It's not just a matter of slow/fast, because when you pick a tempo, this allows adopting solutions that would be awkward at a different speed. (Using a programm

It's not just a matter of slow/fast, because when you pick a tempo, this allows adopting solutions that would be awkward at a different speed. (Using a programmer's analogy, picking a tempo is like entering different branches of a very deep tree). To understand this, consider bars 185ff in the development section. Here, after a long passage where another theme dominated the scene, the main theme returns two times: first in d minor, then in B-flat major. How do the pianists play this passage? - Kovacevich (https://youtu.be/MAZ8PA5_gVA?t=744 https://youtu.be/MAZ8PA5_gVA?t=744) play the d-minor and the B-flat phrases quite in the same way. - Brendel (https://youtu.be/TKy0Lyl4g-s?t=443 https://youtu.be/TKy0Lyl4g-s?t=443) and Richter (https://youtu.be/ZbJtHzaFpBQ?t=983 https://youtu.be/ZbJtHzaFpBQ?t=983) play the second one much softer than the first, as if the B-flat phrase were a distant echo, or a timid answer, of the d-minor one. - Uchida (https://youtu.be/l7cc2FD06FM?t=812 https://youtu.be/l7cc2FD06FM?t=812) plays both occurrences very softly as if the composer wanted to remind the listener of the long-forgotten theme. What I am trying to show here is that, apart from speed, there are many other subtle ways a pianist expresses what the composer meant. This kind of nuances can be very hard to spot, but adopting Richter's tempo makes easier to appreciate them.