Sonata in C, Op. 53 "Waldstein", Mvt. 1 (Beethoven)

[Ray0X0]

I love this sonata, really ... it's incredible, my preferred among Beethoven sonatas, absolutely . The best interpreter is Arrau, but this sonata has some kind of magic... something so special, that captivate me every time I hear it... no matter who had interpreted

[teacher9701]

This is great! Very captivating performance! I agree with the other commentor who said Beethoven would be happy with this.

[hallenterpriseinc]

Awesome!

[levikingdelamontagne]

i love the feminin theme

[jazzman8844]

great job!just slow it down a little to practice challenging sessions and phrases.i played this for my senior recital.fun piece to play:^)

[thekingofpiano93]

I had never listened this sonata. It's very interesting and, in my opinion, intriguing.

[Timwhaley0702]

Strive for excellence, not perfection. Man, what is it about the "piano" community. That was a beautiful performance! Mistakes....I don't want to listen to a computer playing a piece, I want a passionate person. Really, the mistakes and how they are handled tells me volumes about the performer.

[mystemambo]

@Timwhaley0702 I think it's just people who are jealous because they don't have the same drive and/or talent. And that certainly isn't all of the piano community. Just some. I think it stems from classical instruction. There are too many teachers out there that teach "serious" piano and parents put too much pressure on kids. Or, it is never communicated to the child to just have fun.Maybe the problem is that there's no room for "fun".Or maybe we pay too much attention to the loud jealous people.

[christopher19894]

The negative comments are from people who failed to learn this in it's entirety. It's a common reflex of a jealous, insecure person-- we learned that in elementary school. And it's the most apparent in this situation because this performance is incredible! Seriously. And yeah, to the man who performed this: You don't need to make excuses for yourself. Be more confident. You're a star. To those who criticized him: If you can play it perfectly, take your ego somewhere else; if you can't play it--

[jeslovesorange]

it's the best version I've ever heard for Waldstein....I somehow feel like it's from my own hands!

[dellepianni]

Great performance, very fast, this sonata is best when it's played "Allegro con brio", I have listened other slower versions, and don't have the good pleasure than this.

Congratulations

[Starbirdy9999]

I don't like these hateful comments! I probably couldn't do better; I mean we all make mistakes! Your interpretation was wonderful! This is a fantastic performance! And of course you know this: slow practice! That will help with the very few mistakes that I heard.

5/5! Bravo!

[JohnnyFlannigan81]

a fine performance, people who hate on good performances because there not perfect are just mad because they dont have talent. I plan on performing this piece for my sophmore recital (with instructors approval). My freshman year starts in fall and I will be able to play 3rd mov of moonlight before then...and yes...3rd movement of moonlight is relatively easy...easier than this at least, but this isnt that difficult for a good pianist with good technique

[quinto34]

Man..please don't make excuses when you can play like this...

[FishingtonBurpPuzzle]

People who've never played make remarks, lots of people are "learning" this, yawn, and for God's sake shut up.

[chenjingzhu]

very good! this is a difficult piece! you get the idea already! i'm learning it too, and I don't think I can play as well as you honestly! lol Keep up the good work!! Soon you'll become a concert pianist!

[Klyons92]

I bet Beethoven would be happy about this

[paingeass49]

Wonderful, i really like this.

[chijj2000]

wonderful - absolutely wonderful

[CrazyCziffra]

James,

I just love your interpretation. I think that you have the perfect tempo and I even prefere your interpretation to Gilels' one. Unfortunately, there is to much technical mistakes which force me to admit that Gilels is still the best

[Ensilope]

Well done! this was a very good performance!

[jayber131]

Well done Mr. Berry....Difficult piece but one of Beethovens best, I can tell that soon you will perfect this piece.

[OldRabit]

Wonderful!

[Friedus94]

sehr ergreifend

[MrBrazilianSummer]

Thank you so much for your correction, Falstocat.

[werewethere]

Well done

[ednoled]

(cont. last one)

I think that Mr. Berrys performance, while not perfect, more than adequately supplies the spirit of the concerto rather than the exactness of every note.

Besides, give him a break. Waldstein is a bastard of a concerto to play.

[utubuser10]

@ednoled concerto?

[ednoled]

(continued)

A look at the life and career of Beethoven suggests his approach to music was about breathing life and coherency into pieces once originally improvised, clarifying ideas invented on the spur of the moment. I would even wager that Beethoven himself never, ever played his compositions the same way twice. Remember that during his time, Beethoven was the equivalent of whom we would consider todays solo pop star.

[ednoled]

Ah! What so many people tend to forget in the classical music academia and, sadly, what is almost never explained is this: Music performed by the composer was rarely about precision or perfection (which is unachievable), but rather the expression and the inner meaning of the songs. Too often, we in academia emphasize on supposed exact placement of the notes, tempo and dynamics under the assumption of what we imagine the composer meant.

[falstocat]

Your "than" should be "then."

[ronbobathon]

@MrBrazilianSummer

Post a video response of you playing this monster piece better. If you can't do that, yet can claim to understand the piece, then you must concede that intelligence is not the issue, HOURS of practice is. This sonata is notorious for destroying one's technique if you don't have long and powerful enough fingers.

Great job, James!

[FishingtonBurpPuzzle]

Yes, it is a song. Possibly something which gave Beethoven the opening motif or a fragment of some opera which didn't work out.

[JohnnyFlannigan81]

no... its a piece...a sonata...not a song.

[bagdad4]

a rather unsensitive performance by a good pianist, go back to the score and check whether youre actually playing what beethoven wanted

[elenamilani13]

great... there are some mistakes, but it's beautiful!

[unashamedaccompanist]

Good performance, nice tempo!

[TheAspenTom]

Excellent playing and a perfect tempo!

[a1l2e3x4s5o6]

you are playing this song too slow

[spitspotmichael]

It isn't a "song" because there is no singing - and it is just fine as it is - Well done James Berry

[LazyBastard69]

@spitspotmichael there are songs without words. it's just a matter of musical form. there are symphony or sonata movements in song form.

[Waldszenen]

It's not a "song" and he's not playing it too slowly at all.

[coolthava]

can hear a baby cry in the background at 7.44

[taeyoungkim123]

you are great to hear that baby cry, I heard it, too, because you said it is at 7:44. It was fun. Thank you.

[kongkiakeng]

haha

[mshurricanesfan]

I disagree. I don't think it is sloppy, however this is not my favorite interpretation.

[DSpiotta1]

sloppy

[gnome667]

agreed. way too sloppy.

[macattack401]

music isnt about if its sloppy or tight..its about enjoying it...letting others enjoying it...KEEP IT UP!

(although u do get more enjoyment from well learnt peices).

[julioguitarraclasica]

te felicito porque hay que estar en tus zapatos solamente y ademas mas aun a la hora de dar un examen sobretodo con una gran obra como esa ahora creo que seguramente te saldra mejor en otras circunstancias

[kempff95]

he have pink hands

[Shoshas]

No. It's an NTSC system problem.

[Ray0X0]

@kempff95 Yeah, possibly the Pink Panther disguised...

[mikito812]

me gusta la idea de inte rpretación, pero creo que la velocidad del tempo esta exagerada y te saca del estilo.

[choosytoo]

a powerful and energetic performance.........beethoven is not for the faint hearted..........well done!!!!!!

[ThePro911]

Which is harder this or the moonlight 3rd movement?

[mentirules89]

moonlight 3rd movement. most definetly

[regardsfrom]

agree

[AnnMarry19]

Waldstein sonate is more difficult.

[swedchef79]

Waldstein is far more difficult in my opinion.

[MakeUpArtistsStudio]

i do agree, Waldstein is more difficult, not just the 1 mov. also the 3rd one. Moonlight has just difficulties on the 3rd mov. but still Waldstein in my opinion is harder and more complicated.

[kwicknichtmoeger]

well, you´re right, i´ve played moonlight sonata, also the 3rd movement and it´s not easy, but now i´m learning the first movement of Waldstein and it´s much harder!!!

[About14Pandas]

@ThePro911

moonlight 3rd movement isn't that hard. o.o i'm starting to learn this and I can tell its gonna take way longer to get this one

[dotcom97]

Sometimes he rushes. Anyway, great performance. Gratz!

[konzolmester]

This is perfect!!!! Yes!!!!! Unbelievle!!! Better than Araus!!

[konzolmester]

I didnt notice,I must be deaf O_o

[thomaskoo]

No, it's acceptable.

[username1p]

oops i thought this was the temest sonata later.

[AdamGCox]

Do any piano players out there have any suggestions for playing the first variation of the principal base line, the blocked 16th notes? I use my 4th finger for the Cs on the left hand starting measure 14, but in 16 it seems kind of hard to play the blocked left hand part with 5,4 on the beat. Maybe alternate 5,4...5,3? It's very hard to tell looking at most videos of players playing this sonata.

[Volerto90]

bravo bella teknika

[mlr2107]

hey i thought this was a very fine performance of this movement .. mistakes are a part of live performance and i always make them so. I am actually more amazed about the recovery you made rom 7:10 to 7:15 lol!! :)

[Maddin1929]

I think it's great. Some mistakes are in it... but i think at first you have to be able to play this. and the result... the result how it is in this video is really not bad. Go on with the good work :)

[Snappers3]

Its not the mistakes that are letting him down on this performance. But then again we can't all be Legendary concert pianists

[vacachentas]

very nice!!

Good work

[dolofonos]

To say the very least: at least this performer does not play with his nose nearly touching the keys.

[Sturmwaffen]

Good work, but too fast. I know Beethoven marked it somewhere around this tempo, but the 16th notes need to be articulated better, and it's impossible to do at such speed. Lovely job.

[EndohMimi]

The so-called "American interpretation" of this piece is around this tempo. My professor and I think it's fine, although if he wanted to make it a cleaner performance, then taking it at a slower tempo is okay too.

[bensmithkeys]

Why all the thumbs down to the critics. They're being honest - and anyway critics don't need to be concert pianists; they need to have good ears! This guys technical ability lets him down in the tougher sections. Agreeing with the 'critics' I think this guy should sort his technique out before playing this again :p

[MKwan82]

With flexible and strong fingers although a few mistakes. Still nice!

[elima50]

Waldstein is really difficult. From a new graduate it's very well done despite significantes mistakes. It sounds nearly Wilhelm Kempf tempo. You need only a hard job and could be a virtuose.

[billyrubin77]

maybe some errors but in my opinion you are very talented musician. keep on practicing to get rid of those mistakes. good luck

[3tristan]

Is it only permitted here to give critics when you can play this piece better????

Strange argument....

[xoGoGreenox]

lol, I agree.

[jiolsmolimassunemo]

A very strange argument. It disqualifies those who give works blind praise as well, but nobody ever points this out.

[kambizpa]

This folk has not mastered the work well. It were unacceptable numbers of wrong not, and unfortunately, in the difficult parts of the sonata. He needs couple more years to work on Waldstein. Probably after that, he can think of making some music.

[raptors4444]

hey critics...where's the video of you playing it better.

nicely done man. love the upbeat tempo, reminds me a bit of Wilhelm Kempff actually.

[godelike]

You don't need to play it better to criticize... I have a video of myself playing it, so I let you judge if I can give my opinion: this recording is not clean enough, I would not think it's acceptable for a graduation recital...

[BlackActuary]

Brilliant.

[lolitsonlyme]

i like the sound of birds at the beginning. because of that, 5/5, ONLY because of that.

[nekromonk]

nerozumim vam ani picu :)

[cetrofzk]

great song

[theshamsofwindsor]

Wow! Great performance. I'm working on this piece right now. Great inspiration. I love the tempo.

[t3hwasabi]

Great performance.

I wonder if all these people giving you negative comments can even play this...

[rhadamanthes82]

weel played,

good tempo,

some mistake, but the piece is hard

try to use less the pedal, and it would be perfect

i could said 17/20 ^^

[mmpalha]

love this piece...i've done a quite good job there!keep the good work

[easypickup]

You chose the good tempo (fast) in my opinion. So much interpretations are utterly slow (even by the greatest pianists). Beethoven needs energy and speed!

[dclearyea]

Great job!! I could only dream I could play like you - don't let those negative comments get you down. You're awesome.

[noonantz]

well done, i thought this piece was done very well

[cholapat]

so lastly, you deleted my comment....

lol... cannot stand for any critics??

[swedchef79]

No it's not that - what you said wasn't critical it was just mean. It's ok if you want to be a snob about your idea of Beethoven - just don't make personal insults. I know this wasn't my best performance of this piece, but I had just come off of a week of the flu up until the day of this performance.

[SkipFandango]

Sorry i didnt mean to sound personal, i just get really critical of music, no offence intended. How about posting another version when your well to see what your really made off?

[SkipFandango]

Utter garbage.Ive heard many versions of the Waldstein and the only person who can actually play it as it was written is Alfred Brendel. This guys tempo is all over the place and he flubs most of the passages, his pedal action is a disgrace, plus his E key is sharp. Sort out ur piano before you play it.

[JRskatr]

Still better than I can play it haha.

[scarletta7]

Negative much?

[bookguy12000]

hi!

i saw that some times ur right wrist would come up above ur hands. i used to do that for a month before it hurt a lot. and i had to change it. just a heads up if it's also something important to you.

dude fricken awesome recording.

[froggy00329]

Nice interpretation

[lomoto69]

I love to watch his hands.

[bmxridar100]

dude, ur awesome, you always give me the recording of the pieces that i'm goin to play. Thanks

[diletante86]

great job