I revisited Sonata No. 28.
From the very opening of the first movement, my teacher gave me strict guidance regarding the role of the inner voices. I was advised to treat them as thematic material in their own right. To address this, I programmed the inner voices separately, not just dividing the parts into left and right hands. I was also instructed to pay close attention to how the inner voices interact with the soprano and the bass.
Although this sonata has a strong emotional character, the internal voice leading is highly sophisticated, making it a demanding work for pianists. Moreover, the score is filled with detailed performance instructions, which convey Beethoven’s intense desire to have the music in his mind understood as clearly as possible. Perhaps the loss of his hearing only strengthened this determination.
Now, let's deal with the example ”Mit einer Salte Sut una scorda” at the beginning of the third movement and ”Nach und nach mehre Saiten (Poco a poco tutte le corde)" in the second half of the 20th bar. poco tutte le corde) in the second half of measure 20. It is impossible for a modern piano to respond to these instructions. However, considering the piano of the time, the sound quality must have sounded quite different from the beginning and the latter half of measure 20 onward.
To express this on a modern piano, it is necessary to create a relative contrast in tone color between these sections. In one of his lectures[1], András Schiff mentions that for this passage he asked his piano technician to adjust the instrument so that the change produced by the soft pedal would be as extreme as possible. In other words, rather than attempting to reproduce the historical sound itself on a modern piano, what is required is a translation of the difference that would have been perceived at the time. After all, the una corda in Beethoven’s era was not simply a means of reducing volume or producing a gentler sound.
For this reason, approaches like Schiff’s are certainly worth considering. It is not enough simply to depress the una corda pedal; further changes in touch are also needed to alter the color of the sound.
References
[1] András Schiff, Wigmore Hall Lecture Recital (2004-2006)
Beethoven Piano Sonata No.28
Here, I used the Synchron Concert D-274 by the Vienna Symphonic Library as the instrument, and tried to shape the sound through a combination of the una corda pedal, pedaling, and key touch. What do you think?
Song Title:
Title:.
Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101
Sound source:
Sound Library:
Synchron Concert D-274
Audio file format: mp3
For streaming on a PC, please see this page.
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For streaming on a PC, please see
this page.