Beethoven Les Adieux HELP

[etogmajor]

This is killing me... Even more than La Campanella, which is also killing me...

I'm a glutton for punishment picking these pieces, but La Campanella has about 50 million tutorials online and I actually feel like I'm getting somewhere with that.

Alright, some background info... I'm preparing for my ARCT in Piano Performance (RCM), which I'll probably take in June or August. This last June I completed my Gr. 10 with an 88%. I've only been taking lessons for 5 years. I've been doing that thing where you pick pieces for an exam and play nothing else until you start preparing for your next exam. I know, it's awful, but I'm kinda rushed cause I started so late.

I practice on a Yamaha NU1. For those who don't know, it has the action of an upright piano but is in fact a digital piano. Essentially I'm playing on an upright piano with the capability of using headphones.

My list B (classical sonata) is Beethoven's Les Adieux. It's not the worst ever, but here's why I'm so frustrated with it -

Both the first and last movement sound better the faster you play it. For the 1st movement I can get up to 100 bpm per half note. The Schirmer edition suggests 120... not happening

Last movement I can play most of it from 95-100 to a dotted quarter. I can play all of it at 90. Schirmer suggests 108-112... also not happening

Before you kill me, I am not using the Schirmer edition, I'm using Henle. So why am I paying attention to these tempo markings? Because literally every pianist on youtube plays it at or near these speeds... but not really. Apparently, with this and only this sonata, it's alright to slow down 10- 15 bpm whenever you feel like to make it easier.

I'm stuck with a dilemma - should I play faster the parts I can play faster and slow down for the parts that need slowing down and risk being hated by my examiner and definitely be slapped by my teacher, or...

Should I play each movement at the maximum tempo I can play without having to slow down, and risk the examiner saying it wasn't fast enough?

My piano teacher is really old and had never heard of or taught this piece before. She calls it "the youtube" and will never understand me when I say that not one pianist plays these movements with a constant tempo.

Help would be appreciated!!

[j_menz]

The speed a piece should be played is something that you decide independent from your ability to actually play it at that speed. That is to say, a piece should be played at the speed that you believe is correct - stylistically, musically, in line with the composer's express wishes and with reference to convention (particularly for exams/auditions).

Once you've decided that, if you can't play it at that speed, you can't play it period.

[etogmajor]

The speed a piece should be played is something that you decide independent from your ability to actually play it at that speed. That is to say, a piece should be played at the speed that you believe is correct - stylistically, musically, in line with the composer's express wishes and with reference to convention (particularly for exams/auditions).

Once you've decided that, if you can't play it at that speed, you can't play it period.

mmm fair enough. Okay then, I personally like the first movement around 105 ish to the half note. I can play most of it there, except for the right hand ascending chord junk, but I guess I can just put a rit in there...

3rd movement I think 100 to the dotted quarter is good. I can't quite get the initial runs in the 2nd theme well enough. As well, I find it difficult to play most of the development section (and the 1st theme of the recap)  quietly at this speed. My hands kinda flip out at this point and I play kinda spazzy-like to keep up with the metronome.

Anyone have any advice that could help with this stuff? The reason I posted the instrument I'm practicing on is in case anyone thinks playing on an upright gives a limitation to the speed at which I can play things.

[kalirren]

3rd movement I think 100 to the dotted quarter is good. I can't quite get the initial runs in the 2nd theme well enough. As well, I find it difficult to play most of the development section (and the 1st theme of the recap)  quietly at this speed. My hands kinda flip out at this point and I play kinda spazzy-like to keep up with the metronome.

Unable to play quietly?  Hands feeling like they're flipping out?  These are both signs of inadequate preparation.

Ralph Kirkpatrick says that errors are rooted in either poor execution or poor preparation.  When you feel like you can't play quietly and/or your hands are spazzing out, it means you're trying to compensate for a lack of preparation by executing harder and faster.  Your fingers fly to make up for poor hand placement, resulting in a poor and unmanaged tone.  This approach doesn't work.  (Because it's such a transparent and recognizable type of error, it also makes you look horrible before a jury.)

Drill your hand position transitions.

Anyone have any advice that could help with this stuff? The reason I posted the instrument I'm practicing on is in case anyone thinks playing on an upright gives a limitation to the speed at which I can play things.

It shouldn't.  If anything, uprights tend to have lighter, shallower actions, which makes it possible to play faster at the cost of being limited to a narrower dynamic range.  Be careful when moving from a light upright to a heavy grand; the amount of necessary commitment behind every key stroke is increased considerably.

[steinway43]

No need to try and play if full out right away. Keep it a bit under tempo until until you're comfortable with the whole thing.

[michaeljames]

It sounds like you're trying to play at a speed before you are ready.  You should practice at the tempo where you can play every note comfortably and correctly.  Then and only then should you speed up.  But you don't go from slow to "tempo."  I've had different coaches with different approaches, but my favorite said to only move the metronome one click at a time and stay there until you are comfortable.completely.  If you have problem areas, you cannot play them to speed until you figure out what your precise problem is.  Some trickier passages may take you slowing them way down and ensuring that your fingering can hold up at speed.  Also take a passage, and start from the end...playing the last measure...than adding the next to the last measure and make sure that the bridge between the two measures is comfortable and efficient. 

Congrads on getting to this level of playing in 5 short years!!! That's truly phenomenal.

Edited to add: I haven't played this Sonata for a couple of years so I pulled it out along with the metronome.  I think 100 is PLENTY fast for the first movement! I accidentally put my metronome on 116 the first time through and I kept thinking "This is way too fast..." Didn't sound like horses galloping to me," which is what it's supposed to sound like. 

As for tempo variations, I vary tempo for effect, not for difficulty or ease.

I don't pay a lot of attention to marked tempos...The D flat Nocturne by Chopin comes to mind...it's marked ridiculously fast and I've never heard it performed at that speed...it would lose everything if played at the posted tempo.

[etogmajor]

Thanks for the advice guys!

[quantum]

Out of the 32 Sonatas, Beethoven only published metronome markings for Op 106.  Any other metronome marking you see was inserted by an editor. 

If you are interested in an in-depth discussion of metronomes during Beethoven's time:
https://www.ams.org/notices/201309/rnoti-p1146.pdf


We shouldn't play at a tempo to meet a numerical designation in the score.  Tempo choice should reflect the message one seeks to deliver with one's interpretation of a piece - taking into account the instrument, the acoustical space, and the listener. 

Greta Kraus, teacher of one of my teachers, was known to ask her students about their performances: "Was there any magic?"   Above any other technical consideration, the presence of magic was of prime significance to the music.  Something to think about when choosing your own tempi.