Beethoven's Subtle Brilliance | Ep. 1
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- Опубліковано 8 гру 2022
- Join composer Frederick Viner as he explores Beethoven’s less celebrated passages, which nonetheless showcase the composer's exceptional craftsmanship and ingenuity. In this episode, he examines a passage in the Op. 90 Sonata, the full performance of which can be found here, by Jan Schulmeister: • Beethoven - Piano Sona...
More Analysis: www.youtube.com/@FrederickVin...
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Talking about coherence and economy: the second movement's theme starts with the inversion (in major) of the theme of the first movement. An extraordinary sonata indeed. It's like Beethoven has written a condensed summary before venturing into the world of op.101 etc...
Not familiar with this sonata but you just convinced me to give it a listen.
You won't regret it!
@@FrederickViner Agreed, it's definitely worth it. Especially the second movement, which is incredibly beautiful
I've listened to this sonata tens of times and this moment always seemed weird to me, but I never really noticed how..brilliant it was, actually used to annoy me a bit hehe.
Thanks for the insight, yours is one of the most valuable channels on youtube!
Thanks so much the kind words. I'm glad you don't find the passage annoying anymore! 🤣
@@FrederickViner yw, and I'm glad too :p
Beethoven's sonatas are almost all part of the standard, mainstream repertoire, but the op. 90 is one of the very few exceptions. It's seldom played in concerts, and based solely on the number of views on Ashish Xiangyi Kumar's score videos on YT for the 32 sonatas, it is the least consulted, with 223k views, not far behind n°22 (235k). Shocking, when you come to understand the ingenuity and modernism displayed in the piece. The way both movements respond to each other, the contrapuntal craftmanship and developmental brilliance should be enough to make this piece a pinnacle in the piano repertoire. And that second movement ... !
But then again, it's a bit of a weird one, isn't it. It isn't virtuosic like the Appasionnata, and it can't quite be classified in Beethoven's "late" era with the five following sonatas. It's almost Schubert-like, in a way. Whatever the case, I encourage anyone who hasn't listened to the piece yet to give it the benefit of the doubt!
Perhaps most weird of all is the 'lack' of a 3rd movement, but the 2nd mvt is miraculous enough to more than make up for that. But yes, like you say, it sort of evades easy categorisation, which if anything speaks to its originality. It's one of my favourites for sure!
I've fit lyrics into the melody of the 2nd movement in an original mini-musical as a collaboration of my middle-school class.
Looking forward to more of this series! Also this sonata has one of my favorite endings to any Beethoven sonata
Short and very well explained, Thanks for that! I’ll listem that with another percepcion👏👏👏❤️
Great vid as always Fred!
Thank you! :D
Very intriguing intro!!
Loving these short format videos, by the way!
Glad you like them! They'll likely be on the shorter side until I finish my PhD in March - I just don't have the time for longer videos right now (:
I absolutely adore your videos, every one. Thank you for making them and keep it up!
Thank you so much! I'm delighted that you enjoy them. I'll certainly do my best to keep it up :)
2:21 I did not remember this in Fuer Elise, but I certainly remember the very same right notes across octaves showing up at the start of the introduction of the Finale of Hammerklavier, which is a certain critical and also brilliant position!
Great stuff as always Fred! One other really cool feature about this sonata is how the end of the second movement blends so smoothly with the opening of the next sonata, op. 101. I actually learnt realised this after listening to András Schiff's lecture-recital on it (which is available on YT)
Great analysis! It's really shocking this piece, and specifically this movement, isn't more famous, it has all the hallmarks of a 'famous sounding' beethoven piece yet I didn't discover it for years.
Also, I feel like I've heard the first theme in a pop or folk song but I can't quite put my finger on it or find it in Google, so if anyone knows it would end my torment!
I was playing this sonata today, and its weirdness really struck me. And speaking of interrogations....that second movement....jeez...the theme repeats like what....70 times?!? lol
Lovely little video chock full of insight! You should know that I’m positively besotted with you - your angular Anglo-Saxon beauty and the plummy notes of your delightful posh accent (at least to my American ears). I’m a composer in my own right and I find your commentary spot on. Pardon my little outburst of gushing, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your videos. Keep up the good work!
I might just print this comment out and look at it every morning for motivation...
Jokes aside (or maybe it's not a joke), that really means a lot, Fred. Thank you so much and I'll certainly try and keep it up :)
@@FrederickViner Fred, here’s a link to a live performance of a sacred song I wrote some time back. ua-cam.com/video/rqwK9a9lhPI/v-deo.html
Well, now that you've done a video on Beethoven you'll have to give Mozart his due as well. It wouldn't do at all to leave him out. Speaking of ends-of-developments and beginnings-of-recapitulations, this is pretty hard to beat, in that regard:
ua-cam.com/video/G5rHbGlbnMk/v-deo.html