Piano Forum

I would choose op. 2 no 3.

For my upcoming exam, I'm preparing opus 81a and I regret choosing it. I love the piece. It was my gateway piece into Beethoven, but man is the last movement ridiculous. Getting those runs up to time is... I just don't know how it's done. Now, I've practiced the piece too much and it's gone stale.

With the 1st and 2nd movement of 81a, neither of them are too hard, but the musicality required is more "off the page" than usual, especially the 1st movement intro and most of the 2nd movement. I always hear different recordings with very different interpretations. The 3rd movement is more or less played the same, and that's just prestissimo.

There's just so much to consider with Les Adieux. The piece is much more approachable if you have access to someone really knowledgeable with Beethoven's works to help you through the piece.

Since Op. 2, No. 3 is in Beethoven's early style, it's more typically classical. General classical era knowledge will get you a lot further than Beethoven's middle and late period works.