration that op.10/1 is about 2.5 times longer than the variations.

best luck

(ps: all the above - personal thoughts/experience)

[jehangircama]

I think its supposed to be about 30-40 minutes

[stevie]

the variations arent as profound, but theyre lots of fun!