Beethoven!
#184101 - 06/06/05 06:26 PM
|
|
|
|
jrs
Reged: 03/31/03
Posts: 317
Loc: Aberystwyth, Wales
|
|
|
Since we have a little bit of a classical music discussion going on another thread, I thought I'd let people know that BBC Radio 3 is playing all of Beethoven's works all this week, if you are interested in checking it out. [RealAudio link]
The other great thing is that they're making all 9 Beethoven symphonies available online as a free mp3 download. It's a great opportunity to discover his symphonies, all of which are great in their own ways, or if you are already familiar with them, to hear another conductor's take on them.
Symphony No. 1 and No. 3 (Eroica) are already up, with the rest to come as the week progresses.
- Vincent
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: Beethoven!
#184104 - 06/06/05 06:34 PM
|
|
|
|
RGS
Reged: 07/13/04
Posts: 120
Loc: Queensland, Australia
|
|
|
Love Beethoven, piano concertos are my thing, and have Beethovens 1st, 4th and 5th in my car stacker at the moment, truly wonderful!
Some of my other favourites are the Rachmaninovs, Chopin, Brahms no.1, not to mention........
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: Beethoven!
#184111 - 06/06/05 06:53 PM
|
|
|
|
|
jrs
Reged: 03/31/03
Posts: 317
Loc: Aberystwyth, Wales
|
|
|
Hey -- I think the Beethoven piano concertos are great too -- I had the luck to see all of them done over two nights at Ravinia by Emanuel Ax and the CSO. It was pretty fantastic. You should add 3 to your mix, it's one of my personal favourites. 
- Vincent
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
pieces, I can truly say I like the sound of them but I really dislike playing them and learning them. The classical era I find too restrictive for me. It's all about rules and forms and how they break the rules and how they don't. Arrgh. I'm much more of a free spirit in terms of forms and genres. I much prefer to play Chopin and Liszt in terms of piano - they're my favourites. I don't even mind Shostakovich.
I find Beethoven's music both very violent and gentle - ironic for the type of person he was. I do like playing the Moonlight Sonata, although the third movement is difficult to play. I also like playing the Pathetique Sonata. I have the complete collection of Beethoven's Sonatas for Piano. I've played a few. I think I'm going to leave the rest for when I'm older. Anyway, that's enough babbling. I rarely get to talk about my specialty. I have an honours degree in Music, so forgive me.
--------------------
Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
See, I never minded playing Beethoven. I've gone through a couple of the sonatas (I have the complete set too), and I sort of enjoy the more classical feel -- I think it's more demanding of the performer since you can't just play everything rubato with the pedal, but it still has more emotional content than other purely 'classical' works. The challenge, one that is even more present in composers like Bach, is to keep within the musical paradigm and still make it lyrical, etc. -- I find that you can do much more subtle things with the music because of the restrictions imposed.
It sort of reminds me on how I -always- hated playing Bach when I was taking piano exams until I heard Glen Gould play Bach one day -- it really blew my mind, since he had the talent for bringing out all the interesting counterpunctual harmonies in interesting ways. Playing Bach correctly is still hard, but at least now I have a goal in mind when it comes to interpretation.
That being said, I've recently started getting into Brahms in a serious way, and I'm really enjoying his style - his ability to place chords and use the bottom of the piano well for that 'full' sound really contrasts with other Romantic composers that I've played before.
The third movement of the Moonlight is tough - I never really worked on it enough to get it up to performance standards, more just for my own purposes. I've played the Pathetique, the Waldstein (the typical 'guy' sonata) and a few others as well.
- Vincent
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: Beethoven!
#184251 - 06/07/05 09:14 AM
|
|
|
|
Nelly
Reged: 08/06/04
Posts: 4381
Loc: Within stray mortar fire of DC
|
|
|
I saw E.Ax at Wolf Trap in 97 or 98. He's a piano stud!!
~nelly~ 
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I played Bach's Well Tempered Clavichord as my performance piece, and for piano competition. I always loved the regiment and rules of Bach because I could express myself really well within those strict guidelines. The other interpretative stuff I could really never get into. Because everybody else was so wildly expressive, the music wasn't interesting to me.
Brahms is what I play to scare the spiders. I like it LOUD.
~nelly~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I assume by 'I played the well tempered clavichord' you mean a particular prelude and fugue? I can just see the competition going on for days as everyone goes up to play the whole thing.
Actually, it was the specifically the recording of the Well Tempered Clavichord by Glen Gould that I was mentioning in my other post. I was playing the C minor one, which on the face of it is really quite boring (just a whole lot of consecutive sixteenth note broken chords), but after hearing what Gould did to it, it took on a completely different light, making me think about Bach in a way I had never done before.
- Vincent
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: Beethoven!
#184512 - 06/07/05 11:50 PM
|
|
|
|
|
RGS
Reged: 07/13/04
Posts: 120
Loc: Queensland, Australia
|
|
|
Well i feel truly humbled, sounds like you guys are well accomplished! I occasionally bash my way through some basic Chopin, Beethoven and the like, and would give my right arm (except that would defeat the purpose completely) for a whole lot more talent, patience, perserverance, instead of just wanting to play it NOW, perfectly! Thanks i will have a listen to Beethovens 3rd, i have been wanting to get something new for a while now.
Ralph
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
