Beethoven - Fugue for String Quintet Op. 137 in D major - Piano Transcription [tbpt53]

original piano transcription of this sublime fugue for string quintet (two violins, two violas, a cello) written by Beethoven in 1817 - yes, earlier than the opus number suggests. NOTE: sublime in Beethoven's original version of course. I did this because I really like it but also as a challenge since it's so non-pianistic. It's physically impossible to play all the original 5 voices on a single piano with two hands, so I had to cut down quite a few notes - something that I managed to avoid in the Haydn fugues I transcribed so far. Then I had to do another pass to smooth off the most awkward passages, simplyfying, transposing, cutting more notes. Still you'd need to reach the tenth on both hands to play this. If you like my rendition please listen to the original, it's so beautiful!! There are some incredible chords in the last page and the finale is just so... even if it ends on a 7th-1st, it feels ecstatic as in Scriabin's middle period writing. For those interested, my reference recording is the one on Brilliant Classics.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Beethoven
• fugue
• string
• quintet
• op
• 137
• op137
• piano
• solo
• transcription
• arrangement
• tbpt53

[alexjrmarino]

Beautiful! This is one of my favourite compositions of Beethoven, too.. Is there anyway I can find your transcription cause it sounds really realistic and close to the original, and I have failed to transcribe it yet, and it's very hard to even try to play it with the 5 separate voices, thank you in advance!

[travelsbypiano]

@alexjrmarino the pdf score is available on my website travelsbypiano.load.cd (click "sheet music" link on top-right corner) you can preview the first page

[alexjrmarino]

@travelsbypiano Well, thanks anyway..

[ohthewiles]

this must have been really tough to play!