Pathetique:

I'm playing the first movement, can anyone give any advice for me regarding how this piece should be played.. can you tell me little things for every part of the movement?

This was from my book:

The relation between the movement of the Intro and the Allegro is that a whole note in the allegro is exactly equal to an eigth note in the intro.

Anything else?

Learn it slowly, and by that I don't mean learn less measures per day than you are learning now, but rather play it slowly. Just play the notes stupidly slow, for the first time, so you will hear it right and know what to play. Also, putting a goal for learning a number of measures per day (I usually go for a page, if I have time) will help in organising learning the piece, and will help you learn to work more methodically concerning pieces too :blush:

This is the recording of me playing it on my keyboard as a midi (much worse than what they keyboard actually sounds like). I just began playing this a few days ago.

The allegro sounds too staccato (I didn't use pedal.. am I supposed to? but it comes out louder on the midi for some reason, don't know why), ignore the very last part since I couldn't remove it, and also the chromatic scale is a bit too slow. But please comment.

Also the midi makes the Eb chords in the beginning a little too loud for some reason.

The beginning: take more time, feed more emotion into those notes. If you slow down a bit and leave some space before the important notes, they will sound more important. You're playing too in-time.

I thought I heard some wrong notes in there. Check to see if you read everything correctly.

The allegro should probably use pedal. Don't go overboard, though. Lift the pedal whenever the chords change.

Overall, nice job. I started learning this but then set it aside. Don't forget to listen to many different recordings!

I love the performence really much, very lovly touch. But i would consider the Grave a bit more slowly. Your moving is great. The Presto is very well! Its a difficult piece i can hear your Problems playing, when you began to play it?

Could be a very nice recording soon! I like it very much.

Florian

Could you play the 2nd movement? I love that Melody, that piece is absolutely amazing.

EDIT: I'll play that after I perfect the first movement.

Alexei Nasedkin's recording (which is amazing) is slightly faster which is what I like about it. I've listened to some recordings that are way to slow..

I compared my time to his and if I wanted to play like his version I would have to speed it up a little bit. I took it down a notch in speed, although there is one note in the very very beginning where I could've left a small amount more of rest.

Thanks I'll try to compare my recording more with others that I really like and see what I can do. I think the reason his finishes with less time is that my chromatic scale is too slow. Also my arpeggios are too slow as well.

The midi kind of distorts the sound too, to make notes sound off sometimes. I'll try to get a better recording when I'm all finished.

The Alexei Pathetique Interpretation:

megashock21's Other Stuff eSnips Folder

Ahh, notice how he slows down a bit before hitting the right hand octave right before 00:37. It's subtle. Notice how slowing down is used for effect.

Right

Sorry if I'm focusing too much on the areas of needed improvement. You really are nailing it quite well.

Surprisingly, I've played this piece before last year. Coincidentally, it's my favorite piano piece.

Here's some advice:

1. Like what everyone else said, really put a lot of emotion into the Grave

2. Make sure you have good fingering for the Allegro because it's impossible to play fast without good fingering.

3. Don't overdo the emotion. No one likes it when people "bang" on the piano.

4. Practice!

Seeing "Topic: Pathetique Last Post by: pathetique" made my night.

Seeing "Topic: Pathetique Last Post by: pathetique" made my night.

Glad I could help...

Any place in particular where I could find that information?

Your playing in the right and left hand hardly matches up.

Could you give me an example of where this happened?

Okay, thanks a lot. I'll do my best to fix all of these things.

*Double Posts*

The beginning of this version is ten times better than my old one. The part after the Allegro when you slow down into the crossover section, the beats are held with the completely wrong duration and some notes are wrong in the new section since I just started.

The left hand in the Allegro didn't sound that great in this version, but I was focusing on the beginning.

What do you think of the beginning now?

I added the quicker version. I took it slower in order to add in the emotion, .. now I can speed it up a bit.

The rhythm should be counted in semi-quavers in teh Grave section so the demisemi-quaver is actually part of the melody and not a short clip. I prefer to play bars 9-10 freely without a beat but that's more to do with taste and interpretation. Just remember that the first movement is not meant to be a pretty piece. It is meant to be strong, aggressive and full of that Beethoven feeling.

I don't know too much about the background of this piece. What I do know however, is that Beethoven found out that he was going deaf during this period of time. It was the start of depression which would pretty much last for the rest of his life. Also try to take note that Beethoven wasn't very famous before he compsoed this piece. He wanted to make a name for himself with op.13. He wanted to say "I'm here to stay and if you don't like it you can go kiss my arse."

There are still some wrong notes in the beginning of the Allegro section in the new recording that you might want to check.

Specifically?

I haven't listened to your recording but if I may add:

this is by no means a classical sonata, at least in my opinion, and should therefore not be played like one. the introduction is grave and despairing. It should be played slowly with some force. listen very closely to the spaces between the notes. those are what creates the drama in the introduction. Also, don't worry about playing the run at the end of the introduction perfectly in time. Just make it sound good.

The actual piece should be played quickly but shouldn't run. Rhythm is very important and relax your left wrist because later on it can tire out. the second theme has to be played musically again without running or hesitating. the first closing theme should build up until it begins again. the second time it is played, it should build up more. but remember, whatever you do : DONT SMASH. everything has to be controlled and although sometimes smashing might be enticing, it is amateurish and sounds awful. just a couple of tips. I played this sonata last year in a recital so I know a bit about what I'm talking about.