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Topic: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta  (Read 8107 times)

Offline pianowolfi

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Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
on: December 03, 2006, 07:36:44 PM
Here is the second movement of Beethoven's sonata op. 111. I'm looking forward to your comments :)

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Offline counterpoint

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #1 on: December 03, 2006, 07:43:03 PM
It's the 1st movement  ???
If it doesn't work - try something different!

Offline pianowolfi

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #2 on: December 03, 2006, 08:08:47 PM
It's the 1st movement  ???

I apologize, it's fixed now. :P

Offline counterpoint

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #3 on: December 03, 2006, 09:46:19 PM
Yes, now that's the movement, I expected  :D

What came me to mind, when hearing this Arietta:

puh, so much reverb (from the room). That's totally disturbing for me. But that's a problem of the recording, not of your playing (except that you used this much pedal - I don't hope so)

In my opinion it was too fast right from the beginning and the crescendi were too dramatic on the first page - the tempo marking says Adagio, molto semplice  . The Boogie-part was played very nice  :D
Then the pp part too fast again and the rests were not audible, hopefully only because of the room acoustics.

Oh I forgot, generally I would shape the left hand more, not only accompanying but nearly as important as the soprano voice.

Nice trills!
If it doesn't work - try something different!

Offline pianowolfi

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #4 on: December 03, 2006, 10:43:40 PM
Yes, now that's the movement, I expected  :D

What came me to mind, when hearing this Arietta:

puh, so much reverb (from the room). That's totally disturbing for me. But that's a problem of the recording, not of your playing (except that you used this much pedal - I don't hope so)

In my opinion it was too fast right from the beginning and the crescendi were too dramatic on the first page - the tempo marking says Adagio, molto semplice  . The Boogie-part was played very nice  :D
Then the pp part too fast again and the rests were not audible, hopefully only because of the room acoustics.

Oh I forgot, generally I would shape the left hand more, not only accompanying but nearly as important as the soprano voice.

Nice trills!


Yes you're right about the reverb. It's the room. I was alone in a hall for 500 people with anyway difficult acoustics.
 I as well noticed the weakness of the left hand, when I listened again to it after 2 years now. The bass notes should come out more often. Strange, when i listened to it yesterday I thought the tempo was rather at the slow side, but ok, there are different interpretations. I like the thirty-second triplets a little veloce, leggiero, not too worming.

Thank you for taking time to listen and comment!

Offline counterpoint

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #5 on: December 03, 2006, 11:35:37 PM
Strange, when i listened to it yesterday I thought the tempo was rather at the slow side, but ok, there are different interpretations. I like the thirty-second triplets a little veloce, leggiero, not too worming.

You know, I like extreme slow tempi, often it can't be slow enough for me  :D

For me, the Arietta (what a strange name for such a piece!) has an aura of catacombs,
a creepy, anxious  atmosphere, no real life, and then this sudden wild  dance of the skeletons...     whoooooo... shudder...
If it doesn't work - try something different!

Offline pianowolfi

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #6 on: December 03, 2006, 11:52:27 PM
You know, I like extreme slow tempi, often it can't be slow enough for me  :D

For me, the Arietta (what a strange name for such a piece!) has an aura of catacombs,
a creepy, anxious  atmosphere, no real life, and then this sudden wild  dance of the skeletons...     whoooooo... shudder...


Yeah haha ;D that is one of the aspects. I think it's all about death somehow. The whole sonata. The heaven's aspect comes in too in the arietta, for me. The transition between life and another dimension. I like the name Arietta. Perhaps Beethoven wanted to say something special with giving that name to it?

Offline opus57

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #7 on: October 11, 2007, 10:03:29 AM
Very nice played. You should know I'm a fan of fast tempi...

And the reverb isn't that horrible: your playing is a strong counterbalance  :)
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Though you can do what you want, you can't want what you want. (indeed a very confusing truth)

Offline pianistimo

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #8 on: October 11, 2007, 01:39:04 PM
very heartfelt playing.  it makes one feel the weight of whatever is 'weighty.'  the tempo sounds 'ariettaish.'  i like how you express so much in the simplicity of beethoven's chordal scheme here.  great contrasts!

Offline pianowolfi

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Re: Beethoven op. 111, Arietta
Reply #9 on: October 11, 2007, 03:50:11 PM
Thank you both for listening and commenting :) Yeah it's been a while since I played that last time. I will refresh someday. Since I am in a process of redefining myself as an interpreter I am trying to grab everything new.
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