Beethoven Op. 27 No. 2, 3rd Movement

[devbanana]

In my music on the RH arpeggios, it says to not use any pedal, and in fact should have as little legato as possible.

Most recordings I've heard has the pedal down all throughout the arpeggios, so this is odd for me. What do you think about this?

Also is there  a definitive interpretation out there that you would recommend?

[indianajo]

The only recording of the Moonlight  I have is Rudolf Serkin.  He plays the third movement in a huge rush to get to the end.  I can't do that, but then i don't want to do that either.  He has pared down the trills to three notes, which strikes me as impatient.  So does just about everybody else.  
I heard a version on the radio (WFMT-FM service) of somebody named O'Brian from Ireland.  I liked his version a little better than most.  
I like my version best of all.  I go at a middling pace and do some entirely different things I've not heard on records.
I use no pedal at all.  I'm not sure anybody else does either, but at that blistering pace they all use, who can tell?  
See if you can do something unique, yourself: if your teacher will let you.  I played my version for one teacher, and she didn't like it. Fortunately I am not in school and don't have to go see her anymore if I don't want to.    

[liszt1022]

I used pedal in mvt 3 until I realized my left and right hand were getting lazy and hiding behind it. Now that I've forced them to work harder, the sound is better and I barely touch the pedal anymore.
I like all the professional studio recordings of Moonlight that I've heard. I've got Yundi Li's CD in my car this week.

[devbanana]

I used pedal in mvt 3 until I realized my left and right hand were getting lazy and hiding behind it. Now that I've forced them to work harder, the sound is better and I barely touch the pedal anymore.
I like all the professional studio recordings of Moonlight that I've heard. I've got Yundi Li's CD in my car this week.

I agree. I learned this piece when I was about 15 years old or so, and my teacher back then really didn't tell me anything about technique. So, I just used pedal throughout the whole piece, and I know exactly what you mean that you can get away with bad technique that way.

Now, it's 10 years later, I've been through music school and hopefully my technique has improved. :p I was surprised when I saw that there was not supposed to be very much pedal. I wish I would have known that a decade ago, but now I'm trying to learn it the right way.

[schwartzer]

I use the pedal only in the final 2  chords of each arpeggio section.

Throughout the rest of the song I use the pedal very carefully, making sure I don't step on it for more than 1 second. The left hand accompaniment sounds odd if you abuse the pedal. In the tremollos part, I use legato on the right hand chords, and step a bit on the pedal just so the chord doesn't end abruptly.

[ypana3]

I use the pedal only in the final 2  chords of each arpeggio section.

Throughout the rest of the song I use the pedal very carefully, making sure I don't step on it for more than 1 second. The left hand accompaniment sounds odd if you abuse the pedal. In the tremollos part, I use legato on the right hand chords, and step a bit on the pedal just so the chord doesn't end abruptly.

Very much this. The sonata requires as little pedal as possible, so make sure to use little of it, and try to use none when doing scale-like patterns or arpeggios. If you need to use pedal, I'd personally half-pedal. That way it doesn't blur the sound too much and still sounds nice. Try listening to Murray Perahia's performance, it's one of the top few on YouTube. He makes it sound light and airy, but hammers the chords to make it still sound explosive. Also schwartzer, it's not a song it's a piece - some of the members of this forum get upset about what's what so just a heads up.

[lecafe88]

As far as pedalling is concerned this is what I do:

In the exposition I only used it in the last two notes of each of the appergio figures, then pedalling it halfway through the bit where the right and left hand play melody in the 6ths (and right hand 5th finger on the G sharp).

After that  I kept it on/changing when the RH played a single note melody, but release it entirely when the octaves come in.

Then at the part where both hands play quavers I didn't use the pedal when both hands played only 3-4 notes,but used it when the right hand expanded into the octave chords I put it in again to make it sound louder and more resonant.

Interestingly I almost skip out the pedal entirely in the development, except at the very end of the where there are slurs in the right hand with tremolos in the left.

Recapitulation as per the exposition.


In the coda, the instruction in the Henle book says not to use the pedal when you "roll" (32nd notes at presto, so basically roll) the diminished 7th chords. However, I think this sounds ridiculous so I used it anyway.

Then I pedalled through the rest of the coda when the LH plays the semibreve chord and the right hand plays appergios up and down, and pedaled all the way through the ascending chromatic scale (I actually got a remark by the adjudicator saying not to do it when I pedaled through the descending chromatic scale in the Pathetique 1st, but imagine how exposed your RH would be if the pedal is not there to mud it up a bit?)


If there's anyone's pedalling this can be compared to, it's sort of like a mix between Daniel Barenboim and Murray Perrhia. But at the end of the day, it's about creating the best sound, even though if that means sacrificing what is written on the score.

[thomasmgill]

I highly recommend watching Andras Schiff's masterclass on the 'Moonlight' Sonata.

It covers the whole sonata but focuses mainly on the third movement. It also gives some excellent background on the piece in general. He talks about the pedaling around 18:00.

Andras Schiff comes onstage at 15:00 to start talking. (seems I can't link to that time in this post). The whole lecture on the sonata lasts about an hour.

[pianoplunker]

In my music on the RH arpeggios, it says to not use any pedal, and in fact should have as little legato as possible.

Most recordings I've heard has the pedal down all throughout the arpeggios, so this is odd for me. What do you think about this?

Also is there  a definitive interpretation out there that you would recommend?

I think the whole world could use less pedal. Believe it or not , the piano can sound beautiful without it. 

[haydnseeker]

A friend of mine recently did the Beethoven Variations Op. 34 for dipABRSM.  The duration is towards the top end of your requirement.

Chopin Ballade 1
Schumann ABEGG Variations
Debussy Images I (all 3)
Berg Sonata

[haydnseeker]

A friend of mine recently did the Beethoven Variations Op. 34 for dipABRSM.  The duration is towards the top end of your requirement.

Whoops - accidentally posted reply to the wrong thread!

Chopin Ballade 1
Schumann ABEGG Variations
Debussy Images I (all 3)
Berg Sonata