Berg Sonata

[viking]

So, after a long time of admiring this piece, I am finally going to learn it to perform next spring.  I thought i'd ask for any tips from those who have played this piece on how to properly learn it, as i'm sure this piece requires much more thought than your average 20th century sonata.

[viking]

Oh, and maybe people could suggest their favorite recordings of the piece too?

[retrouvailles]

My favorite recording of the piece is by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, with Marc-André Hamelin, Stephen Hough and Glenn Gould as runners up. It's such a great piece. I should consider playing this sometime.

[dnephi]

I look forward to hearing Thalberg's opinion.  He has performed the sonata himself.  He actually uploaded a recording in the Audition Room, if I'm not mistaken.

[viking]

My favorite recording of the piece is by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, with Marc-André Hamelin, Stephen Hough and Glenn Gould as runners up. It's such a great piece. I should consider playing this sometime.

All I have is the Hamelin concert that was posted on DASDC (which I was fortunate enough to see live), and a LP of Gould playing it.  I'm sure Aimard does the piece great justice also.  I should get around to getting that. 

On a side note, I haven't purchased the score yet.  I did see that there's a new Henle edition of the Sonata, but is it to be trusted?  Henle usually does a good job of screwing up whatever they're doing.  Should I just stick to the universal edition?

[thalberg]

All I have is the Hamelin concert that was posted on DASDC (which I was fortunate enough to see live), and a LP of Gould playing it.  I'm sure Aimard does the piece great justice also.  I should get around to getting that. 

On a side note, I haven't purchased the score yet.  I did see that there's a new Henle edition of the Sonata, but is it to be trusted?  Henle usually does a good job of screwing up whatever they're doing.  Should I just stick to the universal edition?

I did a 185 page dissertation on this piece.  The Universal Edition is excellent, I see no reason to depart from it. 

For recordings, I have not heard Aimard or Hamelin.  I heard Pollini, which I didn't like, and Gould, which I liked.  But in my opinion the best recording by far was by Peter Hill and is on the Naxos label.  Naxos is cheap but they find some amazing performances.  Peter Hill is a twentieth century music expert who teaches at Sheffield College.....in the UK I think....not sure.  But his Berg is wonderful. 

I can give you endless advice and insight on this piece.  However, I'm waiting until a publisher accepts my 'book' before I go around making things public.  Perhaps you and I can talk sometime.

[pita bread]

But in my opinion the best recording by far was by Peter Hill and is on the Naxos label. 

I second that.

[thalberg]

Wow, Pita, you're the first person I've met who has heard that recording besides me.  Glad I'm not alone.

[viking]

Hey Thalberg, are you the one that applied for the job at St. Olaf College?  If so, wouldn't it have been nice if you had got it.  You could have taught me the piece...  Anyway, I'm sortof at a loss of how to even start the piece.  There are so many instructions - one should probably figure out what they all mean first right?  I just feel bad sightreading through the whole thing.  It's probably the best way to get some bad habits.  Is there anything you can suggest?  How did you go about learning this, and what would you have done differently?

Thanks for the Peter Hill suggestion by the way.  I listened to it on naxosmusiclibrary, and overall I'm quite impressed.  However, I probably don't have a true appreciation of what a good recording is, since I haven't studied the score extensively yet..

[thalberg]

Yep I applied at St. Olaf.  Haha good memory.

So you go to school there?  I went there my freshman year.....Loved it, just no good piano teachers at the time (12 years ago).  Do you study with Atzinger or Owens?

[viking]

I went there for my freshman year as well, but then transferred to the Glenn Gould School.  I was studying with Kent McWilliams, a former student of my current teacher, Marc Durand, but I knew both Atzinger and Owens.  I guess Atzinger just did really well in 2 competitions, so it will be interesting to watch his career. 

[fnork]

what's good to know when studying this is that all themes are developed from the opening motif (the first bars, ending on a b minor chord). aimard is ok but not my favourite - just heard a live recording with hamelin which I liked a lot.
make sure to make a solid memorization work with this piece, try to analyse the harmonic structure so that you're not only relying on finger memory when performing it - those times I've performed it, I've felt that it has helped me a lot to have done some kind of analysis of the piece. I wish you good luck with this incredible piece of music!

[thalberg]

I went there for my freshman year as well, but then transferred to the Glenn Gould School.  I was studying with Kent McWilliams, a former student of my current teacher, Marc Durand, but I knew both Atzinger and Owens.  I guess Atzinger just did really well in 2 competitions, so it will be interesting to watch his career. 

I'd also love to help you with the Berg Sonata, but I'm being advised to keep my ideas a little quiet until a publisher takes me on.  I will submit again this month.  I submitted two months ago to Oxford, and they said Cambridge would be a better home for the book, so that's my next one.  When it is accepted, then I will either send you a copy or fill you in on the important ideas.  I seriously wish I could just tell you right now.

[viking]

Alright, I completely understand.  Nothing would be worse than your ideas being plagarized before the protection of copywright.  I'll probably start learning this over christmas break, so maybe I'll ask if you've had any success with the book then.  And I greatly appreciate your offer of sending me a copy, although I'd still probably buy the book when available...
Thanks,

Sam

[thalberg]

Well then the timing will probably work out well.  I intend to submit by the end of November, and I anticipate it will be about 6 weeks before they make an offer or reject me.  Even if it is slightly more, you still would be able to get a copy before having to play the piece for too long.