Do you believe that Beethoven and Bach alone are the true indicators of real, pure musicianship?
expressman, if you are 'not particularly into Beethoven' it seems like the main benefit to your muddling through one of his challenging (for you apparently, any beethoven sonata would be tough for me to re-create) sonatas is your ego gratification. so this sounds like more a personal question, and whether other pianists feel 'real, pure musicianship' can be reduced to any two composers 'alone' (your choice of words) is a subjective matter for each of us to answer. my own answer, human creativity and art is diminished if you put two individuals onto an exclusive, elite pedestal.
No. I do not think Bach and Beethoven are alone in expressing true musicianship.That said, I do think Beethoven is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) musicians of all time. Period.As for his sonatas, I very much love all them--the Appassionata and Waldstein are my favorite songs of all time.But it takes more than a little competition to learn these pieces. It takes many, many years of previous experience--take it from someone who tried to learn the third movement of Moonlight before he was ready and completely wrecked it. It also takes months of hard, hard, HARD, HARD (do you get the point!?) work. I am not yet a mature enough pianist to undertake either of these pieces and do them justice. My respect for this particular music is very, very high, and I hate to see these pieces butchered.A good indicator if you're ready?Prove you can play at least a couple other Beethoven sonatas (not Op. 49, either) well. I mean like the Op. 31 sonatas. One of the late ones (Op. 109, 110, 111, for instance). And not only Beethoven. To give you an idea of the scope of these pieces, try the Chopin sonatas/ballades, the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies and Paganini Etudes, the Bach Partitas.If you can conquer these, than you are ready for the Appassionata.
Lol that is the worst requirement list ever. I was not asking if I am technically or musically capable, because I am pretty confident I am. I have only played some of what you mentioned but can say to anyone else who is reading here and clueless that these peices are not necessary to play other repertoire. Technique needs to be there, yes, musicality yes, but not a list of prerequisite pieces specifically.
I don't doubt that Beethoven was a genius and is one of the most revered composers. That said, I've found it difficult to get into his music. I just don't feel his music "speaks" to me in the same way that say, Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Ravel do. Music is obviously quite personal. I've tried listening to Beethoven's sonatas many times, but I always feel that the music doesn't speak to me very much (apart from some exceptions - I really do like the Pathetique sonata). I wouldn't really bother playing a Beethoven sonata just for the sake of it. It would be a lot of work to do and I think you'd lose motivation if you're purely doing it for competitive reasons and not because you love the music. Life is short, I say pick the pieces you love most
A good indicator if you're ready?Prove you can play at least a couple other Beethoven sonatas (not Op. 49, either) well. I mean like the Op. 31 sonatas. One of the late ones (Op. 109, 110, 111, for instance). And not only Beethoven. To give you an idea of the scope of these pieces, try the Chopin sonatas/ballades, the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies and Paganini Etudes, the Bach Partitas.If you can conquer these, than you are ready for the Appassionata.
Topic: Are you a Beethovenist? 