2/15 Hammerklavier Orchestrated & w Score / H.J. plays H-K

hammer

Segueing from yesterday's "Hammer-guitarre" post, I recently I found out that Felix Weingartner (the 1st conductor to record B.'s 9 symphonies) did an orchestral arrangement of Beethoven's Opus 106!   I knew of orchestral arrangements of some of the string quartets by Mahler - but this one by Weingartner was one I'd never heard of before. Why is this not more popular?  I'll let you decide....

Piano Sonata #29 In Bb, Op.106, "Hammerklavier" (1818) (Weingartner Orchestral Arrangement)
1. Allegro ("virtually impossible")
2. Scherzo: Assai vivace ("a dark interlude")
3. Adagio sostenuto ("the apotheosis of pain")
4. Introduzione: Largo - Fuga: Allegro risoluto ("dramatic fury and dissonance...terrifying... strangely unstable")
(from wikipedia)

Linklist

I also recently found one of those "score-following" videos - and with a work as monumental as the "Hammerklavier" - that can be really handy....(sequenced by snicolosi85)

Linklist

Finally, here's Hyun-Jung Lim (H.J. Lim) doing the ending fugue of the Hammerklavier.  I only just discovered her playing on Youtube and frankly her interpretations are astounding and fresh!  It's always good to hear new approaches to Beethoven and her's is very modern to my ears.  Apparently she adheres very closely to Beethoven's original metronome markings - much more so than most "traditional" pianists.  Certainly a new favorite of mine and I hope she records all of Beethoven's piano works at some point....Brendel's done it 3 times already...

Ms. Lim performs the 1st movement here.

Of course there's always the classic Brendel performance...

2/8 Beethoven's 8th: "So much better!" (Color Analysis)

After all this time I just realized I don't have one single post on Beethoven's 8th Symphony - and that's one my favorites, too!

From Wiki : When asked by his pupil Carl Czerny why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is said to have replied, "because the Eighth is so much better." A critic wrote that "the applause it [the Eighth Symphony] received was not accompanied by that enthusiasm which distinguishes a work which gives universal delight; in short—as the Italians say—it did not create a furor."

Sadly under-rated even today, the 8th has a regal and energetic 1st movement, a novel "metronome-like" 2nd movement, a 3rd movement characterized by a "drunken" minuet, and a 4th movement which takes off at full speed and includes some hilarious hairpin harmonic turns.

So here comes my new favorite standby, the color waveform analysis....pictures (especially moving ones) are worth a thousand cadence descriptions... Another thing worth mentioning is that this performance was conducted by Felix Weingartner, who was the first to record all 9 Beethoven symphonies to disc.  In fact Weingartner even wrote a book describing the correct way to conduct Beethoven: "On the Performance of Beethoven's Symphonies".  I chose a recording from archive.org so that those annoying Youtube ads would not pop up....

SYMPHONY No.8 in F major, Op.93 (1812)
Conductor : Felix Weingartner, Vienna Philharmonic
Columbia 78rpm Set M-292 (CHAX 89 - 94), Recorded February 25-26, 1936, Digital transfer by F. Reeder 
0:00   1. Allegro vivace e con brio
7:15   2. Allegretto scherzando
10:53 3. Tempo di Menuetto
15:00 4. Allegro vivace

Movement 1: Allegro vivace e con brio

Exposition

1st Theme (BROWN)

Bridge (BLUE)

2nd Theme (GREEN)

Cadence Section (MAROON)

Development (VIOLET)

Recapitulation

1st Theme (BROWN)

Bridge (BLUE)

2nd Theme (GREEN)

Cadence Section (MAROON)

Coda (PURPLE)

Movement 2: Allegretto scherzando starting at 7:15

1st Theme (OLIVE)

2nd Theme (BLUE)

Cadence (DARK GREEN)

1st Theme (OLIVE)

2nd Theme (BLUE)

Cadence (DARK GREEN)

Coda (VIOLET) 

Movement 3: Tempo di Menuetto starting at 10:53

Part A (Minuet) (PURPLE)

Part B (Trio) (VIOLET)

Part A (Minuet) (PURPLE)

Movement 4: Finale starting at 15:00

Exposition

1st Theme (BROWN)

2nd Theme (BLUE)

Development 1 (PURPLE)

Recapitulation 1

1st Theme (BROWN)

2nd Theme (BLUE)

Development 2 (PURPLE)

Recapitulation 2

1st Theme (BROWN)

2nd Theme (BLUE)

Coda (MAROON)

Some more analysis notes: http://musicianmatters.com/music-analysis/beethovens-symphony-8/