Pieces played too fast

[transitional]

Is it just me, or are the Minute Waltz and the Appassionata 3rd movement played at an inhuman speed that they don't need to be played at? I even checked with the metronome based on the tempo markings and the Minute Waltz was at a speed that would clock around 2:30 while everyone plays it at a speed that would make it 1:30. (It's Vivace not Molto Prestissimo Possible!) Also the Appassionata 3rd, which literally says "Allegro MA NON TROPPO" and many pianists play it like it's Prestissimo (again). Thoughts?

[roboute guilliman cfa]

The Appassionata 3rd movement played in 8.5 mins is intuitively allegro ma non troppo to me. These pianists can easily play it at 7.5 mins or even less if they really wanted to show off speed.

[transitional]

I disagree. From a musical standpoint, there's lots to take in and it's essentially a buildup to the coda that needs to be slow, steady, and creating momentum. 200 BPM isn't going to cut that. I'm learning it right now and am using ~132 BPM which I consider "ma non troppo". It is much easier technically at this slower tempo (as people often overestimate the difficulty of it) and maintains the essence of the piece, too.

Czerny's MM is 138. I don't think fast playing is justified by "showing off". The music is the most important part.

To everyone their own choices though - I definitely play lots of pieces slower and feel it shouldn't be a race but rather what works best for the music.

[ravelfan07]

Is it just me, or are the Minute Waltz and the Appassionata 3rd movement played at an inhuman speed that they don't need to be played at? I even checked with the metronome based on the tempo markings and the Minute Waltz was at a speed that would clock around 2:30 while everyone plays it at a speed that would make it 1:30. (It's Vivace not Molto Prestissimo Possible!) Also the Appassionata 3rd, which literally says "Allegro MA NON TROPPO" and many pianists play it like it's Prestissimo (again). Thoughts?

Imo the intro to Chopin’s Ballade no 1, Le Gibet and the 1st movement of moonlight sonata are often played too quickly
And Scarbo is usually played just fine but it is also usually played very sloppily.

[transitional]

Imo the intro to Chopin’s Ballade no 1, Le Gibet and the 1st movement of moonlight sonata are often played too quickly
And Scarbo is usually played just fine but it is also usually played very sloppily.

I agree about all of them except the Moonlight 1st, which I actually feel people play too slow. With Czerny's MMs it's actually faster than how people play and in my view it's just a flowing lake, nothing too deep and sparse. Maybe it's just a personal preference, unpopular opinions on tempo against everyone else.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Imo the intro to Le Gibet is often played too quickly.

Huh. Going by the sheet music, I feel like it's just about right. Tbh, having played Le Gibet, it wasn't really very hard. It was actually one of the first few pieces I managed, and I played the entire thing to a point that I was happy with in about a month, during which my finger was recovering a hilarious failure on Double Thirds.

[ravelfan07]

Huh. Going by the sheet music, I feel like it's just about right. Tbh, having played Le Gibet, it wasn't really very hard. It was actually one of the first few pieces I managed, and I played the entire thing to a point that I was happy with in about a month, during which my finger was recovering a hilarious failure on Double Thirds.

Currently learning it myself
This part is the hardest imo(using it very loosely)
The large chords can be quite uncomfortable to play, as well as the jump in the left hand
Although I wouldn’t call it hard, just saying it’s the hardest

[transitional]

There's always the sacrilegious 15 notes/second in flight of the bumblebee that we can never forget.

Also, Hungarian Rhapsody #2 is not as fast as people think it is, they're just showing off. It says - Tempo Giusto-Vivace. Key word here - GIUSTO. Seriously people, set your metronome to ~132 (a good intermediate tempo that I'd actually consider faster than Vivace) and see if it works. Sounds great and isn't as crazy difficult as the speed that, say, Lisitsa takes. (btw I am by no means calling HR 2 an easy piece, I spent ~8 months on it and am still not great at it)

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Currently learning it myself
This part is the hardest imo(using it very loosely)
The large chords can be quite uncomfortable to play, as well as the jump in the left hand
Although I wouldn’t call it hard, just saying it’s the hardest

The only hard part of the piece is making it sound right, which is not as hard as it's made out to be. The people who flop Le Gibet, to my knowledge, are people like Lang Lang purposefully playing the piece fast (usually so they can get through the "easy" part and on to Scarbo), which results in it just sounding bad. Then some people who are watching say "Well this very good pianist can't play this really easy piece, so it must actually be absurdly difficult." I do agree that players who focus on speed play way to fast, but that's kind of the point for them. They don't care about placing the listener in a deserted swamp with a hanged man while torturing them with the occasional tolling of the bell, they care about speeding through that part so the audience 1: doesn't lose interest, and 2: sees how fast they can play a piece that has much easier to understand difficulties.

[ravelfan07]

The only hard part of the piece is making it sound right, which is not as hard as it's made out to be. The people who flop Le Gibet, to my knowledge, are people like Lang Lang purposefully playing the piece fast (usually so they can get through the "easy" part and on to Scarbo), which results in it just sounding bad. Then some people who are watching say "Well this very good pianist can't play this really easy piece, so it must actually be absurdly difficult." I do agree that players who focus on speed play way to fast, but that's kind of the point for them. They don't care about placing the listener in a deserted swamp with a hanged man while torturing them with the occasional tolling of the bell, they care about speeding through that part so the audience 1: doesn't lose interest, and 2: sees how fast they can play a piece that has much easier to understand difficulties.

Definitely agree, in a large portion of the piano community it’s just seen as a quick break and a stepping stone to a much harder 3rd movement (just like the 2nd movement of moonlight sonata is to the 3rd movement)