András Schiff - Sonata No.16 in G, Op.31/1 - Beethoven Lecture-Recitals

András Schiff - Beethoven Lecture-Recitals
Wigmore Hall (London, UK), 2004-06
András Schiff last performed the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at Wigmore Hall from 2004-06 to overwhelming critical acclaim, with the editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, describing one particular performance as ‘a riveting mixture of erudition, analysis, passion, wit and memory’.
On the day before each of the eight recitals in the series, the world-renowned pianist, pedagogue and lecturer gave a lecture-recital in which he explored the works to be performed. Deeply engaging and insightful, these thought-provoking lecture-recitals, recorded live at the Hall, are available below as eight audio lecture-recitals.
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• Beethoven Lecture-Reci...
View the MP3 files on the Internet Archive:
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[@tinkerchel]

LECTURE NOTES:
The last time Beethoven published a trio of sonatas(or more than one sonata) under the same opus number.
--------------1st movt---------------
1. @8:44 an old-fashioned piano playing from the 1800s: the left hand is always a hair of a second before the right. It's the physics of sound. Like when listening to a great orchestra, the double basses always play before the violins.
But on the contrary, in this sonata the right hand is a tad bit before the left.
2.@10:53 the virtuoso flourish is actually just a G major triad upside down.
3. @11:28 the first phrase is transposed a whole tone down, an interesting device the "Waldstein" sonata later uses.
4. dynamically huge contrast between pianissimo & forte(fortissimo will also come). The dynamic spectrum of the piano sonata has increased.
5. @13:46 second theme in a very different character & meter, like a street song with characteristic syncopations. Then Beethoven takes the second theme to the bass in minor key.
The constant change between the major and minor can often be found years/decades later in the music of Schubert.
6.@16:47 as opposed to the un-togetherness, we have these huge passages in unison, modulating always a tone up: B flat major, C minor, and then D major(the dominant).
7. @17:30 Sforzandi always on the unaccented part of the bar, something Mozart never did.
8. @19:11 not just the dominant 7th but with an added 9th.
9. @19:43 the dry against the juicy. Beethoven's sonatas are about conflicts and constant contrast.
--------------2nd movt---------------
10. first part variations: an Italian opera parody
11. @25:46 the theme goes to the base, like a fat man in a love duet.
12. @27:31 still Beethoven can not escape his own skin. These kinds of modulations and harmonies could not be found in Italian opera.
13. @28:51 middle part: storm in a tea cup, ends by reaching the dominant of this movement, on which Beethoven stays for 12 whole measures to show that it's a parody.
14. @31:18 last variation of the parody
15. @31:41 the semiquaver accompaniment is also lifted from Italian operas.
16. Apart from the Hammerklavier Sonata's Adagio, the longest Beethoven slow movement. But according to Wiki, Apart from the Hammerklavier Sonata's Adagio and the 32nd sonata's second movement, this is the longest slow movement of Beethoven in the piano sonatas (around 11 minutes).
--------------3rd movt: rondo--------------
17. starts with a sort of Viennese street song, with an upbeat. Like a Gavotte of Bach.
18. @33:26 the whole form & shape of this Rondo found its successor in Schubert's last movement of his A major sonata.
19. @34:45 the theme is in minor in the bass, reminiscent of a Bach fugato.
20. @35:40 coda: stops on a 6-4 chord. Like Mozart's quintet for piano and winds, K.452, there's a composed cadenza in tempo.
Adagio tempo then back to the tempo primo, deceptive cadence, adagio, question mark, fragmentary treatment, presto, then it mirrors the end of the 1st movement, the two hands finally find each other.

[@WillLiang]

These things should be 2 hours long.

[@hongzhifan1503]

I think even Beethoven should say THANK YOU to Mr. Schiff!

[@guarrho]

Now, the dry against the juicy

[@tinkerchel]

@29:39 what on earth was that eerie string sound..

[@roberts932]

Finale theme is from Boccherini.

[@ultimateconstruction]

It's not lol

[@joanmayer5459]

*

[@vittoriomarano8230]

...a little star? 🎹😉