Lortie: 00:00 - Mvt 1 05:48 - Mvt 2 Korstick: 11:18 - Mvt 1 16:45 - Mvt 2 Buchbinder: 22:26 - Mvt 1 27:39 - Mvt 2 Lortie plays the whole sonata in a beautifully improvisatory, languid manner, even though the second movement's tempo is relatively brisk. Korstick has a hard-edged approach which (you'll expect this by now) emphasises contrasts where they exist: the two themes in the first movement are at polar opposites of the textural world, and every little accent in the second movement jabs at you. Buchbinder treats the whole sonata with a semplice approach: the first movement has a kind of distracted innocence to it (note that the A theme is played in what is effectively triplet rhythm), and the second movement is played with so much silkiness that the legato ends up sounding kind of toy-like: it would be criminal not to give it a listen.
Mr. Kumar, the passage with the octaves that begins at 12:05 sounds very, VERY similar to the beginning of the second movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Is this likely from where he brought that melody to the Symphony?
I have a technical question of semantics. Maybe the theory has evolved over the ages, but in Beethoven's time, Karl Maria von Weber criticized Beethoven's third symphony for changing key without modulating. You express this the opposite way here, stating Beethoven modulates without preparation. Weber's comment seems to indicate that modulation is the preparation done to effect a key change. What's the answer? Has modulation taken on a more leniant meaning over the years? Is it not a means to an end but the end itself? I appreciate the videos.
the second movement sounds like an old memory that sweet but makes you cry everytime you remember it because of how sad you are now and how happy you were then and it also sounds like the constant change of emotions beetween sad and happy i feel and how i forget my sadness when im happy and then i go back to life and remember how sad everything is and the first movement is like a reminder of how everything can be happy and fast paced but at somepoint you have to go back to the bittersweet world and live your life out again
Delighted to discover this video and your fascinating commentary. My teacher has told me that he thinks I should learn this one as my next project. I'm 65, having returned to piano a few years ago after a 40+-year hiatus, and having now listened to No 22 and gone through the score I am chuffed to bits that he thinks I can handle this! Thanks again for your wonderful comparative recordings and insightful analysis.
It's great that you're coming back to the piano after such a long time ^^ Hang in there! I'm coming back to the piano too, after long and difficult studies. I'm currently going (with much difficulty 😅) through Liszt's sonata. Did you begin the sonata 22 then ? How is it going?
I'd love to hear how you got on! I'm in a similar position - returned to piano 3 years ago after a 40+-year hiatus (I'm 66 now). A year and a half ago, I started lessons with a brilliant teacher who has now given me this sonata. Like you, I was very pleased that he thought I would be able to handle it. Best wishes and happy playing to you!
It is, indeed. I've learned all but four of the 32, and this one for all its outward appearance of delicacy, diffidence and a certain tentative quality in the second movement makes tremendous demands on one' capacity for digital dexterity and ultra-refined control of subtle dynamic gradations. The octaves and mixed double notes in the first movement intrude like a rude, uninvited peasant brazenly crashing an aristocrat's ball. Rather like HEATHCLIFFE at thLinton's. ;-) I've always felt there was a lot of Heathcliffe in Ludwig.
@@trevorarmbuster2173 So interesting , Trevor. I'd never made the connection between Beethoven and Heathcliff before. Dark, brooding, passionate iconoclasts.
Beethoven a man ahead of his time re often jazzy bits and boogie ..in places of his sonatas Often Beethoven commented on his own music and that much of it would not be understood properly for hundreds of years I just love Beethoven ..improvisations ,explorations ,multi dimensional expressions , deeply moving musical concepts ..a big hearted man deeply committed and dedicated to his Art Thank you Beethoven for leaving us such richness ,such an inheritance to behold .....I listen with. much gratefulness and gratitude ...
@@olivierdrouin2701 I'm being slightly controversial here reference your comment I feel you must be or on your way to, if you found yourself here.....& you must at very least be exploring greater heights ...becoming a dedicataire. lol 😊
"it’s practically unknown and rarely performed" This statement is indeed very true, especially considering this sonata was the last from the 32 that I discovered. I was even about to declare that I had familiarized myself with all 32 sonatas until I found it.
Me too, just discovered it ,I looked through my 3 volumes of sonatas,it wasn't there. I can just about manage the 1st movement,alas I need another lifetime for the 2 Nd. So it's back to the bachs.
Did anyone notice how jazzy the second movement is? It is full of off-beat structures, emphasizes weak tempos and swings all along. I do love this sonata, sadly it is not performed enough.
I wouldn't say that it's jazzy. It's just off-kilter. He's trying to throw you off the down beats to confuse your ear. It doesn't swing at all, there's no triplet rhythms, and the harmony, although it modulates a lot, isn't actually very chromatic.
This. Sonata I keep coming back to ....I'm not really sure why as ..it's so hard to describe...and pin down as you have commented . It's very intriguing piece of music indeed It commands attention ,even maybe demands it !! It's so full of passion ,vim and vigour ,jocular in part full of variabilities .. very deep , full of high/ low surprises. ,drama ,struggle ,intrigue ,upliftment it's grounding. well rooted yet ...it sours above like an Eagle on wing ..& way above boundaries at times . I' feel I'm on a journey here .it's,a struggle but. it's interspersed, with uplifting colour and brightness. which .embraces me and of which gives me eternal hope of final arrival ..in safety !!! Thank you Beethoven for this. most wonderful transcendental piece of music ....and grateful thanks also to the musician here who played this piece with such a marvelous passionate expressiveness !!! Bravo. !!! PS I'm suffering with debilitating illness currently .( Fibromyalgia ) .constant chronic pain .. but this piece of music, has helped lift me above the confines of my afflictions. Golden Blessings sent & thank you again !!
You somehow manage to introduce new pianists that makes me want to explore more about them. Indeed they play it in a unique way, which is great. Thank you and keep it up. Thumbs up for all your videos.
Ah memories. This is on one of 4 sonatas I performed for my graduation recital. I remember this piece going over well with the audience. The music has a wonderful intimacy to it and the last movement plenty of interesting bravura and excitement. A piece that is too overlooked I think.
@bill Bloggs Dear Gary and Bill, I agree a wonderful sonata. I astounded all by poking my hands through my mother's abdomen and playing this sonata while still technically in the womb. Along time ago but the wonderful memories remain.
@@MrCinemuso Not really. I know that when I was but a callow youth, for example, I delighted in tickling this piece onto the ivories while simultaneously practicing ballet, embroidering flowers on Father's indian scarf, stretching (for I was quite the gymnast those days), broilling vegetables, and learning some light quantum physics. What wonderful memories whenever I play this piece!
What a full of humours in it! The sonata reminds me of the 4th symphony, which is also sandwiched between two giants, Eroica and Desiny. And I'd say the two are rather shining enough in their own way. And one more point, the 2nd mov. seems resembling Rondo Cappricioso 'Rage over lost penny' in melodic, rhythmic and expressional ways!
It's not a conventional sonata; it is too quirky for that. I hear portents of Chopin in the first movement but recollections of Scarlatti in the second. I am not sure that Beethoven knew about Scarlatti... back and Handel, of course.
An dieser Sonate Beethovens kann besonders gut erkennen, dass das Zeitalter der Konventionen und der des Reglements ein Ende hat. Nicht nur die Kürze sondern auch die untypische Struktur machen darauf aufmerksam, dass die Wiener Klassik in die liberale sowie expressive Romantik mündet. Dadurch prädestiniert Beethoven sich als der Wegbereiter der neuen Musik, die sich unter seinem Namen zu dem entwickelte, was sie heute ist.
Did anyone else think about how this sonata starts with the same motif and note as appassionata but rising instead of falling? I really feel like Beethoven meant to do this.
3:42 I wonder if Chopin was inspired by this in his C minor sonata. The contrapuntal melodies each beginning with an ornament is reminding me quite strongly of the opening theme of Chopin's Op.4.
@@rjr1967 Chopin had respect for Beethoven, he just didn't like most of his pieces. But, he modelled his second sonata after Beethoven's "March Funebre". It was the only sonata Chopin actually performed of Beethoven's, so he had at least some respect for him
Somehow I like this sonata so much. Very innovative, and if I were not told this was Beethoven's, I would confuse this belongs to one piece from other Romanticism composers (I think this is Beethoven's genuine genius. He certainly had surpassed his generation). Pollini's rendition has been excellent so far I have listened to although these three performers' are so good.
Maybe the first "A-B" of mvt-1 could be considered the "exposition", then the decorated "A-B" that comes after it is the "development", then the final "A" section is the recapitulation. still A-B-A-B-A form, I suppose.
Yup, that's kind of how the rondo started to take of characteristics of the sonata. Instead of just being episodic, composers started to frame it with the ternary sonata structure.
If I were forced to choose one among these three, I would choose Buchbinder, but all are excellent.. I also greatly appreciate BARENBOIM'S live performance of Opu 54 and a live performance in the Midlands by Wilhelm Kempff of this and the Schumann Fantasy which astonished me for it sterling competence and pinpoint accuracy as well as Kempff's always distinguished gift for bringing out the lyricla elements with great distinction.
The second movement is wonderful and technically dazzling! It takes your breath away! I think, however, the first movement is not up to Beethoven's elite standard by a long chalk. The melody, though sweet, is quite short, and the octaves seem to go nowhere melodically. I love Beethoven's piano sonatas, but this seems a little downhill after the Waldstein.
I understand how you feel.When I first played this sonata I thought both movements were jokes. But as I go on playing them, a strange feeling invaded me. It was the very first sonata where LvB really explored the world of possibles.That one is maybe undercooked, but it paved the way for the great sonatas to come. And there LvB tried a lot of new and daring harmonies, the same ones that would be the standard one hundred tears later.
William Bunter Very well said I could not agree more with reference to your first two sentences of the works being dazzling and breathtaking !!! Not wishing to appear to be contentious and with the greatest of respect re rest of your comments. & re this piece. of Beethoven musical works , as Beethoven often worked by contrast from one opus number to another ,with no comparible link as he mixed and explored themes perhaps having introducing them in other works ,either previously or further on down the line in New works
@@zaramayne2444 You are quite right, zara, of course. There is much variety in Beethoven's music. And there is no doubt that his genius was equal, at least, to that of the other 'superstar' composers, e.g. Haydn and Mozart and Schubert.. We all have our favourites of course. For me the Waldstein piano sonata is the most incredible, especially the second and third movements. I think my comments were meant to be subjective rather than an attempt at separating the good from the not so good. God bless!
The second movement is marked Allegretto, not Più allegro. Only the coda is Più allegro. Schiff emphasizes this point in his lecture on Op. 54. I think Tovey's and Kuerti's commentaries on this sonata are rather codescending, much too centered on what a virtuoso performer might wish Beethoven had written than on what Beethoven was trying to accomplish. In my opinion, the peculiar features of this sonata's movement structures and motifs (including the "jerks" in the second movement theme) suggest that Beethoven was recalling birdsongs he had heard while walking in the countryside near a babbling brook (first-movement triplet outbursts, never-ending sixteenths in the second movement). The writing is more impressionistic than the frankly programmatic passages in the 'Pastoral' Symphony, but letters indicate that Beethoven worked on this sonata during a summer vacation in Baden, so I do not think a birdsong interpretation too far-fetched.
I absolutely love your videos and especially your insightful comments! I'm wondering where do you get the sheet music for these sonatas, and are they all from the same source?
What a brilliant sonata, underplayed and under appreciated! Thank you for presenting it, and your inciteful comments, which add greatly to the understanding and enjoyment of this work. But PLEASE don't place ads in the middle of a movement - I understand bills have to be paid, and it's unreasonable to expect that these sonata presentations can be produced without cost. An example of transcending from the sacred to the profane, however, is to have the second movement of Op.54 interrupted by an advertisement for some trashy Disney production! It sort of defeats the continuity of the music, like travelling at a high rate of speed and then hitting a brick wall. Please don't misunderstand me ---- your efforts are appreciated, and are a very valuable contribution to music education and appreciation! Keep up the fine work!
The channel owner has no control over this unfortunate behaviour - it's RUclips which does it. If you can get one or two ads to play before the video starts, I feel it will then be less likely ads will interrupt during the actual music. Or else use one of those utilities to save the video to your own computer, from where you can listen to it as often as you like without any interruptions.
4:51 : Doesn't it remind you of: "On the Banks of Allan Water" a Scottish folk song from around the 18th century. I don't think Beethoven arranged it though.
Les sonates opus 49 ont été vendues a l edition par Johann , le frère indigne : j aime penser que cette sonate a été écrite dans une rage d effacement , pour montrer ce qu était une sonate en 2 mouvements SELON LUDWIG
I saw Buchbinder in concert last year, and it was undoubtedly the worst concert I have ever attended. I cannot stress this enough, it was absolutely terrible. the phrasing, the tempi, dynamics were all off, he was technically struggling throughout and just seemed arrogant and full of himself. it is utterly unbelievable that this brilliant recording was made by the same pianist. I guess he's just way past his prime, and was once actually a good pianist. the sound quality in the second movement is absolutely superb, he produces beautiful tone colours and the contrast in tempo and character in the coda is phenomenal! good thing I read ashish's comment below, stating that this is a must listen, because I would have never listened to it otherwise. I am amazed!
I love this little story because it reinforces two of my prejudices: 1. Way too many pianists continue concertizing long after they should have stopped (Barenboim, Schiff). 2. There are no good pianists, only good recordings.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar interesting take! also sensible in the pragmatic way, in that it stops one from not listening to a recording just because you didn't like another one from the same pianist!
Hand staccato is required (not finger) so be sure to have a lose wrist. Learn bar by bar slowly then put them together. The patient is worth it, in the end it takes less time than playing it as a whole as quick as possible
Fuck Yeah !!! Agree with the poster below, very underrated sonata. Would not like to meet the composer though, in a dark alley, round the back of the pub, after midnight. There is something seriously wrong with this person.
I loved this sonata and was enjoying it when a loud and dumb ad about pringles came right in the middle of the second movement. Are there any youtube adblockers I can install?
For once I have to disagree respectfully wish Ashish, and Tovey. I think this sonata is a tour de force . Beethoven's grip on his thematic material is stunning. The 2nd movement is a lesson in how to do a perpetuum mobile - so exciting and imaginative. Who else could make a rising major scale sound so weird? Even sinister? It also baffles me how a pianist can learn so many notes {speaking as a bad amateur pianist). Could a proper pianist play it pretty well correctly the first time he or she plays it through, or does it take as many hours as you might imagine to disentangle all the notes?
@@AshishXiangyiKumar Sorry, just got the impression that your remarks were a wee bit dismissive. And Tovey's ' doglike' ?? No! Certainly not how it sounds to me (whatever he actually meant).
If you're writing about this for a diploma, my suggestion is that you don't refer to it as a "song". It has no lyrics and no voices singing, so it's not a song. It could be referred to as a piece or a composition or a work or more specifically as a sonata. Calling instrumental music a song conveys an extremely amateurish impression of the person doing it. It will do you no favours in any academic writing.
@@michaeledwards1172 ....thank you for this explanation....its the norm on youtube and many other platform where people are referring to instrumental pieces as "Song"
Beautiful performances. But please, switch off the dynamic compression. I don't like if there isn't any difference between piano and forte. It would be great to listen to these beautiful performances without dynamic compression. In the digital sound world, this is no longer necessary, in fact, it is harmful.
No, your opinion doesn't matter at all. You may not like it, but that's an entirely different thing to declaring something by arguably the greatest composer of all time, in his prime no less, "crap." And there's no "scherzo," so who knows what you're talking about.
It's a fantastic little meta-sonata: it only works if you know what sonata form is supposed to be, what counterpoint is, and how both of them are supposed to work. But if you're sadly unlettered like this Odisseu de Ítaca person most of its wit and intelligence will be lost on you.
Lortie:
00:00 - Mvt 1
05:48 - Mvt 2
Korstick:
11:18 - Mvt 1
16:45 - Mvt 2
Buchbinder:
22:26 - Mvt 1
27:39 - Mvt 2
Lortie plays the whole sonata in a beautifully improvisatory, languid manner, even though the second movement's tempo is relatively brisk. Korstick has a hard-edged approach which (you'll expect this by now) emphasises contrasts where they exist: the two themes in the first movement are at polar opposites of the textural world, and every little accent in the second movement jabs at you. Buchbinder treats the whole sonata with a semplice approach: the first movement has a kind of distracted innocence to it (note that the A theme is played in what is effectively triplet rhythm), and the second movement is played with so much silkiness that the legato ends up sounding kind of toy-like: it would be criminal not to give it a listen.
Mr. Kumar, the passage with the octaves that begins at 12:05 sounds very, VERY similar to the beginning of the second movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Is this likely from where he brought that melody to the Symphony?
I have a technical question of semantics. Maybe the theory has evolved over the ages, but in Beethoven's time, Karl Maria von Weber criticized Beethoven's third symphony for changing key without modulating. You express this the opposite way here, stating Beethoven modulates without preparation. Weber's comment seems to indicate that modulation is the preparation done to effect a key change. What's the answer? Has modulation taken on a more leniant meaning over the years? Is it not a means to an end but the end itself?
I appreciate the videos.
the second movement sounds like an old memory that sweet but makes you cry everytime you remember it because of how sad you are now and how happy you were then and it also sounds like the constant change of emotions beetween sad and happy i feel and how i forget my sadness when im happy and then i go back to life and remember how sad everything is and the first movement is like a reminder of how everything can be happy and fast paced but at somepoint you have to go back to the bittersweet world and live your life out again
The opening bars of the first movement are so amazingly lyrical and sweet!
I have to confess: As much as I love your videos, your witty and insightful descriptions may be even more brilliant. Thank you!
0:55 This is the daddy of the 9th symphony second movement.
Delighted to discover this video and your fascinating commentary. My teacher has told me that he thinks I should learn this one as my next project. I'm 65, having returned to piano a few years ago after a 40+-year hiatus, and having now listened to No 22 and gone through the score I am chuffed to bits that he thinks I can handle this! Thanks again for your wonderful comparative recordings and insightful analysis.
It's great that you're coming back to the piano after such a long time ^^ Hang in there! I'm coming back to the piano too, after long and difficult studies. I'm currently going (with much difficulty 😅) through Liszt's sonata. Did you begin the sonata 22 then ? How is it going?
I'd love to hear how you got on! I'm in a similar position - returned to piano 3 years ago after a 40+-year hiatus (I'm 66 now). A year and a half ago, I started lessons with a brilliant teacher who has now given me this sonata. Like you, I was very pleased that he thought I would be able to handle it. Best wishes and happy playing to you!
The second movement makes me feel like watching stars on a fast-moving boat surrounded by endless void in the dark ocean.
very poetic
@@graydusk1039 Yet very under appreciated
@@mentalchaos3952 i love this sonata
The beginnig almost made me cry, I donť know why. It sounds very romantic and light-hearted. This sonata is extremely under-rated.
true
yes it is indeed
1:12 - echoes of the ninth?
@Leon Sumatzkuku bugger off you fraud and infect some other comment section
@Darian Zechariah You’re the same person with a different account, aren’t you? Go away
Bar 145 to the end is amazing, always gets me
What a work- out for the pianist! Devilishly tricky.
It is, indeed. I've learned all but four of the 32, and this one for all its outward appearance of delicacy, diffidence and a certain tentative quality in the second movement makes tremendous demands on one' capacity for digital dexterity and ultra-refined control of subtle dynamic gradations. The octaves and mixed double notes in the first movement intrude like a rude, uninvited peasant brazenly crashing an aristocrat's ball. Rather like HEATHCLIFFE at thLinton's. ;-) I've always felt there was a lot of Heathcliffe in Ludwig.
@@trevorarmbuster2173 So interesting , Trevor. I'd never made the connection between Beethoven and Heathcliff before. Dark, brooding, passionate iconoclasts.
The end of the first movement is so gorgeous. It sounds like a summer sunset. The whole first movement feels like a bittersweet farewell.
Beethoven a man ahead of his time re often jazzy bits and boogie ..in places of his sonatas
Often Beethoven commented on his own music and that much of it would not be understood properly for hundreds of years
I just love Beethoven ..improvisations ,explorations ,multi dimensional expressions ,
deeply moving musical concepts ..a big hearted man deeply committed and dedicated to his Art
Thank you Beethoven for leaving us such richness ,such an inheritance to behold .....I listen with. much gratefulness and gratitude ...
Moving...Thank you.Even i m not the dédicataire!(french word)
@@olivierdrouin2701
I'm being slightly controversial here reference your comment
I feel you must be or on your way to, if you found yourself here.....&
you must at very least be exploring greater heights ...becoming a dedicataire. lol 😊
"it’s practically unknown and rarely performed"
This statement is indeed very true, especially considering this sonata was the last from the 32 that I discovered. I was even about to declare that I had familiarized myself with all 32 sonatas until I found it.
Me too, just discovered it ,I looked through my 3 volumes of sonatas,it wasn't there. I can just about manage the 1st movement,alas I need another lifetime for the 2 Nd. So it's back to the bachs.
Did anyone notice how jazzy the second movement is? It is full of off-beat structures, emphasizes weak tempos and swings all along. I do love this sonata, sadly it is not performed enough.
One of the reasons itsso rarely performed is its extreme difficulty.
@@hyramesshiramess1035 that's not true. It's easier than the appassionata, which is quite a bit 'overperformed'.
would agree,a little underrated
I wouldn't say that it's jazzy. It's just off-kilter. He's trying to throw you off the down beats to confuse your ear. It doesn't swing at all, there's no triplet rhythms, and the harmony, although it modulates a lot, isn't actually very chromatic.
Well,instead of that ,did you noticed (how sonatazzy & Beethovenazzy the jazz and the rock&roll is?)
This. Sonata I keep coming back to ....I'm not really sure why as ..it's so hard to describe...and pin down as you have commented
. It's very intriguing piece of music indeed It commands attention ,even maybe demands it !!
It's so full of passion ,vim and vigour ,jocular in part
full of variabilities .. very deep , full of high/ low
surprises. ,drama ,struggle ,intrigue ,upliftment
it's grounding. well rooted yet ...it sours above like an Eagle on wing ..& way above boundaries at times
. I' feel I'm on a journey here .it's,a struggle but. it's interspersed, with uplifting colour and brightness. which .embraces me and of
which gives me eternal hope of final arrival ..in safety !!!
Thank you Beethoven for this. most wonderful transcendental piece of music ....and grateful thanks also to the musician
here who played this piece with such a marvelous
passionate expressiveness !!! Bravo. !!!
PS I'm suffering with debilitating illness currently .( Fibromyalgia ) .constant chronic pain .. but this piece
of music, has helped lift me above the confines of my afflictions. Golden Blessings sent & thank you again !!
You somehow manage to introduce new pianists that makes me want to explore more about them. Indeed they play it in a unique way, which is great.
Thank you and keep it up. Thumbs up for all your videos.
I am surprised nobody mentioned that part of the first movement is similar to scherzo from 9th symphony!
Also shades of the second movement of the 5th - especially the coda and the way it ends using the first dotted phrase.
@@studiomilo Also the beginning of coda (4:55) is similar to second theme from Appasionata first movement.
is it?????????
and the development of the first movement in sonata 29
Ah memories. This is on one of 4 sonatas I performed for my graduation recital. I remember this piece going over well with the audience. The music has a wonderful intimacy to it and the last movement plenty of interesting bravura and excitement. A piece that is too overlooked I think.
@bill Bloggs Dear Gary and Bill, I agree a wonderful sonata. I astounded all by poking my hands through my mother's abdomen and playing this sonata while still technically in the womb. Along time ago but the wonderful memories remain.
@@MrCinemuso My grandfather was a trapeze artist and used to play this while swinging in the Big Top.
@@PaulHummerman Thats ridiculous.
@@MrCinemuso Not really. I know that when I was but a callow youth, for example, I delighted in tickling this piece onto the ivories while simultaneously practicing ballet, embroidering flowers on Father's indian scarf, stretching (for I was quite the gymnast those days), broilling vegetables, and learning some light quantum physics. What wonderful memories whenever I play this piece!
@bill Bloggs Oh bosh I played this when I was a mere F E T U S
The second movement is amazing. It could just about qualify as a perputuum mobile.
What a full of humours in it! The sonata reminds me of the 4th symphony, which is also sandwiched between two giants, Eroica and Desiny. And I'd say the two are rather shining enough in their own way. And one more point, the 2nd mov. seems resembling Rondo Cappricioso 'Rage over lost penny' in melodic, rhythmic and expressional ways!
once in a while someone who writes witful and cultivated comments! You're welcome)
It's not a conventional sonata; it is too quirky for that. I hear portents of Chopin in the first movement but recollections of Scarlatti in the second. I am not sure that Beethoven knew about Scarlatti... back and Handel, of course.
I like this sonata. There is no weak piece among all the Beethoven Sonatas!
Beethoven, as well as Brahms or Rachmaninow do not write weak pieces!!
True! Each of the 32 sonatas is a superb work of genius.
@@laplacian2760 I like the No. 25 too. It's charming, it's nice and simply good piano music in my opinion.
@@laplacian2760 Not weak at all. It's maybe on a lower level, but damn good for it's level
@@laplacian2760 2nd movement of no. 25 is easily one of the best 2nd movements of all of beethoven's sonatas
I always loved playing the second movement of this. Beethoven seems inexhaustible. Great workout!
05:48 I like Lortie's version. Brilliantly controlled with sparkling fluidity.
Buchbinder Piu Allegro 2nd mov hands down the most exciting!
This is basically the second half of a “full” sonata... an Unbegun Sonata
This channel is cool
+Sergueï Rachmaninov But of course.
indeed killer perfomances
juan I'm not bad but people always criticize me...
You spelled your name weird
An dieser Sonate Beethovens kann besonders gut erkennen, dass das Zeitalter der Konventionen und der des Reglements ein Ende hat. Nicht nur die Kürze sondern auch die untypische Struktur machen darauf aufmerksam, dass die Wiener Klassik in die liberale sowie expressive Romantik mündet. Dadurch prädestiniert Beethoven sich als der Wegbereiter der neuen Musik, die sich unter seinem Namen zu dem entwickelte, was sie heute ist.
Was denkst du? Wie großen Einfluss hatte Beethovens Taubheit auf diese Entwicklung?
Naja, Scarlatti schrieb schon im Barock deutlich kürzere Sonaten
Happy 250th birthday Beethoven!
Compare 2:01 and 8:31, it's the same!
Well observed!
Hi
@@miguelfontesmeira Miguel
@@miguelisaurusbruh1158 Hi, Miguel. Pretty name, btw
@@miguelfontesmeira Thx, yours too
thanks for the detailed analysis. Do you have more of these? Looking at these oddities of form adds so much. I really appreciate.
very taxing on the wrists ,so not many students tackle it
Great playing & great music .
7:08
Listening to Brendel playing this piece. Worth a listen Have to go with Buchbinder on this one as he has my same last name.
12:15 9symphony in sonata fany version 12:39-12:41
Did anyone else think about how this sonata starts with the same motif and note as appassionata but rising instead of falling? I really feel like Beethoven meant to do this.
It's like a tone poem. (I've ben listening to R. Strauss). It is flighty and expressive. The expression overshadows the form. It is remarkable.tI.
Thank you Mr Kumar!
3:42 I wonder if Chopin was inspired by this in his C minor sonata. The contrapuntal melodies each beginning with an ornament is reminding me quite strongly of the opening theme of Chopin's Op.4.
I read somewhere that Chopin couldn't stand Beethoven, though of course that doesn't preclude his imagination being inspired by him.
@@rjr1967 Chopin had respect for Beethoven, he just didn't like most of his pieces. But, he modelled his second sonata after Beethoven's "March Funebre". It was the only sonata Chopin actually performed of Beethoven's, so he had at least some respect for him
Somehow I like this sonata so much. Very innovative, and if I were not told this was Beethoven's, I would confuse this belongs to one piece from other Romanticism composers (I think this is Beethoven's genuine genius. He certainly had surpassed his generation). Pollini's rendition has been excellent so far I have listened to although these three performers' are so good.
Korstick plays in perfect tempo! It is so hard to get it right, especially for the second movement.
Second movement is very intriguing
I can't explain.excellent.
Excellent analysis as always
20:00
I wonder if Mendelssohn got inspired from this for his Double Piano Concerto in A Flat Major.
Maybe the first "A-B" of mvt-1 could be considered the "exposition", then the decorated "A-B" that comes after it is the "development", then the final "A" section is the recapitulation.
still A-B-A-B-A form, I suppose.
Yup, that's kind of how the rondo started to take of characteristics of the sonata. Instead of just being episodic, composers started to frame it with the ternary sonata structure.
Great work
I don't think there is enough rhythmic independence in the 2nd movement to warrant calling it counterpoint.
If I were forced to choose one among these three, I would choose Buchbinder, but all are excellent.. I also greatly appreciate BARENBOIM'S live performance of Opu 54 and a live performance in the Midlands by Wilhelm Kempff of this and the Schumann Fantasy which astonished me for it sterling competence and pinpoint accuracy as well as Kempff's always distinguished gift for bringing out the lyricla elements with great distinction.
Lawrence Kramer has a great chapter on this and the other two-movement sonatas in "Music as Cultural Practice" (ch. 2)
Ending of the second movement reminds me a bit of the end of the first mov. Of no. 7
Lortie is insane!
Always outstanding interpretation
The second movement is wonderful and technically dazzling! It takes your breath away! I think, however, the first movement is not up to Beethoven's elite standard by a long chalk. The melody, though sweet, is quite short, and the octaves seem to go nowhere melodically. I love Beethoven's piano sonatas, but this seems a little downhill after the Waldstein.
I understand how you feel.When I first played this sonata I thought both movements were jokes. But as I go on playing them, a strange feeling invaded me. It was the very first sonata where LvB really explored the world of possibles.That one is maybe undercooked, but it paved the way for the great sonatas to come. And there LvB tried a lot of new and daring harmonies, the same ones that would be the standard one hundred tears later.
William Bunter Very well said I could not agree more with reference to your first two sentences of the works being dazzling and breathtaking !!!
Not wishing to appear to be contentious and with the greatest of respect re rest of your comments. & re this piece. of Beethoven
musical works , as Beethoven often worked by contrast from one opus number to another ,with no comparible link as he mixed and explored
themes perhaps having introducing them in other works ,either previously or further on down the line in New works
@@zaramayne2444 You are quite right, zara, of course. There is much variety in Beethoven's music. And there is no doubt that his genius was equal, at least, to that of the other 'superstar' composers, e.g. Haydn and Mozart and Schubert.. We all have our favourites of course. For me the Waldstein piano sonata is the most incredible, especially the second and third movements. I think my comments were meant to be subjective rather than an attempt at separating the good from the not so good. God bless!
@@williambunter3311 But i'll admit that i REALLY like the coda on the first movement of this sonata
Great Tovey quote!
The second movement is marked Allegretto, not Più allegro. Only the coda is Più allegro. Schiff emphasizes this point in his lecture on Op. 54.
I think Tovey's and Kuerti's commentaries on this sonata are rather codescending, much too centered on what a virtuoso performer might wish Beethoven had written than on what Beethoven was trying to accomplish. In my opinion, the peculiar features of this sonata's movement structures and motifs (including the "jerks" in the second movement theme) suggest that Beethoven was recalling birdsongs he had heard while walking in the countryside near a babbling brook (first-movement triplet outbursts, never-ending sixteenths in the second movement). The writing is more impressionistic than the frankly programmatic passages in the 'Pastoral' Symphony, but letters indicate that Beethoven worked on this sonata during a summer vacation in Baden, so I do not think a birdsong interpretation too far-fetched.
I absolutely love your videos and especially your insightful comments! I'm wondering where do you get the sheet music for these sonatas, and are they all from the same source?
What a brilliant sonata, underplayed and under appreciated! Thank you for presenting it, and your inciteful comments, which add greatly to the understanding and enjoyment of this work. But PLEASE don't place ads in the middle of a movement - I understand bills have to be paid, and it's unreasonable to expect that these sonata presentations can be produced without cost. An example of transcending from the sacred to the profane, however, is to have the second movement of Op.54 interrupted by an advertisement for some trashy Disney production! It sort of defeats the continuity of the music, like travelling at a high rate of speed and then hitting a brick wall. Please don't misunderstand me ---- your efforts are appreciated, and are a very valuable contribution to music education and appreciation! Keep up the fine work!
The channel owner has no control over this unfortunate behaviour - it's RUclips which does it. If you can get one or two ads to play before the video starts, I feel it will then be less likely ads will interrupt during the actual music. Or else use one of those utilities to save the video to your own computer, from where you can listen to it as often as you like without any interruptions.
He doesn't put the ads in. Try adblock :)
Liked and subscribed simply for the awesome description. :D
1st movement is somehow catchy
I think the 1st movement is saying this. "I have no choice but to fight against fate."
Dans le second mouvement , la forme sonate empeche comme d habitude les suavites du cache cache melodique.
3:46 just like the menuetto from Diabelli Variations!
beginning sounds like a hymn
22:36 23:12 23:12 23:12
4:51 : Doesn't it remind you of: "On the Banks of Allan Water" a Scottish folk song from around the 18th century. I don't think Beethoven arranged it though.
Les sonates opus 49 ont été vendues a l edition par Johann , le frère indigne :
j aime penser que cette sonate a été écrite dans une rage d effacement , pour montrer ce qu était une sonate en 2 mouvements SELON LUDWIG
5:26 - 5:47 I cried
Still
5:50 How is pissoble to play the A in bar 3 in the left hand legato, when you have to play the same key in right hand in the next 16th note?
Lots of practice
@@tackontitan Nope, legato is impossible here, you have to use the pedal.
@@tarikeld11 legato doesn't preclude the use of the pedal
I saw Buchbinder in concert last year, and it was undoubtedly the worst concert I have ever attended. I cannot stress this enough, it was absolutely terrible. the phrasing, the tempi, dynamics were all off, he was technically struggling throughout and just seemed arrogant and full of himself. it is utterly unbelievable that this brilliant recording was made by the same pianist. I guess he's just way past his prime, and was once actually a good pianist. the sound quality in the second movement is absolutely superb, he produces beautiful tone colours and the contrast in tempo and character in the coda is phenomenal! good thing I read ashish's comment below, stating that this is a must listen, because I would have never listened to it otherwise. I am amazed!
I love this little story because it reinforces two of my prejudices:
1. Way too many pianists continue concertizing long after they should have stopped (Barenboim, Schiff).
2. There are no good pianists, only good recordings.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar interesting take! also sensible in the pragmatic way, in that it stops one from not listening to a recording just because you didn't like another one from the same pianist!
I,m about to take the plunge ,no more scardey cat stuff.
On a scale from 1 to 10. How deaf do you think was Beethoven at this point?
0
@@DelsinM I meant deaf not dead. Damn autocorrect.
What do you mean?Qualité of music ?
@@steffen5121 i think 2
Absolutely nothing wrong with this sonata that a different opus number couldn't fix....
What kind of musical form does the 1st Movement have?
A Rondo.
Thé pianist Alfred Brendel in his Book"réflexions faites"(in french)talks about and justifies thé liberty and unconventional appearance of thé movment
A ||: B A :|| Coda (Ternary form w/ repeats)
6:42
7:10
このソナタは1楽章が抜けているので物足りません
like a learning to how to go about learning this. Seems octaves are are no 1. could some pianis tut on this please, I,m a semi advanced student
Hand staccato is required (not finger) so be sure to have a lose wrist. Learn bar by bar slowly then put them together. The patient is worth it, in the end it takes less time than playing it as a whole as quick as possible
6:42
ive been reading through the small notes of analyses from sonata 1. hehe @Ashish Xiangyi Kumar, you are funny
16:46
Fuck Yeah !!!
Agree with the poster below, very underrated sonata.
Would not like to meet the composer though, in a dark alley, round the back of the pub, after midnight.
There is something seriously wrong with this person.
5:50
I loved this sonata and was enjoying it when a loud and dumb ad about pringles came right in the middle of the second movement. Are there any youtube adblockers I can install?
For once I have to disagree respectfully wish Ashish, and Tovey. I think this sonata is a tour de force . Beethoven's grip on his thematic material is stunning. The 2nd movement is a lesson in how to do a perpetuum mobile - so exciting and imaginative. Who else could make a rising major scale sound so weird? Even sinister? It also baffles me how a pianist can learn so many notes {speaking as a bad amateur pianist). Could a proper pianist play it pretty well correctly the first time he or she plays it through, or does it take as many hours as you might imagine to disentangle all the notes?
I'm quite sure both Tovey and I think this work is a masterpiece - not sure how you got the opposite impression!
@@AshishXiangyiKumar Sorry, just got the impression that your remarks were a wee bit dismissive. And Tovey's ' doglike' ?? No! Certainly not how it sounds to me (whatever he actually meant).
28:30
I'm doing this song for my diploma and the second part is like killing me 😂
If you're writing about this for a diploma, my suggestion is that you don't refer to it as a "song". It has no lyrics and no voices singing, so it's not a song. It could be referred to as a piece or a composition or a work or more specifically as a sonata. Calling instrumental music a song conveys an extremely amateurish impression of the person doing it. It will do you no favours in any academic writing.
@@michaeledwards1172 ....thank you for this explanation....its the norm on youtube and many other platform where people are referring to instrumental pieces as "Song"
22:16 Wrong rhythm in the 3rd bar, also at 33:26 😅
They probably play from a different edition.
Q louco
probably the least know Beethoven sonata?...
what did I just listen to
You just listened to an absolute masterpiece
Beautiful performances. But please, switch off the dynamic compression. I don't like if there isn't any difference between piano and forte. It would be great to listen to these beautiful performances without dynamic compression. In the digital sound world, this is no longer necessary, in fact, it is harmful.
Lortie's interpretation of La Valse anytime soon?
f*** sound too low
This sonata is crap
Uh, I don't think so bud.
Well, I think so, that's all that matters. But the scherzo almost saves it.
No, your opinion doesn't matter at all. You may not like it, but that's an entirely different thing to declaring something by arguably the greatest composer of all time, in his prime no less, "crap." And there's no "scherzo," so who knows what you're talking about.
Well, this Sonata's neighbours are the Waldstein and Appassionata so it's obviously going to pale in comparison. It's not crap though.
It's a fantastic little meta-sonata: it only works if you know what sonata form is supposed to be, what counterpoint is, and how both of them are supposed to work. But if you're sadly unlettered like this Odisseu de Ítaca person most of its wit and intelligence will be lost on you.