Beethoven Sonata Op. 10, No. 3 (all movements)

[jlh]

This is from my senior recital in April 2005. 

Comments/critiques always welcome!

Josh

[quantum]

1st Mvt

Very good, I like your interpretation.  In general all I would have like to heard more is a quieter piano, to give more contrast.  Also a change in colour in some piano sections would be nice.

Bar 53, 233: You could breath a little here with the start of the new motif on beat 3. 

Bar 77 (and similar): With the string of rising sF's, you always pull back on the highest chord with sF.  It makes it sound anti-climatic.  The figurations seem to lead to the highest chord, so if anything give more of an accent.

Bar 124 (start of development):  I would like to hear a change in colour here along with the change from major to minor - perhaps a darker sound than the previous major section.  It's still marked pp here.

Bar 240: Here again, with the change to minor maybe you could change the colour of your tone.

Bar 306 sequence: Here I probably would have like this quiet section with a more subdued sound.  It would lead to an increased effect for the climax to the loud ending.


A great sounding Beethoven interpretation overall.

[jlh]

1st Mvt

Very good, I like your interpretation.  In general all I would have like to heard more is a quieter piano, to give more contrast.  Also a change in colour in some piano sections would be nice.

Thanks for the comments!  My response to the comment on piano is later in this post.

Bar 53, 233: You could breath a little here with the start of the new motif on beat 3. 

Perhaps, but I wanted to be careful with keeping the flow going.  Great suggestion... I'll keep it in mind.

Bar 77 (and similar): With the string of rising sF's, you always pull back on the highest chord with sF.  It makes it sound anti-climatic.  The figurations seem to lead to the highest chord, so if anything give more of an accent.

Thank you for noticing that!  I played it correctly, then... actually much thought went into the way I played those sections with the sF's.  If you play the highest segment louder as you suggest, then it is an abrupt change back down to the marked piano for the next run.  Rather than that, my professor suggested I curve the dynamics softer-louder-softer to give a more flowing feel to that section, and continuously moving dynamics.

Bar 124 (start of development):  I would like to hear a change in colour here along with the change from major to minor - perhaps a darker sound than the previous major section.  It's still marked pp here.

Bar 240: Here again, with the change to minor maybe you could change the colour of your tone.

Bar 306 sequence: Here I probably would have like this quiet section with a more subdued sound.  It would lead to an increased effect for the climax to the loud ending.

Thanks for those suggestions.  The hall was not very good acoustically and this was live, so for the softer sections I made special effort to project for the audience.  I'm sure those sections could have been more subdued, but any softer and I'm afraid the audience wouldn't hear the notes (or the notes themselves wouldn't play).

A great sounding Beethoven interpretation overall.

Awesome, I really appreciate your comments and suggestions!  Thanks!

Josh

[quantum]

Mvt 2:

Good attention to detail in this movement which requires much interpretive input from the performer. 

There were some odd places where you seemed to rush a single 8th - nothing major but it did give the effect of a small hiccup towards the overall pulse.  Bar 31, 1st eighth is an example. 

Bar 21, 56, 76 - I had the impression that there was not enough time taken between the end of the current phrase and the beginning of the new phrase in the second half of the bar.  It sounded a bit rushed.  Also Bar 21 & 56 - That pickup 8th to the new phrase doesn't sound long enough - a bit ambiguous to the value of note length. 

Bar 36 and similar - Those 32nds in the RH are somewhat representative of a person weeping and sobbing.  You could shape them to somewhat mimic that sound.   

Especially in these slow movements, the detail one puts in to every note is quite evident to the listener.  This also includes attention to how one shapes their note releases.  Especially at phrase endings (Eg: bar 29 and final bar), I think it would be beneficial to also taper the release instead of having it cut and dry.  This also gives an additional degree of sonority and resonance to support the body of the main tone.  Experiment with using various degrees of slowly releasing pedal to help control your note releases to give different effects.  The point of using the pedal is that is easier to control lowering the dampers as they begin to mute the string. 

Great playing.

[quantum]

Mvt 3:

Very nice


Mvt 4:

Lovely!  You put a lot of detail into it.  Just watch out for some uneven LH in bar 107. 


Thanks for sharing this.  I've been listening to it several times the past few days. 

What model piano was it you performed on?  Also do you know what mics and recording gear was used?

[jlh]

What model piano was it you performed on?  Also do you know what mics and recording gear was used?

I really appreciate your honest opinions!  Thanks!

The piano was a NY Steinway model D.  I performed this and the other pieces I posted here from my senior recital in a 389 seat recital hall.  I have no idea about the mic or recording gear used, except that it was room miked and not close miked.  The Music Dept. records all the student recitals and I did not hire a 3rd party to record (I considered hiring someone to video record onto a DVD, but cash was running short that semester and I had already paid for the hall and everything).

[Mozartian]

Oooh yes, I remember this- you play it awesomely! You should play more Beethoven.