i like it too! a lot of thought and carefulness to the ideas. i think beethoven had the flexibility you show here with the tempos - and doesn't have to be so 'straight.' maybe his earlier sonatas were 'straighter' - but you seem to show that not only composition was taking a dramatic turn here - but the tempo connections are looser and freer. like free-associations.
Thats a beautiful song
dang! Well thanx for the msgs. about the piano though i posted it in another. It is one of the best in town. it is a 9 foot german steinway with a terrific action, it is the piano of one of the big series and it has been played many time by shura cherkassky amongst others greats. trust me, it is a top notch piano. what happened was shortly before recording (becois i know the guy that used to be the concert director) they were moving it somewhere and they DROPPED IT. it was on its side and it fell onto its lid. the lid broke and i had to record without a lid which made the sound brighter according to my engineer because it wasnt directed and was just lots of room noise in addition to piano sound according to him. they only have one guy who is allowed to tune it and he wasnt around, and i wasnt allowed to hire anyone else to tune it. trust me, this is a top notch piano that can do anything you want, but i came at the wrong time. i was stubborn and insisted to record on this piano even though all the problems, just because i love it that much. there you have it!
Respect all in all! This is a piece that mercilessly shows everything of the performing individual, I think. So it's a certain risk to post a rec of it. I like the fast and furious approach in the Allegro part of the first movement. Yes it's fast and it's good like that though I heard several slower interpretations. "wrong notes? Don't care about them" (Scherbakov). The 32nd notes in the maestoso could be a bit sharper and more aggressive in my book, the double dotted eighths therefore a bit longer, it would be more dramatical and tragical and more like "french ouverture" and "pathetique" style ("pathetique" in the french sense of course) This movement definitely has a tendency to go beyond the scope of the instrument as well as of the performer and it's one of these pieces where I have the wish to explode and to have a piano with limitless dynamic options. The buildups are just *huge* and actually often not physically realisable, sort of. To burst out beyond the borders of life and then find another dimension in the second movement. I feel that you are struggling with these limits also, that you always want to go further than the instrument allows you to go. What piano? Sorry if you said it elsewhere already. respect also for the "boogie" variation (though I call it "ode to joy 2" rather than boogie ), it sounds really swingy and though tender. The pp variation that follows could be more pp and more mysterious, that is where the actual transition begins, the process I could call "eversion" or so. You decided to stay more on a "bright joy" level rather than on a "dark glow" and "twinkly star" level, it's difficult to find words for this, as you surely know. I think this turn into an inward world is so much important for this movement, this going into the almost very silence. But I know how tricky this is and how much the sound of a recording or a room or a certain instrument can give a wrong impression. So take it with a grain of salt. The parts that come afterwards are very well played, but they could profit from this "turn inwards". I hope I make sense with all this. The last part also could benefit from an even more intimate and "metaphysical" touch, though it is already very tender. I hope this won't offend you, I think you are on a very good way and it's already very wonderful
thanx for the commnts! AGREE About maestoso rhythm: a secret: i was nervous if i played the rhythm faster the notes would sound uneven, so i played it slower Not a good thing i know. gotta keep workin on that! its hard. I cant understand everything u wrote, u are on a "higher plane" - but thanx for a close listen!
thanx for the reply! Just one ? here: when u say turn inwards, what do you mean in terms of the sound at the end of the variations? do u mean slower tempo, for instance, or a different kind of sound. interested!
PS: I disbelieve, that Beethoven had a grand piano from Steinway & Sons or something... so don't count too much on the instrument...
Topic: Beethoven - Sonata #32, op.111 in c minor 