Beethoven - Hammerklavier, op. 106

[fnork]

21/5-12

[fnork]

Comments and constructive criticism is most welcome. It´s the first time I play this thing in public after having worked on it in its entirety intensively for sometime. Naturally, it´s a piece one can work on and improve endlessly, and this is certainly not the most perfect recording. The acoustics of the rather big church I was playing in works better for the Adagio than for the faster movements, I´d say - next time I better place the microphone closer to the instrument.

[j_menz]

First movement is a little fast for my taste. This has allowed you to achieve some things I like very much indeed, though. Also, it has meant you do some things I don't like so much. One of the terrors/difficulties of this piece, I think.

Second movement, you try and achieve too much with tempo variations rather than just letting the crescendos do the work. For my money it doesn't work as well. Matter of taste, of course. And the acoustics may not be doing you justice.

Third movement. Exceptional. 

Fugue. I actually think the acoustics work best for this movement. WOW!

[fnork]

Well, I feel similarly about the first movement, listening back to it. One thing I hate is the pompous and heavy (read: slow) way in which it is often played and I wanted to avoid this. Perhaps what came out was a bit too much of the opposite, making it sound too jolly in a way. At the same time, the humorous/playful aspect of this piece is often underplayed rather than overdone, so...it´s tricky to balance these things, basically

Not sure what you are after in your comment about the second movement. I don´t think that I´m deviating that much from the tempo (and the way I do the presto, it relates pulse-wise with the previous section), though of course, in a first performance of a piece like this, there might happen unexpected things and ones perception of tempo is always rather different on such an occasion I don´t think I was that off in this movement though.
Glad you listened it through! Thanks for the comments. You´re from Australia? We have some australian pianists where I study in Helsinki, Finland.