'Moonlight' Sonata

[phil13]

Okay, let's cut through the bullsh*t.

I've heard so much flak on this forum about this piece. Probably because it's been butchered more times than anyone could count. It's been recorded many, many times, and most of them pass it off as little more than a Romantic scribble.

But is there anyone else who still likes this piece, besides me?

Is there anyone else who still plays it, besides me?

Because there's a reason why it survived.

I'm going to do something different here and praise the piece that everyone seems to love to hate. I first started playing piano because of 'Moonlight'. I owe everything that follows to that sonata. It has a mystical aura about it, something that I simply can't resist. And, it was revolutionary for its time, being one of the very few sonatas that began with the slow movement. AND, its opening is so memorable that you can't help but like it (at least at first, judging by what some people say about it now.)

Beethoven may have though he wrote better pieces than it, but certainly he didn't think it was his worst. Do people hate Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C#-minor because he thought it was trite and stupid? No.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I want to hear from all of you who love this sonata as much as I do, who think it deserves a little more respect than it commands here.

Thanks,

Phil

[Kassaa]

Pastorale>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Moonlight.

[stevie]

its still an awesome piece of music, and i thinkt he finale is one of the greatest things beethoven ever wrote, such surging passsion.

[4tissimo]

I'm not a kybd maj., but I love Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata.  Anyone can criticize anything, but I think it'd be a real challenge to compose a piano piece that was any better.

[brewtality]

I'm not a kybd maj., but I love Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata.  Anyone can criticize anything, but I think it'd be a real challenge to compose a piano piece that was any better.

Obviously, but I don't think people (particularly on piano forums) dislike it because it's an inferior composition since clearly it is not. It probably stems from the amount of exposure it gets. Even people who don't know anything about classical music will have heard of it (although I didn't know what it was 2 yrs ago ). Its a good piece, I like Hofmann's recording of it.

[stevie]

try gould for the finale if youre in a hurry.

[rlefebvr]

It's the reason I started playing piano, so you have a friend at your side.

That's even before I heard the third movement.

[quantum]

One of the first classical pieces I ever learned.  I owe much to it, and still love it despite its overplayed. 


Now just don't let some pop music producer hear the Pastorale before the $$$$ appear in his eyes. 

[gaer]

When I was small, I couldn't wait to try it.

Almost all my students love it and can't wait to play it.

I get tired of it, because I heard it so much (in teaching), but I think it's a marvelous sonata.

I believe I was once told that LIszt refused to teach it, that he held it in such high regard that he "kept it for himself". Can anyone confirm this? Or is it just hearsay?

Gary

[bassoonypiano]

I believe Liszt refused to teach it due to it's musical difficulty. Although I am not so sure.

[la_leggierezza]

Okay, let's cut through the bullsh*t.

I've heard so much flak on this forum about this piece. Probably because it's been butchered more times than anyone could count. It's been recorded many, many times, and most of them pass it off as little more than a Romantic scribble.

But is there anyone else who still likes this piece, besides me?

Is there anyone else who still plays it, besides me?

Because there's a reason why it survived.

I'm going to do something different here and praise the piece that everyone seems to love to hate. I first started playing piano because of 'Moonlight'. I owe everything that follows to that sonata. It has a mystical aura about it, something that I simply can't resist. And, it was revolutionary for its time, being one of the very few sonatas that began with the slow movement. AND, its opening is so memorable that you can't help but like it (at least at first, judging by what some people say about it now.)

Beethoven may have though he wrote better pieces than it, but certainly he didn't think it was his worst. Do people hate Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C#-minor because he thought it was trite and stupid? No.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I want to hear from all of you who love this sonata as much as I do, who think it deserves a little more respect than it commands here.

Thanks,

Phil

i play the moonlight sonata (complete) and i love it not only for the first movement, but for the sonata itself. i think that many peolpe just like this sonata because if the first mov and thats why many peolpe play it! i think that s why many people love to hate moonlight sonata. it s played too many times and it s not played well in the great majority of the cases...

[pianistimo]

i like it because i have always had a facination for the moon.  you can feel the magnetic pull that controls the calendar and the tides.  the phases of the moon are interesting, too.  it has a romantic, nostalgic, and amazing place in the solar system because it is so close to earth. everyone who has lived has seen the same moon, and all the romance of the world seems tied to it.  on a clear night with a clear moon, italy is seen and suddenly the three tenors appear.

[steve jones]

I love this sonata, from start to finish. The last movement is great, and the finale stunning (as already mentioned).

The first movement is just beautiful, an absolute classic. I can see why a concert performer would give it miss though, as it must be the biggest cliche in the entire piano rep.

[leahcim]

But is there anyone else who still likes this piece, besides me?

Yes. But it's the butchering thereof - and I include myself in that 

OTOH, if I'm browsing one of these classical mp3 sites and someone is playing it, I listen, so I must like it.

It's quite rewarding to play something that sounds so good, even if it doesn't sound as good as it should, you've got a week to move your left hand, and it's great for seeing that lots of sharp signs in a score aren't a "oh no" because of the repeating patterns.

Far worse than people like me playing it are those that transcribe it to A minor and call it "easy" because it defeats a, imo, worthwhile purpose of playing it before you should.

Similarly with Fur Elise, the right hand / left hand stuff largely alternates, so you can play it before you can play hands together.

Both most folk know it too or probably have recordings of it  - which is typically not the case in the obscure "how can we sell CDs of pieces 25 bars long for the same price as concertos" ABRSM books.

There's the name thing too - especially stuff like "should sound like moonlight bouncing off a river" stuff. It's like if he did say "read the Tempest", which is debated, he probably didn't say "read the title of the Tempest or just look up "tempest" in a dictionary" - if it'd been Hamlet it'd be "Try to make it sound like a small village"