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Excellent lecture on the Hammerklavier by Andras Schiff which includes an amusing discussion of tempo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5f8yAnGik https://www.

Excellent lecture on the Hammerklavier by Andras Schiff which includes an amusing discussion of tempo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5f8yAnGik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5f8yAnGik

ttctciyf 7y ago
Schiff is also controversial on the "Moonlight"[1] > I don't know any other piece of music that has such a thick layer of false tradition on it like this one. As well as taking issue with the name - deriving from the poet Ludwig Rellstab which has "stuck like glue" - he notes that the manuscript for the slow first movement, adagio sostenuto (slowly and sustained), is marked alla breve[2] meaning "count two in a bar" so that each beat counts for a pair of the famous triplets[3] - effectively doubling the tempo: > If you would play it in this tempo that is usually played [plays a bar at conventional speed] you can have breakfast and lunch and dinner and the poor pianist is still playing this first ... Not content with this disruption of "Moonlight" convention, he relates that the manuscript writes senza sordino, instructing the player to play the whole first movement "without the dampers". Despite the protestations of his colleagues that "you cannot do it on the modern piano": > I beg to differ. Why can't you do it on the modern piano? Have you tried it? They said "No I haven't tried it. But you cannot do it!" > It's an argument just not good enough. Beethoven is a great great enough composer that you have to take him very seriously. [...] He wanted a very special sound, that the harmonies swim together like in a wash and the overtones are strengthening each other. His solution to the "modern piano" problem is simple: just partially raise the dampers by pressing the pedal down "about a third". All this might sound like a recipe for disaster, but his interpretation sounds wonderful! A lot more follows, and I can also recommend his "Moonlight" masterclass[4] as a demonstration of the cogency of his position on the piece. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW_Dv_GNQAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW_Dv_GNQAo 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_breve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_breve 3: https://youtu.be/fW_Dv_GNQAo?t=282 https://youtu.be/fW_Dv_GNQAo?t=282 4: https://youtu.be/85KJkpbh_us?t=913 https://youtu.be/85KJkpbh_us?t=913

Excellent lecture on the Hammerklavier by Andras Schiff which includes an amusing discussion of tempo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5f8yAnGik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5f8yAnGik

ttctciyf 7y ago

Schiff is also controversial on the "Moonlight"[1] > I don't know any other piece of music that has such a thick layer of false tradition on it like this one. As well as taking issue with the name - deriving from the poet Ludwig Rellstab which has "stuck like glue" - he notes that the manuscript for the slow first movement, adagio sostenuto (slowly and sustained), is marked alla breve[2] meaning "count two in a bar" so that each beat counts for a pair of the famous triplets[3] - effectively doubling the tempo: > If you would play it in this tempo that is usually played [plays a bar at conventional speed] you can have breakfast and lunch and dinner and the poor pianist is still playing this first ... Not content with this disruption of "Moonlight" convention, he relates that the manuscript writes senza sordino, instructing the player to play the whole first movement "without the dampers". Despite the protestations of his colleagues that "you cannot do it on the modern piano": > I beg to differ. Why can't you do it on the modern piano? Have you tried it? They said "No I haven't tried it. But you cannot do it!" > It's an argument just not good enough. Beethoven is a great great enough composer that you have to take him very seriously. [...] He wanted a very special sound, that the harmonies swim together like in a wash and the overtones are strengthening each other. His solution to the "modern piano" problem is simple: just partially raise the dampers by pressing the pedal down "about a third". All this might sound like a recipe for disaster, but his interpretation sounds wonderful! A lot more follows, and I can also recommend his "Moonlight" masterclass[4] as a demonstration of the cogency of his position on the piece. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW_Dv_GNQAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW_Dv_GNQAo 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_breve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_breve 3: https://youtu.be/fW_Dv_GNQAo?t=282 https://youtu.be/fW_Dv_GNQAo?t=282 4: https://youtu.be/85KJkpbh_us?t=913 https://youtu.be/85KJkpbh_us?t=913