Schubert-Sonata op. 120 (D664) last mvt

[cloches_de_geneve]

Hi everyone, this is my first apperance here and I look forward to inspirational exchanges.

I know it may sound ridiculous to some of the expert pianists here,  but I find the last movement of this A-major (D664, op. 120 posth.) sonata really tricky, not easy at all! In fact, due to the constant changes in expressive character and technical demands (lots of jumps!) I find it quite frankly more challenging than most of its "big sister" (A-major D959) and even several of the Chopin Etudes.

Am I crazy or does anyone also have a similar experience? And what to do to get this mvt in shape??

[maxy]

Nothing ridiculous.

Schubert can be very tricky.  Very often there is a timeless quality to his music.  Technical difficulties not "mastered", will very easily break that quality.  Schubert did not write to physically accomodate the instrumentists.

Considering this,  Schubert can be considered harder to play than Chopin and Liszt.  But d 664 harder than d 959?  hum...  I don't see how.

[cloches_de_geneve]

It's reassuring to hear what you say. I agree with you that musically 959 is much harder than 664; in fact holding those 40 or 45 minutes of such expressive diversity toghether convincingly borders the impossible. I think my problems with the last mvt 664 boil down to a few passages for which I do not seem to be able to find a convenient fingering - probably I should consult various editions  (I have the Henle Urtext). But even with the fingering problem solved: from bar 52 to 81 (the same later 173 to end) there is just a lot of action and movement which is constantly shifting in character from tough to tender with tricky leaps in the left -- I do not remember such tricky stuff from 959 but I have to admit I played it a long time ago...

[turner]

Well, I haven't played 959, but I can personally vouch for the trickiness of 664.  That last movement can be nasty!  I began with the Peters edition, but then I saw the Schott/ Wiener Urtext edition one time at the library, and found a few redistribution and finger ideas that kind of helped.