Sviatoslav Richter plays Beethoven "Hammerklavier" (3/6)

[jcalli66]

Question for all the real musicians and Beethoven experts out there (I'm just an amateur long-time fan with minimal piano-playing skill). I've always wondered - does that passage at approximately 8:20 -10:00 have a name- some sort of moniker to identify it? I have always thought it one of the most beautiful and moving snippets of piano composition ever created...

[haxxoromer]

@jcalli66 Actually, you can. But the people who you want to identify the passage probably don't understand what you mean. Just call it a passage in Hammerklavier sonata mov 3rd. By the way, In my opinion you can call it. There is a mark on this passage "espressivo". You can also try to identify it "espressivo passage on Hammerklavier sonata mov 3rd." But as I said they probably don't understand. Good luck ^_^ . Have a great day!

[smalltalkingchicken]

@jcalli66 Any piano player that has devoted the year or so to learning the hammerklavier will know exactly what you are talking about in this movement. As others have mentioned, anyone that does not play the piece will be less likely to know precisely the passage you mean. There is nothing truly like it.

[jcalli66]

Englishman John Russell's poignant observation of Beethoven composing in 1820 not long after this was published: "When playing very piano, he often does not bring out a single note. He hears it himself in the 'mind's ear'. While his eye and the almost imperceptible motion of his fingers, show that he is following the strain in his own soul through its dying gradations, the instrument is actually as dumb as the musician is deaf".

[prinzparsiphal777]

These are just the notes written down.-Imagine what the deaf man heard inside his head !

[prinzparsiphal]

Listen to the "Neapolitanischen Sextakkord" (Neapolitan Sixth Chord) at.10.29 ! The tears have dried,and all the suffering of mankind is concentrated in one chord.-This is a quiet one,the other (brilliant) neapolitan sixth can be heard at he end of the Passacaglia-Fugue by Bach.

[JoEbYX]

@prinzparsiphal Another very powerful use of the Neapolitan sixth is at the end of the Dies Irae of Mozart's Requiem.

[prinzparsiphal]

@JoEbYX Also listen to the (almost too many) Neapolitans in the first movement of the moonlight sonata.-

[prinzparsiphal]

@JoEbYX A FRIGHTENING Neapolitanischer Sextakkord can be found at the end of the song "Der Doppelgaenger" from "Schwanengesang" by Franz Schubert.-

C-Major in b-minor ! Check it !

[prinzparsiphal]

Listen to the "Neapolitanischen Sextakkord" (Neapolitan Sixth Chord) at.10.29 ! 

[JKJM1]

8:18 to the end of the piece among the finest moments in all of classical piano. The entire work is masterly, though.

[iguarni]

@JKJM1 For sure. It was benn composed by one of the greatest geniuses in mankind's history!

[meredith21846]

This one comes closest to Solomons sublime account.

[advisorC101]

Gorgeous!

[kerrgal]

The last ?? minutes, measures of this are cut off! What torture!

[PrincessUnicorn69]

I looked up the sheet music for this piece just to play the part from 8:20 to 10:08

[ibk1980]

@PrincessUnicorn69 is this not the one of the most wonderful and poetic thing ever composed? It´s breathtaking! I love this part in special also... :-)

[kriteon]

beethoven must have been retarded. his music is THAT good.

[docmalthus]

Sublime...

[sam0xin]

GREAT MASTER RICHTER always proofed that masterpieces by genius are something else besides being just a music...his imagination in general SO CLOSE to GOD ! SO CLOSE ! Thanks for this miracle.

[stanchinsky]

Richter walks us on along the edge of some great chasm.

[seykessler]

This is a wonderful interpretation of the adagio. Some of you might also want to listen to Solomon's approach to this movement. He takes a more contemplative tempo which emphasizes the soul and prfoundity of the music. Special attention to the transitional shifts as for ex. compare 8:15 of Richter to how Solomon approaches it. This in no way diminishes Richter's accomplishment.

[frogmanpiano]

@seykessler A ha!! You are someone who really does knows about great pianists. Sadly most of the younger people listening to this great performance of Richter will not have heard of Solomon. His recordings of late Beethoven are as you rightly point out high points in the history of recorded piano music -I imagine the CDs should still be available and the recording are quite adequate too not of course hif fi but very good for their era.

[frogmanpiano]

@seykessler A ha!! You are someone who really does know about great pianists. Sadly most of the younger people listening to this great performance of Richter will not have heard of Solomon. His recordings of late Beethoven are as you rightly point out high points in the history of recorded piano music -I imagine the CDs should still be available and the recording are quite adequate too not of course hif fi but very good for their era.

[shadecross]

so wundervolle musik... macht einen traurig und nachdenklich...

[dschanghsin]

咳嗽的人应该被吊死

[wukillah]

This is my favorite interpretation of this adagio. It's amazing how strong the connection was between Richter and Beethoven. Only a man in deep pain could play it like this

[Trickme10]

So...there is a God

[exaliquo]

@Trickme10

Indeed, the conversation b/w right hands and left hands is a communication b/w God and men.

Exemplary art of which ideal is to desire the transcendent truth, beauty, and goodness.

Alas, how much has this age lost on the pedestal of cultural relativism!

Masterpiece for all humankind regardless of race, sex, culture, and so on.

[hanniswurst]

i like the continuing pulse created by the left hand and the melody from 8:10 to 9:48

and i think the beginning of the movement is an almost magic and breathetaking moment. i like it very much. beethoven was genious and richter a very good pianist.

[PhilippeLouis69There]

Difficile de trouver les mots pour décrire comment une nouvelle fois Richter déploie sa pensée musicale....

C'est comme si un autre espace-temps déchirait le voile de la réalité sensible...

Sublime !

[FirenzeRegna2]

" Era già l'ora che volge il disìo ai navicanti e 'ntenerisce il core..." (Purgatorio, Canto VIII)

[hellomate639]

Alfred Brendel is tied for my favorite pianist with Rubinstein, but Richter does this better...

[klausknulp]

try to get the recording of my friend michael korstick!

[wanjabelaga]

den korstick muss ich mir mal anhören.

habe schon viel von ihm aber noch nie was mit ihm aufgenommenes gehört

[klausknulp]

ivan, die op106 ist vom korstick überwältigend. habe kaum etwas besseres gehört.

[wanjabelaga]

habe mal zufällig mal sein blindhören von afnahmen der kollegen gehört, da hat er herrn brendel böse kritisiert. macht aber nix, bin eh kein brendel-anhänger, richterverehrer wiederum sehr wohl ;-)

ich werde mir den tip zu herzen nehmen.

lieben dank!

[klausknulp]

vanja, mal ehrlich: richter war ein jahrhundertpianist (obwohl nicht alles, aber fast alles genial war) und brendel kann kein legato spielen, kein pp und kein ff. alles ist irgendwie in der mitte, sehr kopflastig und verkrampft. oh - was schreibe ich? ja, ich bin nur ehrlich. cu

[wanjabelaga]

apropos Brendel: als Brendel auftauchte und unter anderem mit Schubert für Aufmerksamkeit sorgte, liess Richter ( dem Eitelkeit durchaus eigen war) folgende schnippische Bemerkung fallen: " Brendel, Schubert! Als ich bereits sämtliche Schubert-sonaten öffentlich spielte, hat dieser Brendel noch in die Windeln geschissen!"

oder so ähnlich. Hat mir mein Klavierlehrer erzählt, Und der muss es wissen: war lange sein Nachbar.

[anonymusum]

Kann ich gut nachvollziehen. Brendel macht auf mich immer einen künstlichen, gewollten Eindruck. Seine Agogik gefällt mir überhaupt nicht. Aber natürlich war ein großer Pianist - um das etwas zu relativieren....

[klausknulp]

wenn wir über richter reden, müssen wir nicht über brendel denken. da liegen welten dazwischen! eiltelkeit hin oder her. richter hat immer die qualität seiner kollegen gewürdigt (beispielsweise gilels, radu lupu), aber auch nur dann, wenn sie es verdienten.

[sshuck]

I don't like this thing of "only a few people understand" this piece, etc. Only a few people like it or have heard it. I think one has to assume that someone does understand a piece of music, and has a legitimate, negative opinion of it.

Knowing that "not liking = not understanding" is part of each person's individual mission to become a better listener with broader tastes. It's not something one should use to distinguish the elite from the many.

[wnxg4nd4lf]

Well I agree with you that this "only a few people understand" is stupid and arrogant. I also agree that few people have heard it. Where i disagree is that you cant be a normal human being and not like this music when you listen to it.

[sshuck]

It cheapens my listening experience when I know it's being used to qualify one for normalcy. Op. 106 is something magical I found one day and play (I'm a pianist) and love. But I would describe it as transcendent, not remedial.

My music geek friends would know you're exaggerating for rhetorical effect (which I hope you are). But for someone uninitiated who stumbled onto this video, a dishonor to classical has been done by alienating him.

People, come down.

[wnxg4nd4lf]

Could you be a more egotistic self centered, short-sighted person? Who the heck cares about your personal listening experience anyway? The fact is that such great music can be appreciated by every human being just like anyone can appreciate a picture painted by DaVinci or a great piece of architecture like the Parthenon or any huge achievement of the human spirit.

cheers mr.pianist ROFL

[sshuck]

Yes, I could be more egotistic and short-sighted. For example, I could define a standard for beauty in art and music where everyone who didn't appreciate X "can't be a normal human being".

I shared with you my personal listening experience, which you didn't like - not because our tastes differ, which they don't, but because the whole concept threatens your idea of standards.

How fitting that you mentioned the Parthenon - the exclusive domain of the beautiful, the perfect, and the few.

[wnxg4nd4lf]

Well i'm sorry for my tone. You're right that our tastes dont differ and i should respect your point of view, which i really do. It's just that i refuse to believe such beauty is meant to be understood and appreciated by the few.

[sshuck]

Now that I'll drink to.  :)

[taviona]

Haha, well played sir.

[mrshickadance25]

Good piece but audio bites.

[hellomate639]

Perhaps currently my favorite phrase of music, starts at 8:20 on this video. It's so sad and deep that I feel like I'm mourning for something horrible, even though things are fine for the most part.

[kajohada]

...this part anticipates debussy,thus the epoch of impressionism,what a wonder! :-))

[hellomate639]

You know how me and you argue all the time? Lets just get over our differences, because I found someone who I find much more annoying: makes you, an old enemy, look like a friend.

mikecaffey, who might actually be Richard Kastle, or someone who wants to destroy his reputation by acting like him and putting down great performances by all the greats, like Horowitz, Rubinstein, etc. and then claims that Richard Kastle is the only one who can play it right. Lets team up against that asshole.

[drwerewolf217]

Richard Kastle is trying to sabotage classical music lover's experiences. The best way to deal with him is to ignore any of his comments.

Or just minus them, mark them as spam, and move on.

[anaplastic]

To me it is not mourning, Beethoven reveals his bare soul (which he rarely does, for example briefly in Variations in C-minor), and all his weaknesses are exposed to the bone, a confession. I am speechless when listening to this. I do not know how this anticipates Debussy, it's completely different world, a stoic confessing (very rarely otherwise).

[anaplastic]

Every one of us has a sad story to tell if we are reduced to bare bones, so 8:20 seems mourning for something horrible.

[hellomate639]

The upper notes at 8:20 and on suggest tear drops. The sound trickles, and then you add in the sad tone of the piece itself and you are given an incredible feeling of loss and mourning, and plus the part is played with a more frantic rubato, which suggests that tears are welling up in your throat and you can't stop them.

That's why it definitely is a mourning piece. It's the finale of all the "sad thoughts" of the previous passages pouring out as tears.

[kamelium]

Une oeuvre monumentale qu'est cette sonate, composée par le plus merveilleux des musiciens! Ce morceau est tout simplement "énorme"! Jamais la musique n'a été autant puissante et profonde d'expression! Thanks to post it!

[avenancius]

i know man, this piece its like an absolute poweful, more to it, think its like a fricking novel book-piece of music, heart it again & again, u always find something new, & definitely not much of music pieces are like this, this is just unique. I love this piece

[hansmeyer111]

I'm hearing again and again and I'm completely incapable to understand, how is this possible, that a human with an instrument captures somebody on a chair, and in the next minutes you can't move, you can't thing, you are like in another universe, in which the time flows like drops of dew

[hansmeyer111]

One of the greatest moments in the history of music. Played from the best communicator on the piano I´ve ever heard.

It s a pity that only a few people can understand it.

[kajohada]

ya,this mouvement is a cosmos,and one thing is a real wonder,beethoven anticipates several syles of the later composers like brahms,even debussy and schoenberg in his early period.its in a word unbelievable:))

[exponentu]

Hello again kajohada.

I find the concept of 'anticipating' future composers odd. Isn't it, rather, that future composers have been influenced by their predecessors, who had absolutely no imperative other than to create the art they inevitably created.

I do like your idea, though, of art as a cosmos. That corresponds closely with my own opinion that geniuses create new artistic 'dimensions', none more so than Beethoven.

[avenancius]

This is extraordinaire & powerful. On my opinion best beethoven sonata; not quite populat though. only for the educated & knowleadgable ;)

[kajohada]

how beautiful:)

[clipwip]

Is there a more glorious recap than in this piece in any other work for the piano?

[clipwip]

How do you crunch files down to such a small size? Is it b/c there is really no video component?

[clipwip]

This is possibly the greatest Agagio in the entire repetoire. Certainly it is my favorite!

[iguarni]

@clipwip cut off probably. Beethoven is a mankind's genius!

[prinzparsiphal777]

@iguarni 2 minutes are missing.

[mraxeguy]

I love 3:30-4:00.