help with Variation six in Beethoven Piano sonata 30 op.109

[evryali]

How do I play the non-stop trills starting from measure 165 to 195 in the 3rd movement in his 30th sonata this along with the holding of 8th notes while playing the trill and arpeggios are very hard to execute for me, are there any tips for this virtuosic passage.

[josh93248]

Well, I personally am saving Beethoven like that for a long time, years in fact so I don't actually have much experience... I am somewhat familiar with the music and think it's great you want to play something this excellent musically...

But maybe I have one or two ideas though... My methodology revolves around completely analysing and fingering every piece I play. It's a bit radical, but it can help solve all sorts of technical difficulties so maybe you should try going through your trouble section carefully with each hand, studying the difficulties, testing different possibilities until you come up with your own fingering solution.

As for the raw athleticism required... You may have to break down elements of each hand and practice them separately and build up your understanding of the piece as well as fluency. I actually find most problems at the piano are intellectual rather than athletic but then again, I don't play pieces like you do at the moment.

A good use of what we singers call support muscles, a variety of muscles of the torso, seems to help me with challenging passages. Combined with good posture this can improve any piece.

[symphonicdance]

May not exactly pin-point on the mentioned measures, but holistically on the 3rd movement (as well as other 1st mov of Appassionata and 1st mov of PS No 16).

[gvans]

At first these trills seem to be the hardest part of the sonata. Practice them slowly, hands alone, then hands together, like any difficult passage. It will come. Soon, though, you may realize there are many other passages that are even harder, e.g., the two fugues, the prestissimo, maintaining the lyricism of the first movement, etc.

Not a piece to be learned overnight. If you're impatient with it, better to play something a bit easier.

[zeppelindestruction]

How do I play the non-stop trills starting from measure 165 to 195 in the 3rd movement in his 30th sonata this along with the holding of 8th notes while playing the trill and arpeggios are very hard to execute for me, are there any tips for this virtuosic passage.

You can leave out one note of the trill on each melodic note, which I think is the way Czerny suggests. You can see and hear the trick quite clearly in James Rhodes' performance here:

The trill passage starts at around 11:54.

Edit: Found the score; it's the von Bulow edition that explains it.