Playing this for my piano exam in a few days, including the last 2 movements. Unfortunately in a very modern pace and style, but I will do a similar recording to yours once I finish my exam and can just play as I feel!
Those metronome numbers of the 19th century are a great objective reference to work our way back to this earlier music. We might get it wrong, but we won't get it THAT wrong.. which is irrelevant anyway. What hooks me into this way of playing is the fact that the music assumes that rhetorical quality of speech with all notes becoming like syllables to be pronounced clearly.
For decades, Hollywood and television have used sped-up classical music as a shortcut to represent historical settings. Horse-drawn carriages and fast harpsichord music have become clichéd indicators of the past. This music is often treated as an anachronistic joke, only used in "period" pieces. They would never consider it for their big productions. I think this will change once this tempo is embraced.
Once I played a short recital to a mixed audience, some people were familiar with 'harpsichord music', some were not. Some, at the end, came to tell me that for the first time they really liked the harpsichord! I played well enough but far from my best. I believe that my tempo choice allowed the music to speak for itself, even with the odd wrong note! That day I played, amongst other pieces, an Allegro by Galuppi, unknown to most, even the connoisseurs, which at my tempo would have been classified by modern standards an Allegretto at the most, but more towards Andante. That piece generated an enthusiasm that even to me was surprising! Obviously because of not knowing the piece, there was nothing to compare it with. I do think we are only the beginning of a big musical revolution :-)
The only one that I could find with this sonata, Schott, Galuppi 10 Sonatas. There are a few mistakes. Bar 9 shows a trill on a' and g' which does not appear in any of the 18th century manuscripts I could find on IMSLP. Those trills are awkward because they come after a trill of a lower note, from which one then needs to jump up to trill again.. I have not played them, only the trills on the lower notes (minute 1:06). Then bar 13 has a d in the Alberti bass that is obviously supposed to be a c# (minute 1:45), given that the previous bar has the same notes in both hands, with the correct c#. Then in the succession of trills at the end.. the edition has all the dotted notes with a trill, the 18th century manuscripts exclude the trill from the first dotted note of the groups in both bars 42 and 43 and so I played it (minute 5:45). Which edition do you play from?
@ i play from a 20th century edition which is full of problems… I may make an edition myself based on the manuscripts if the complete sonata is available
Beautiful cantabile performance, and nice to see a mention of WBMP in the description!
a ternura das apojaturas casam tao bem com a metalidade do acordeamento 😢
Playing this for my piano exam in a few days, including the last 2 movements. Unfortunately in a very modern pace and style, but I will do a similar recording to yours once I finish my exam and can just play as I feel!
Looking forward to your post-exam recording :-)
Well done!
Your tempo shows a grace and fluidity, not a mechanical race to the finish. This is a lovely dance.
Thanks Glenn :-)
Yes! Very nice. WBMP is something I've also been getting more and more into.
Those metronome numbers of the 19th century are a great objective reference to work our way back to this earlier music. We might get it wrong, but we won't get it THAT wrong.. which is irrelevant anyway. What hooks me into this way of playing is the fact that the music assumes that rhetorical quality of speech with all notes becoming like syllables to be pronounced clearly.
For decades, Hollywood and television have used sped-up classical music as a shortcut to represent historical settings. Horse-drawn carriages and fast harpsichord music have become clichéd indicators of the past. This music is often treated as an anachronistic joke, only used in "period" pieces. They would never consider it for their big productions. I think this will change once this tempo is embraced.
Once I played a short recital to a mixed audience, some people were familiar with 'harpsichord music', some were not. Some, at the end, came to tell me that for the first time they really liked the harpsichord! I played well enough but far from my best. I believe that my tempo choice allowed the music to speak for itself, even with the odd wrong note! That day I played, amongst other pieces, an Allegro by Galuppi, unknown to most, even the connoisseurs, which at my tempo would have been classified by modern standards an Allegretto at the most, but more towards Andante. That piece generated an enthusiasm that even to me was surprising! Obviously because of not knowing the piece, there was nothing to compare it with. I do think we are only the beginning of a big musical revolution :-)
By the way what edition are you playing from?
The only one that I could find with this sonata, Schott, Galuppi 10 Sonatas. There are a few mistakes. Bar 9 shows a trill on a' and g' which does not appear in any of the 18th century manuscripts I could find on IMSLP. Those trills are awkward because they come after a trill of a lower note, from which one then needs to jump up to trill again.. I have not played them, only the trills on the lower notes (minute 1:06). Then bar 13 has a d in the Alberti bass that is obviously supposed to be a c# (minute 1:45), given that the previous bar has the same notes in both hands, with the correct c#. Then in the succession of trills at the end.. the edition has all the dotted notes with a trill, the 18th century manuscripts exclude the trill from the first dotted note of the groups in both bars 42 and 43 and so I played it (minute 5:45).
Which edition do you play from?
@ i play from a 20th century edition which is full of problems… I may make an edition myself based on the manuscripts if the complete sonata is available