Op 26 or Op 27 2 (Beethoven)

[beebert]

Hi everybody. I am learning a new Beethoven sonata and I am choosing between the Op 26 and the famous Moonlight Sonata. I know Op 27 No 2 is overplayed, but it is still a very enjoyable piece and good to have in the repertoire. At the same time I figure that Op 26 would be very good from a learning point of view, as it seems to offer many more technical and musical problems.
My question is, which of these two sonatas do you think I should choose? Which of these do you prefer? Which one would take the most effort to learn? Is the last movement of the Op 26 as hard as it looks and sounds(if played at the same tempo as Emil Gilels) or is it surmountable compared to the last movement of the Moonlight Sonata?

Thanks!

[jorley]

I would learn Op 26. It's great for teaching how to form a phrase, and the last movement can be seen as a great study in broken chords. As for which one is harder, I think that's entirely subjective, but I think everybody would agree with that if one is able to play one of them, he should be able to play the other: In other words, they are about the same level of difficulty in terms of technique.

[pianist1976]

I don't usually care about if a work is overplayed or not. If I'd do, I'd lost the pleasure of playing many beautiful music. I played Op 27 no. 2, I worked Op 26 but never finished/did serious work on it.

I think any of both could give benefits to you. Which one choose? It's up to you. Listen to your heart. Choose the one you really want to play... or if you can't decide, play both, why not...

[jorley]

I don't usually care about if a work is overplayed or not. If I'd do, I'd lost the pleasure of playing many beautiful music. I played Op 27 no. 2, I worked Op 26 but never finished/did serious work on it.

I think any of both could give benefits to you. Which one choose? It's up to you. Listen to your heart. Choose the one you really want to play... or if you can't decide, play both, why not...

Which did you find more difficult?

[pianist1976]

Which did you find more difficult?

I think they are quite different but more or less the same difficulty. I find Beethoven's works of that period relatively easy to read, learn and play... and really difficult to really master and play well. In other works, they are deceptively easy, or very easy to play badly.