Andras Schiff's lecture on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata

I like both his interpretaion of the first movement and the slower ones too (like Wilhelm Kempff). This sonata is flexible; there are infinite ways to play it "perfectly".

Fantastic lecture. I hope that more people will hear of this and finally drop the 'moonlight' label from what is intended to be a Funeral March!

I didn't say that the sketchbooks WEREN'T good sources. They are good for seeing Beethoven's original ideas, but they are exactly what they're called-sketches and not really very helpful when it comes to direction for performance. I said that Schiff's understanding, here, has nothing to do with any evidence drawn from them, which is true. You'll notice that "interpretation" is in quotes, because if your performance is one aligned with the composers' intentions then it's not really interpretation

I doubt that one can make the case that Schiff restricts his understanding of Beethoven's intentions solely to notations in the score. That is not the holistic approach I'd expect from such a learned musician. Anyway, you cannot make that assertion without asking Schiff himself. As for your comment on interpreting a "composer's intentions," this becomes somewhat of a philosophical issue when one considers that art is experienced subjectively.

I can, in fact, make this assertion, in regard to the first movement. Schiff has not studied any sketches for the first movement, since there are none. Only 5 sketches for this sonata survive and they all relate to the third movement. As to interpretation, there's nothing philosophical about it. Interpretation is a term too often associated with artistic license. If we're to interpret what the COMPOSER says then it cannot be about what Kenny or petrina say.

cont. We should act as a medium for the composer in conveying his/her intentions,i.e. a mouthpiece. We decide through thorough scholarship that our performance allows the composer to speak. Of course any performance will have a personal fingerprint, but it shouldn't be one that takes away from, or adds to the score. It's not about us...we are merely a go-between.

Obviously.

Yes, obviously. The manuscript and the surviving sketches for the third movement are incredibly interesting to study. Should you ever have the opportunity to look them over I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy it. I've studied the majority of the piano sonata manuscripts and or/first editions (whichever is available) and it's an amazing experience to do so.

(cont'd)
While it's true that Beethoven was explicit in his directives for how to play his music, it still begs the question as to whether or not interpretation is merely an exercise in exactitude or ultimately a personal expression of how an artist derives and conveys MEANING from music.

ofc the performer ultimately expresses what they themselves see in a piece. nevertheless, it is important to try and reconstruct the composer's intention because (as Schiff says) he had a reason for that. as far as I am concerned, Beethoven is the maestro and not myself, he is the greater musician and what he thought of will always be better than whatever I think of.