Beethoven - Sonata in Ab, op. 110

[pianovirus]

I have been working on this sonata for some time now and will let it rest for the moment. So I decided to take a snapshot of where I am with it now, always good even for myself when I come back to the pieces for further work after a while. Comments/criticism welcome!

[nick]

I have been working on this sonata for some time now and will let it rest for the moment. So I decided to take a snapshot of where I am with it now, always good even for myself when I come back to the pieces for further work after a while. Comments/criticism welcome!

Although I don't know this one I liked your playing! Very nice touch, phrasing, in short sounded like I think was intended. Good job!

Nick

[pianovirus]

Thank you for that encouraging feedback, Nick!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Very polished, and a nice cantabile sound.

I don't have the score to hand, but a few minor observations:

You could make more of the arrival on the top Eb at 4.57.
At 7.10 and 7.29, etc I would try to increase the contrast between the pp and ff chords: I would try for a more volcanic sound on the loud chords, so that the mood of the chords is more differentiated, not just a loud/soft contrast. More staccato/brittle, less tenuto perhaps? I hope that's clear - it's not easy to explain!
I liked the way you played the recitatives.
In the section after the fugue, as in the Arioso, I appreciated the use of vocal phrasing.
Re the last two pages, I was at a masterclass last summer where the teacher taught them as a gradual accel from (found my score now!) bar 166 (poco a poco piu moto) all the way through to the end. I can see his point - your accel is a bit sudden and then has nowhere left to go. He was suggesting as guidance something like a further metronome notch for every line of the score iirc.

Good work!