András Schiff - Sonata No.12 in A♭, Op.26 "Funeral March" - 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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View the MP3 files on the Internet Archive:
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[@tinkerchel]

LECTURE NOTES:
None of the 4 movements are in sonata form in this sonata. This is unprecedented.
No breaks between the movements.
The first Beethoven piano sonata that still got its original manuscript.
----------1st movt: theme & 5 variations--------------
1. The only sonata prior to this that starts with theme & variations is Mozart's piano sonata No.11, K331-"Alla Turca".
2. @7:21 a variation within a variation
3. @7:43 second part of the theme: 10 bars, asymmetrical
4. @10:21 hemi demi semiquavers: 1/64 notes
5. Beethoven uses different registers like a a string quartet. Very often we find in piano sonatas 4-part, 4-voiced structures reminiscent of a string quartet.
6. @11:35 second variation: pointillistic. Theme in bass, and it's complimented in the right hand with syncopations.
7. @13:17 third variation in F flat minor, a very usual key. Foreshadowing the funeral march.
8. @14:18 Sforzandi within piano in the bass, menacing
9. @14:49 new harmonic device
10. @15:42 fourth variation: different registers embodying different instruments
11. @16:40 fifth variation: like an apotheosis. New sonority in Beethoven sonata. Nature sounds. The notes of the melody are cleverly concealed.
12. @17:23 he's hiding the tune in the middle voice.
13. @17:46 We start this variation with triplets, then hemi demi semiquavers: 1/64 notes
14. @18:52 coda. Octaves in the bass are like cello & double bass pizzicato
15. this movement mirrors the structure of the sonata form:
🔸1st movement: theme + variation 1&2
🔸2nd slow movement: variation 3 in minor
🔸3rd Scherzo movement: variation 4
🔸finale + coda: variation 5
--------------2nd movt: scherzo------------
16. @23:00 theme goes in the bass, with a counterpoint above. Then it's turns around.
17. @23:28 trio: swinging like a Waltz or a Ländler.
18. @24:03 an arch that's 16 bars long, what Wagner called in his music, "the endless melody"
--------------3rd movt--------------
19. the only Beethoven sonata Chopin ever played in public.
20. @28:16 these chords are marked with a dot. They have to be played Seco(short and very staccato), dryly without the pedal. At funerals in Beethoven's time, to achieve the dry damp sound they covered the drums with a thick black cotton cloth
21. @30:52 the procession is coming nearer and nearer as it reaches us. For the first time we have real fortissimos.
22. @31:15 orchestrated middle section: drum roll in pedal, trumpets & horns without. Basic harmonies: tonic, dominant & subdominant
23. @33:03 coda over a pedal point
24. @33:20 dissonant Sforzando, like a knife in the heart
25. @33:30 Neapolitan harmony
--------------4th movt: rondo--------------
26. quiet convos between people on their way home from the funeral(even though IMHO the autumn rain on the grave is more fitting)

[@agseu3668]

I listen to Beethoven by Schiff always I can and I discover new things each time.

[@timlev37]

Excellent lecture - thanks for preserving and sharing it.

[@klassiknatur4611]

just wonderful - thank you so much. I love this sonata very very much.

[@Brahms1234]

Thank you so much for uploding this masterclass

[@helloitismetomato]

You're welcome 😊 They were on RUclips before but the account that had them got deleted for some reason

[@Edgard1315]

I’m glad they are back! Thank you!

[@helloitismetomato]

Yeah, the old uploads were by someone else, I put these new ones up because I missed them too lol

[@gstibgo3751]

The original funeral march is in A flat minor. Lebert/Bulow changes it to the more easily read F minor. Same notes.

[@TARamkumar]

28:02
28:59
30:51
31:49
32:11
33:03

[@stefanufer608]

Interesting thoughts on the last movement - Richter

[@stefanufer608]

Richter would have disagreed, judging from his recording of it!

[@ThePianoenergy]

@@stefanufer608 Maybe Beethoven would have disagreed too, as he wrote "Allegro" which is usually a fast tempo, especially in his earlier works.