1. The page before the prestissimo in the 3rd mvt- how do most people play this? is it with the right hand jumping all the time (with 1-3-1-3-1-3 on each of the sets of notes) or doing something like 4-5-4-2-1-2 (with the hand staying more or less in the same position)?
2. In the prestissimo, do most people play the octaves as a glissando? The recording I like is that of Ashkenazy where he doesn't gliss. Further, there is no indication saying gliss on my (urtext) edition. What is the consensus on this? (and btw, how DOES one play an octave gliss? Have never really attempted it...)
But, slow-concert-pianist, can you or anyone else deduct anything other than a glissando from beethoven's manuscript?Also, any good Beethoven biography (like a very recent one from Oxford Library) will tell how he competed with other pianists in Vienna in coming up with new unheard-of techniques, like his use of double trills, trill and melody in the same hand etc. I remember some letter of his saying something like "..and I must close the windows when I practice for jealous pianists are spying on me to see how I perform this or that 'trick'.."That was of course during his years as a performer.Further, our modern pianos are heavier in touch and such a glissando might have been much easier on his pianos.I just want to emphatically point out that the original idea is a glissando. It's the only correct interpretation. However, if it cannot be done, it cannot be done. Then it's better to find another solution to just sounding the right notes at the right time in the right tempo. That's a pragmatic solution.
Once I heard an awful performance of Jeffrey Swann where he slowed down like 3/4 the speed and played octaves, why? I'll never guess.