Added: 4 years ago
From: FABrendel
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  • Yeah, monumental interpretation just about sums it up! Filled and played with emotion frustration anger pain etc - incredible piece of music, incredible playing.

  • I wonder what kind of person "dislikes" this video... This is just another Master Piece from Alfred Brendel.

  • but why doesn't he sit upright?

  • @bachopinbee5991 he has so many form of sit for every note , look at other tubes , but actually it is not healthy

  • Ah, after listening to my recording of this, this sounds so much better.

    Mine is filled with static from the laptop speaker, is played on an inferior piano and with obviously lower quality playing. Nonetheless, at least I ~can~ play it. lol...

  • @hellomate639

    I also now realize how heavily influenced by this recording I am... Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

  • Crisp, flowwing, expressive.........Perfect

  • This does sound a lot better on CD rather than stupid 240p.

  • Murray Perahia is also a great pianist for this masterpiece. I'm just wondering what the hell Ludwig was thinking to himself. I think he wanted to show up Mozart's work and prove he was a Rock Star with a greater genius. Mozart was amazing, but Beethoven gave us energy never heard on a piano until his arrival ;)

  • One of the better renditions I've ever heard.

  • It's hard to believe this great pianist was largely self taught.

  • while i dont dislike it enough to give it a thumbs down...

    i feel like its a bit of a sophomoric rendition of the piece. the counter melodies (or what ever you call the back and forth between the left and right hand) aren't pronounced enough for my liking.

  • @Conner36 you suck

    

  • @LutenistDeMari glad you approve :)

    

  • Finally a very good interpretation !!!!!

    Heureusement que certains pianistes ne cèdent pas à la tentation "à la mode" de jouer tout le plus rapidement possible pour montrer sa virtuosité. Car ceci serait à l'encontre de ce qu'a voulu le compositeur puisqu'il a écrit ce mouvement en 4/4 et non en C barré, ce qui signifie qu'il faut pouvoir battre la mesure à la noire et non à la blanche comme on le voit trop souvent (exemple flagrant Valentina Lisitsa...).

    Merci pour cette vidéo !!!

  • brendel is the master. him over all others. i was lucky to have met him 2 years ago at yale.

  • @adamobarca

    Yeah, you are a lucky piece of shit haha

  • @hellomate639 haha, yeah. i had to wake up early to see him teach a master-class to 3 music students. each student came prepared with a song and, well, Brendel basically showed them how it ought to be played. really cool stuff!

  • i just found out about this guy, he's damn awesome

  • 5 people mis-aimed with their mouse.

  • Are you sure that isn't Eric Morcambe?

  • Best one yet! Kudos! Thanks for making this available!

  • 5 persons are mozart lovers XD

  • C'est très bien joué et c'est mon mouvement préféré (mais je ne dit pas que les 2 autres sont magnifiques)!!!!!!!!!!

  • @elixiress the word "polished" comes to mind whenever I hear Brendel, recorded or in performance. Some rate his performances as their favorites (including me), some don't, but I think everyone agrees that his interpretations are meticulously polished at all times.

  • Alfred Brendel is not Better nor worse than Kempff, just different and I prefer Kempff by the smallest of margins...

  • This guy plays this pretty good. I've heard almost ALL of the moonlight sonatas on here and everyone is either too fast, too slow, plays at same volume the whole song or just plain doesn't have the emotion for it... but this guy is 2nd best I would say. Of course you know who #1 is... Kempff plays this like no other. Hurray for both guys!

  • @plutocrank wen i started readin ur Comment..... i thdht of dear kempff........& there he comes along!

  • Brendel's version transcends description-evokes emotion.

  • It is quite obvious that Mr Brendel enjoys this piece. He seems very free when playing beethoven in general. This interpretation ties up neatly and seems like everything works well together, especially how clear and uncluttered it is and how he brings out the inner voices in such a demanding piece. Very easy to listen to.

  • Not an expert, but many of my classical favourites have so far been best played by Brendel. I don't know how to explain it, but his pauses, pedalling, emphasis on certain areas...just does it for me better than all other interpretations. Thanks for uploading this :)

  • Seriously fantastic opening with the arpeggios, but for me it sadly all falls apart with the section at 0:12 - 0:20 I don't like to "diss" Brendel, but I just can't STAND how he's playing that , it's so jarring. Most of the rest is great, but that theme sounds horrible to my ears.

  • @JacobRudduck i totally agree........Horiwitz version is the best ''IN MY OPINION'' lol just incase i get spammed what not.

  • Would that it were possible to hear this with fresh ears.

  • I have the same feeling Devanatha has. I also believe he's the best performer of this piece. I've heard many different, and he's the only one to my knowledge that follows beethoven's writing strictly and perfectly.

  • Even though I prefer Barenboim's inter. of this, Brendel's just great. Nobody can discuss about his just authority.

  • Incredible, incredible, incredible. Alfred Brendel is by far my favorite pianist for this piece (and just for playing Beethoven in general).

  • I always sense a certain sense of physical power in Brendel's fingers. His ff staccatos are the most impressive.

  • Le son est splendide, il manque l'image. Longue vie à Alfred BRENDEL.

  • I am not a musical expert, but I do prefer Brendel's interpretation/the way he 'speaks'

    through his play.

  • wow.. I have never heard anything like it... it is amasing !

  • Beethoven was one of the greatst coposers of all times. I absolutely love this piece and I am trying to learn it myself :D i have 3 pages so far.

  • Totally mesmerizing. Undoubtedly petrifying!

  • That final trill on A scares the hell out of me!

  • this is from Label: Philips Duo Catalog #: 438730

    Release Date: 01/18/1994

    Date of Recording: 05/1975

    Venue: London, England

    favorite one!

  • I cant believe he is pedalling! Is he? I thought Brendel was fanatically loyal to the score??

  • i also prefer kempff´s interpretation... though brendel it´s a genious too! of course!

  • My absolute favorite, bar none. I love Alfred Brendel.

  • That last trill made my hair stand on end!

  • really good. Jeno Jando is the best though in my opinion.

  • beast, just beast

  • I imagine a 1v1 epic battle everytime I listen to this, but that's just me.

  • its actually written for a girl Beethoven fell in love with, its ment to describe her wild passion i think or something to that effect

  • I grew up with Brendel's Beethoven sonatas. Therefore, I can never accept anyone else's interpretation. Alfred Brendel will always be one of my heroes.

  • Same here. My dad had his lps and this one was always my favorite.

    Moonlight on the front

    and the 8th sonata on the back.

  • @Devanatha That is the genius of Brendel, when you accept his interpretation you are in fact, accepting the composers interpretation.

  • @Devanatha So did I, recently however I heard Valentina Lisitsa's interpretion of this Presto Agitato and I guess she's influenced by Brendel as well. It sounded so clear to me though she's playing a bit faster. What do you think?

  • This is my all time favorite interpretation so far!! Absolutely NOTHING has come close, not even the other greats have this SUPERB sense of timing and PATIENCE, even in a fast piece like this... what great control this guy has... in awe!!!

  • Great interpretation. Very much in my likening.

  • Wow,very close to Arrau,this is an amazing perforormance.

  • best performance ever

  • Not a fan of this interpretation. But thanks for putting it up.

  • solid interpretation I love it :)

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  • the theme at 0 35, it is movement everywhere, beethovens steps back and the movement is still there, I love the way brendel plays it, it is joy and game, playing, nerves are hold by tension, at 2.15 even better, anger somehow...ungeduld

  • Was this from the Philips recording?

  • Indeed. First cycle. He re-recorded for Philips finishing in 1996. That second cycle's recording of the moonlight is even better.

  • Haha, I'll be sure to tell my mother that.

    She was the Lady of the Sound in that recording booth in 1996 ;D

  • this version is the strongest...

    i love it!!!

  • i think that the "beethoven thing" in kempff's version is that he's playing it so easy ...

  • i appreciate horowitz very much,but this 3 rd moonlight mouvement he plays really bad.

  • Yeah this is more the classical way, where Kempff has a more romantic interpretation. Also Brendel keeps tempo perfectly and plays much more how it should be played. But in my opinion he could make it a bit more heavier especially at the end (6:50) it gets a bit too happy.

  • Also Brendel is a fantastic!

  • Yeah, I kinda prefer Beethoven when it IS played in a more Romantic way. Seeing as how Beethoven was the pioneer of the Romantic era, that seems appropriate.

  • Amazing!!!but i prefer Kempff version!

  • i think so... I'm not here to judge his playing but kempff never made me shiver, but i often return to listen to him ;

    brendel's moonlight let's me cold as ice ;) ...

  • ...are you crappy too?

  • the best version ever! i have it on cd

  • @PianoSpace same!

  • Wow!Amazing skills!

  • Technically perfect. I like that interpretation very much. I think Beethoven had something different in mind, as the emotional "agitato" state is missing in the interpretation. Still, rates amongst the best three interpretations I´ve ever heard of this piece.

  • I think it is because Brendel is the one man not intimidated by the piece either technically or emotionally

    It scares the rest, great and small, totally out of their own composure

  • Yes, that´s true. At a certain point, it no longer a pure technical question, but a question of the character of the pianist: is he mentally and emotionally up to the piece or not? Brendel surely is.

    BTW, if you are interested, I have composed various classical piano sonatas myself. You can find them at my account.

    Cheers

  • i dont understand how u guys can even critisize him

    his musical talent is beyond any of yours

    we dont know how hard it is to play a song like that

    his skills are more amazing than u think

  • this song is frustrating to learn.

    i've been taking piano for ten years and learning this song for about one and still have only the first three pages :|

    it's beautiful though.

    we have a love/hate relationship ^_^

    awesome version of this song too, best i've heard.

  • ...scrolling the comments i read something of someone who was afraid by certain people----->that mr.brendel is the last "mezzoforte" - pianist.

    i think that´s right

  • Music is the language of the soul :) dont we all have different souls?! I think yes... so different Music taste and style! So please consider each others opinions :) and the world will be a better place! (and with Music plz!)

  • that does not prove that all souls and all musical taste and every other opinion is right deposing any critic!

  • On an individual point of view I think yes. Of course an opinion has to have a structure of tought to be valid :)

  • because this is the 3rd movement, and it is very fast.

  • presto agigato . use wikipedia if you dont know what this means.

  • More anti-Brendel spam. It will never stop...

  • yes but it is only mezzo-forte spam

  • ...one more diminuendo-recomment....;))

  • Also adding &fmt=18 behind the youtube video might increase the sound quality. At least it did with some Rachmaninov pieces, might be the same here as well.

  • ...again said:the main problem is that mr.brendel is able to develop a beautiful sound,in particular when i listened to the c minor concerto a few weeks ago,on the piano with pieces or composers of a rather low dynamic spectrum.also the different coloures can all be heard,that´s true undoubtedly,but.....[there is always a but ;)]

  • wow...there's so many good versions! i can't tell which i like best. this one is great too

  • Actually this is my favorite interpretation, but for some reason the sound here is of much lower quality than I hear from my CD. Just so you know, if you think there isn't enough 'Sound' at the end of each phrase - you're right, but it's not really his playing, it's more the upload I reckon.

  • I prefer horowitz . but i'm fond of his loud bass octave at 1.18 !!!

  • Jesus, how could you like Horowitz's better?

    I mean, put aside all criticism of this one and Horowitz's isn't so great.

    His was all clanky and had this distasteful modern sound to it that ruined it. Horowitz is much better at other pieces...

  • In fact i always prefer the first interpretation i hear. i 've not had the same approach of music than some of you? The first classical "thing" i heard were moonlight, Waldstein, and appassionata by Horo ;They'll stay my references, cause i don't look for the composer's speech, but i listen to the performer's one . no matter if the text is respected .With my few knowledge i'm not able to say what reflect more the composer. Fabrendel told me i don't understand music while behaving like that .

  • i hope you won't be disapointed :))

  • ....listen again,i really admire horowitz much more than mr.brendel but indeed he plays the 3rd.moonlight mouvement bad and he doesnt hit the spirit of the this music at all!

  • I've listen it many times and i like it but for me moonlignt spirit will ever be horowitz moonlight, and i can't explain it. of course i often discover several different "worlds" by listening other interpretation and sometimes some passages hit me very strong( different meaning)but i tend to turn back to my first one. it like the first was the theme and others the variations or a kind of by-product .tell me if not clear !then i'm not able to sigh read a partition, i know music only with the ears

  • imo wilhelm kempff`s version hits those beethoven spirit rather than horowitz u should listen---->for instance the upgoing broken chords must be played p sempre and they join into 2 quavers in sforzando.playing this pretty dramatically is very important.horowitz doesnt mark these quavers at all and it sounds like a cartoon of these entrance-chords,this is only one example for his interpretation which doenst come to the core of beethoven expression.listen to mouvement 3 played by w.kempff ;))

  • I've listened to kempff for long , who do you think i'm !!! ;)

    you mean the first two chords ??

    thanks for your explaining :))

  • no,i mean at the end of these upgoing semiquaver chord there are two quaver chords in trochaic marks that means heavy[strong]the first and light[weak]the second----->compare these horowitz entrance chords to kempff ones and u will see how great the misunderstanding of mr.horowitz in dramatic sense might be!

  • Ok tell me to what passage it refers on 'braindel' video, because i can't see what chords you're talking about, and it's worse in english beacause of the vocabulary.

    hehe ....( a bit embarrassed ...) :)

  • LOL----->at the very beginning of the mouvement there are upgoing passages,in semiquavers flowing into 2 quavers,dramatically accentuated five times again and again,so the main theme if you wanna call this like that.

  • Hey, it's not worth laughing at me !  :o

  • how can one be so touchy,i didnt laugh at you only smile...ok....not LOLL,but :))).....all right.your interesting in music,especially in piano music is pretty remarkable---->regards!

  • I know you're not making fun of me it was humor. but it's hard to make one's humor understood just with words and smileys ;)

    bye and thanks for the music lecture

  • haha mr tchebinai71 you are really wird...how can you like brendel and bartoli? brendel is also my favourite pianist...but bartoli??? whats wrong with you? lol

  • ??why couldn't i love them both. brendel is not my favourite pianist... i have no favourite pianist :o. i love callas bartoli dessay.... horowitz, tomsic,magaloff...i appreciate kempff a lot but i'm not fan of his playing. you don't like bartoli, that's your choice,and you're not obliged to tell me why .

    then i'm not Mr bur Mrs... you may ask mr kajohada what i like most in mr Brendel (hehe)

  • Brendel just nails the dynamics of every note perfectly. He's technically almost too perfect, but his phrasing so brings out the melodic tension. He's still by favorite artist recording Beethoven's 5 piano concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

  • ...imo he is n o t perfect technically but he doesnt hardy ever play wrong notes.that´s a great difference.generally said most of the time he is stiff and his sound especially for beethoven might be too small.his phrasing,well...all has to be said.listen to michelangeli,there u have the ideal of perfection plus personality plus being a true virtuoso on the piano.

  • Have you ever tried playing stiff and precisely? Impossible! If Brendel hardly misses a note it's because he has the kind of control that very few have.

    He never has his shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and fingers stiff. He moves his body rhythmically when he accentuates, yes, as every good conductor and pianist do.

    I saw him before his retirement and he played SO relaxed.

    PIanists like POllini, Michelangeli, Zimerman and Lipatti can claim to have a similar control over a piece as Brendel does.

  • he did,heard him also with mozart concerto,very amazing.but he was stiff in any joint of his arms,thus the energy couldnt be transfered into the keys properly so that the kinetic energie was blocked.that´s the jumping point,and his small and puristic tone and sound was the result of this.imo his motions were never relaxed but that´s snows of yesteryear;))

  • Sorry, you saw him playing? when? where? and what?

    Well, i listened Michelangelli playing The Emperor (great pianist) and he didn't produce an overwhelming sound at all (youtube's version despite sound problems). In fact, i can post Brendel's rendition right now and i can assure you that he manages more subtle pianissimos and more louder, orchestrated fortes.

    You have already posted negative comments there too, but listen to him playing list'z b minor sonata. If that isn't wide dynamic range...

  • i heard mr.brendel live in berlin philharmonie in october[end] with berlin philharmonic orchestra,conducting by simon rattle.he played,very beautiful i must say,the c-minor concerto by mozart.but this performance doesnt contradict to the remarks i made.

  • If you heard him how can you assure he was stiff? Well glad to see that. By the way, the sound here was downgraded by youtube (Arganos0 noticed that). Besides this is from the first cycle he recorded for Phillips, which had low volume.

    Last cycle (from 1996) has the real volume (you will notice in the waldstein i uploaded).

    I'm trying to convince you about nothing. The thing is that the evidence of his orchetrated forte is undeniable: listen, please, Sposalizio, d958, orage, etc. Happy new year

  • lol. you've no idea about playing really if you think it necessary to BE stiff to transfer energy. it's impossible to play well and not be relaxed. you'd never make it through this movement at this tempo without playing in a relaxed manner as the necessary technique requires that you must be relaxed and not stiff.

  • I like this recording a lot. It's a really powerful piece, and he definitely pours his soul into it. :-)

  • brendel is the best beethoven intepretator and this is the best recording of this piece

  • huhu----->and you are the best commentator of this piece and of the whole world and of the moon of course! LOOOLLL

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  • ...you must know that here re so much brendel-fundamentalists who probably re getting money for a thumb down.but actually they re all blended and of course pretty restricted.and on this ground they re very intolerant towards other meanings.that´s too bad :((

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  • Guess they don't just agree with it. Personally, this is one of my favorite pieces, and recordings of it.

  • ROFLS

  • okay, i'll admit it.. this is better than goulds interpretation.

  • ya,by two fingers!

    one more retard!!

  • Good Performance... U can always hear all the voices when Brendel recorde Beethoven

  • wow, you've only played the piano for about a year and you can play this song? that's really impressive. can you play liszt's hungarian rhapsody no 2?

  • I think they are jealous or something like that, I too get a lot of minuses when I comment on a fancy clip on youtube were I say I can play that specific song on clarinett

  • Because no-one really gives a shit if you can play piece on your dinky little clarinet. Good for you if you do it and upload it, but we're here listening to these performances for the top-notch performances, not for you to blow your own tiny little horn.

  • Bitter much?

  • Not at all. Just an honest opinion on those idiots who want to spam everyone with irrelevant rubbish.

  • yeah yeah herra biturleiki

  • I'm "New" ,on Youtube,and I didn't know that one could use profanity. Good,I'll get on it,right away,lol,lol!!!

  • ok people ive spent the last two days practicing this song 5 hours each day practicing the opening intro. and i must say my right hand speed is getting good and very accurate.. I play guitar and i think that helps to my advantage.. this is possible just depends how ambitious u are to learn it

  • Good luck.. you can do it.. to be honest i have been practicing the opening line for about a week and a half and my right hand hits the notes qucikly and accurately.. I play guitar though so that might help.. THe harder you practice the better the outcome.. besides this one is actually fun to practice.. Good luck

  • good effort - i did the same thing before, just hammering the intro for ages til i got it, but (as i'm sure you're finding out for yourself) the beginning is actually one of the easiest parts of this movement. once you get the arpeggio technique sorted out that is - the Gsharp minor passages get very difficult (espcially the transitions). good luck tho! great piece

  • u said it.. so true... it's going to take me a whlile but im going to stick it out.. its actually fun learing challenging pieces to me. Well good luck im sure you will get it as well

    Take care!!

  • I've often had difficulty comparing great classical performing artists. Each one has his own unique interpretation and does best with certain works. But much like Gould's studio recordings of Bach, Brendl's Beethoven sonatas stands as a milestone in this format. And this is not meant as a slight to other great live concert performers such as Kempff, Arau, Richter and Horowitz, but the recording studio is a more forgiving environment in which to interpret these works.

  • There sure is a lot of stupid comments by

    z666z666. JUST ENJOY THE MUSIC!!