Rudolf Serkin - Beethoven Sonata No. 30, Op. 109 - Part 1

[OrangeSodaKing]

I have a couple recordings of one of Rudolf's Serkin's great (and sadly not as known) students, Lee Luvisi (he actually taught Rudolf's son, Peter). Both are absolutely fantastic!

[DanielM647]

A Great man a Great pianist. Res in peace Rodolf.

Daniel

[Ruarcs30]

O m g .... How come i hasnt heard of this piece? This is truly GREAT! Where can i find notes on this? I have just finished playing Pathetique sonata, so i went to youtube to find a new piece to play, and i stumble onto this. Perhaps the best piece i have ever heard, rather easy to play as well! I will not get any sleep to night, thas for bloody sure!

Please tell me where i can download this so i can start playing it!

THANKS SL11

[Ruarcs30]

@Ruarcs30 Well,it was alittle more hard that it seems, but im getting there!

[rocketman12333]

2nd movement is proving the toughest by far

[LeonMonaco]

them facial expressions, gawd!

[peaceric]

i love how he almost swings the first few measures

[Piano8myhomework]

I think serkin has one of the best interpretations of this piece ever recorded. There is just so many subtlties in his playing and in the piece itself i think goulds interpretation fails for me. But obviously this is personal bias haha. I am playing this song for an audition and jeez i wish i could play like serkin!

[ivankaramasov]

I always find the beginning of this a bit odd, it seems so abrubt. Very well played though.

[hyperklavier]

Supreme!

[Maddallina27]

this is ...wow...i still wonder sometimes why did i claimed that i don't like classic music when i was a child...

[DavidLobron]

@pianomama1635 Yes, I love that scene! My other favorite line is when the snobby music clerk at the mall looks at Beethoven and asks doubtfully, "Um, are you a musician?"

[pianomama1635]

I heard Serkin perform this sonata in San Francisco years ago. He was dazzling! I was inspired to learn it too. It's so ethereal and delicate, except for the fiery little Prestissimo, which is great fun to play!

[dtujy164bf]

beautiful : )

[predoje]

This is one of best performance of this sonata. Gilels's and Serkin's are my favourite performance of this sonata. Why? Because they do not show off their own musical possibilitis and personal ego, they perform in unique state that has perfect balance of music of sonata and personal ego so the listener can decide what to take and how to experience this sonata.

[predoje]

@predoje but for some reason begining of this sonata is great chalange to all pianist and all except Gilels plays it little shaky.

[cefinow]

Serkin is easy to love. I once read a biographical sketch where his daughter said his fingers were so thick, they tended to get caught between the black keys. To overcome this, he would practice scales for hours to develop his special "touch." (Note to self: go thou and do likewise instead of watching Youtube... just so many fascinating performers and stories...) Bravo Rudolf Serkin.

[ArtisanCymbals]

Serkin, Is Known As The Finest Interpreter Of Beethoven In The Last Century. If Anyone Might Not Know This. His Son Peter Is Not Too Shabby Either.

[mohan37]

gah...favorite version of this sonata. perfect.

[petezilla]

This is a great performance. It takes the comfort of a non-performing youtube watcher to say this performance lacks anything. I think Gieseking's is my favorite, although.

[FXILIPX]

It's so amazing when you hear the evolution Beethoven made in his life. I just listened to his first sonata - amazing :)

[ilovescarlatti]

Serkin ... one of the greatest pianist ever on my opinion... see also Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos

[vincentyao95]

what piano level is this song? just wondering

[davidgee100]

One almost feels he is not comfortable wit this piece.

[therealh]

Awesome. And genial. Just the beginning: try to guess where the beat is.

[tOwTforce]

beautiful i fell in love how you play

[watutman]

My favorite Beethoven piano sonata, and one of the top 5 pianists ever. Awesome.

[MrNobleSavagery]

Inspiring......but I sense a loss of power....Serkin was quite old here....

[kreutzo1]

Absolutely magnificent,golden performance.

[Hiebert57]

an excellent performance by a real pro

[GBV1961]

Grande........

[FasTerAsTa]

Vivace ma non troppo - Lively and fast, but not too fast.

[MaxxUS08]

I have the studio recordings of this on CD and I always hear the same the same thing at the beginning here...does he hum while he plays?

[xiuje87]

1987 is the year i was born, so glad I can hear him play today.....

[simonepianista]

I think the beginning must be played not too fast. This is a fantastic interpretation! Why do so many pianists play this fantastic beginning fast?

[texaspianist]

Maybe because it is marked Vivace? I know what you mean, though. I just feel that this performance is too earthbound and doesn't capture the ethereal moments as well as possible...

[simonepianista]

In Italian "Vivace ma non troppo" doesn't mean obligatory fast, it expresses only a feeling....Surely it isn't "Largo" but neither "Presto" . What's the best interpretation of this Sonata for you?

[pkoen79]

for me it's definitely Friedrich Gulda on his legendary recording of all Beethoven Sonatas.

But that might be somewhat biased as I used to listen to that disc set for years as a teenager and just never really got used to any other interpretation.

[MSRMCD]

I feel the same way! I appreciate Serkin's performance here, but it's a little too straightforward for my taste, if that makes any sense.

[beethomozart]

vivace ma non troppo, introductory character, perhaps preschumannian, a movement structured in a sonata form but worked in that "last" beethovenian manner, long live ludwig van

[tchebinai71]

i've been very surprised by the begining . i've first heard it so fast with luchesini .

Is it to be plyed faster or not ?? :)

[aewanko300]

It is to be played with your own tempo.

[liplylie]

this has to be my favorite beethoven sonata

[shevansilva]

same here

[bac21380]

génial

[rachm06]

Spettacolare! sentitevi questo, non quel penoso allevi!

[sll10]

I find your reaction hard to fathom frankly. I think it's an excellent performance. Who, perchance, do you think does it well then?

[hedones]

serkin, the pianist who was looking like an astronaut and who was playing like an angel...

[iloveu96xyx]

thanks for the info. =]

[sll10]

You're most welcome!

[iloveu96xyx]

he's really good at playing the piano. hmm i wonder was beethoven able to play the piano when he was alive? can you guys tell me? cause it'd be weird if he could write wonderful music w/o the piano.

[sll10]

Yes Beethoven was a fabulous pianist by all contemporary accounts, especially when he was young. Later on, he quit performing in public of course because of his deafness. See Harold Schonberg's book The Great Pianists for a good discussion of Beethoven the pianist.

[DavidLobron]

@sll10 On a less cultured note, also see the music store scene in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". :)

[sll10]

@DavidLobron You'll have to point out the link because I can't seem to find it on here.

[DavidLobron]

@sll10 I wasn't able to post the link here, but just do a search for "Bill and Ted mall scene".

[DavidLobron]

@sll10 I tried to post a link, but I got an error. Just search for "most triumphant Beethoven mall scene".

[whythewar1]

@sll10 I don't know why, but, this piece is so simple, yet so elaborately beautiful.

[pianomama1635]

@DavidLobron It's a hoot! Favorite line is when they're going up an escalator "Bee-thoven, don't get sucked under."

[astrophil79]

@DavidLobron I thought it was Bach to the future, not Beethoven?

[LeaderOfTheRedNinjas]

lol, yeah, pretty much all the great classical composers were expert pianists; a level of expertise is necessary for the deep understanding of the instrument required to write such music

[vinciano]

@iloveu96xyx He was a great virtuoso in his life.

[Mikagoh]

He died on my birthday.. and he got the EXACT same hand technique as I X.X what the hell.... (8mey 1991)

[Kurtyoungblood]

Tortelier, the cellist, died the day after I was born to the day and I have the same kind of hand technique as him.

[Noshirm]

Serkin, Arrau, and Horowitz were among the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Thank God they lived long, gave many recitals, and made many recordings. Serkin in Beethoven is always a revelation. Thank you for this post!

[sll10]

You're welcome. I've also got on the same DVD him doing Sonata 31 and 32 which I'll post as soon as I get a chance!

[Noshirm]

Wonderful! Just look at his hands! He was about 84 in this video, but his hands still look so young, so capable of playing on, and of playing difficult, beautiful works. I will be happy to check out your Serkin posts to come.

[saimacc]

impressive...