VIDEO: Beethoven - Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3

[debrucey]

First post! Let me know what you think.

[debrucey]

*Ahem*

[birba]

I've listened to the first movement.  You have most of the notes, and it's almost up to speed, but you have got to find more colors then F.  Everything is mono-tone.  There are no crescendos, diminuendos, sforzandos, not to mention piano and pianissimo.  beethoven is so precise in his indications but I don't hear them in your playing.  You're going to have to do some slow-motion work: playing at a slower tempo creating all those colors that this sonata demands.
There's really not much more to say then this.  Be careful of the alternate octaves (e.g. bar 15) you tend to rush them.

[birba]

Your second movement was a very very pleasant surprise!!  I didn't expect such depth of playing after that superficial first movement!  And this is not easy music to get across.  Your tone was consistently beautiful and the phrasing generally clear and sensible.  You've stirred me up and I want to make a little video to point out some things here!  Kempff maintained that this movement is a kind of funeral march and he depicted this spooky scene in a an old castle where the body of the deceased is laid out in an open coffin!
At any rate, you've redeemed yourself after that first movement.  I think my main gripe there, besides the lack of color, is the absence of direction.  That whole movement is a running.  And I don't mean running in place.  I mean running somewhere.  That wonderful coda that sort of presages the end  of the first mvt from les adieux, had no motion the way you did it.
Anyway, I love this sonata - early Beethoven at his most inspired - and I want to play it, too!

[birba]

I don't know why I thought the minuet was too slow.  Because it wasn't, actually.  It sounded sort of plodding - it didn't flow.  The tone was beautiful, the legato as well, but it sounded heavy for some reason.  You know, it might just be the room where you're playing.  It just didn't sound "dolce".  Attack the last movement immediately.  Don't hold on to the last chord with the pedal.  In time.  From the last chord of the minuet, begin counting 1-2-3-4 in the tempo of the last movement, and go! 

[birba]

The first 8 bars which are repeated throughout this movement, have to be played STRICTLY in time.  You're playing around too much with the tempo.  even before the fermata in the 4th measure, in tempo, and don't make so much of that turn, resolve to the A.  Then the next 4 bars, again strictly in time.  You always do a retard at the end of the 6th measure.  These 8 bars can become quite tedious if you do those rits all the time.  Only in the last appearance before the coda does a little rit. at the end sound conclusive. 
Then we're off!  There's a little bit of the running theme again.  I feel it a little bit on the slow side.  126-132.  Don't ritard at the end, just before the appearance of the theme.  Go FF to the g with a sF to end it off.   When you get to the Bflat major episode, make sure you play that piano and pianissimo that precedes the motive, now in Bflat.  I don't have measure numbers here, but you know that place where you play high c-sharp and a-sharp, (key of fsharp major) repeated notes?  PIANISSIMO!  The sforzando that follow are within a mp-mf only a little crescendo that goes to PIANO and THEN a big crescendo to FORTE.
The running 16th notes at the end: piano piano piano -  we must hear the motive dying out in the left hand-   and NO ritard at the end.  It ruins the whole effect of the running 16th notes.
Great work, though.

[debrucey]

Thankyou very much for your in depth comments. However, please remember that this was recorded on a large piano, in a small room, with a handheld camcorder, before being recompressed for youtube. I assure you every dynamic marking beethoven wrote is observed, but very little of it comes across.

[debrucey]

You may be interested in this alternative recording I have, which was in a live concert.

https://debrucey.bandcamp.com/

A few things you mention are corrected, such as the speed of the fourth movement, and the gap between the third and fourth movement (if you dont count the time the website makes you wait between tracks lol). You can probably hear more of the dynamic variation too, though it's still not ideal.

[le_poete_mourant]

was this recorded at USC Thornton school practice rooms?

[debrucey]

No haha. It's the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.

[le_poete_mourant]

Weird. It looks exactly like ours...

[debrucey]

How unusual. Perhaps its a standard interior design for music colleges hehe.