BEETHOVEN “TEMPEST” SONATA OP. 31, NO. 2 PIANO TUTORIAL // Triplets, Repetitions,Fast Piano Passages

Hi everybody, this is Danae, and today's video is all about Beethoven's Tempest Sonata. I got a couple of requests from you guys to make a tutorial on the Sonata Op. 31 No. 2, which is the Tempest, so here it is. As you can see, I'm not in my usual surroundings. I am coming to you today from Latvia. I'm here because I'm playing a recital here tomorrow. This is the rehearsal room, it's not the hall, but it's my rehearsal room in the concert hall building, and I'm playing a very different program, I'm actually playing a program that only consists of female composers, so I'm playing a lot of Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and some other female composers as well. But I remembered today while practicing that I have this request for the Beethoven Tempest Sonata, and I thought I would just do it for you today, so without further ado, let's get into the tutorial. So I thought that the best way to do this, because of course a tutorial about a Beethoven Sonata can just be endless, since there's so much to say, but I thought the best way to do this is to take the exposition of the first movement, which already consists of a lot of technically tricky passages and a lot of musical things that I would like to touch on, and really go through it step by step. So I would say let's start with this introductory part, and let's talk about this one. So the first thing that I would say is very important to look out for is that there are really two different characters. One character is this one with the arpeggio. And this one should really be completely calm, completely dreamy, in a different world, in a different sphere, kind of. No pulse, no rhythmical feeling whatsoever. However, when then the other part kicks in, this one, it is important that you are in the tempo right away. I know that many people like to start it by kind of getting into the tempo, and it's also of course technically easier to do it like that. I'm exaggerating a little bit right now, but I don't think that this is what Beethoven wanted. I think that Beethoven wanted a very clear contrast between this arpeggio sphere of, we don't really know where we are, there is no pulse, it's just kind of an atmosphere, to very, very rhythmical playing. So when I play this sonata, I really try to start in tempo right away. No accelerando, subito tempo. Now to play this figure, which really is not the most comfortable figure, I have a couple of tips. The first tip would be to always focus on the first of the two notes. So really think those slurs of two notes. In an exaggerated way, basically think as if they were accents. So I try to consciously always think the first, and then the second one kind of just comes automatically. This is also why I use the fingering of 3-2-3-2-3-2, I don't change it at all, so that I really always know the third finger for me has the impulse, the second one kind of just comes automatically after the third, and then I just move my entire arm a little bit. Of course I practice it slowly, and then I gradually increase the tempo. And what is the most important thing, in my opinion, is that it is piano. That you really manage to play it fast and piano, which is of course an added difficulty. For it to be piano and to work in the fast tempo, you really have to have a completely released and relaxed arm, no tense muscles whatsoever, and then you really just let your fingers do the job. Now, of course I just played it in the final tempo, but when I started out, I definitely did not go to that tempo immediately. I played it in a much slower tempo for a long time, until I felt that I could do the faster tempo in the piano dynamic. So when you increase the tempo, try to really still stay piano and have that right character and dynamic from the start, because it is a completely different feeling to be playing and to be playing. So try to increase the tempo with that piano feeling, so that your muscles already know how much weight they have to put, which is of course not so much, because you want it to be very, very light. Another tip for that passage is one that is a bit hard to explain. I basically imagine that my fingers are sticking to the keys. This might sound a little bit strange, but what I do is I try to really not lift them very high. It's this concept of minimal movement, which I've also talked about in previous videos. I find it so helpful. Move your muscles only as much as possible. Really don't do any movement that is not needed and not necessary. So I really try to have them stuck to the keys. Nothing like this, just stuck to the keys, lift them only as much as necessary, move over, stuck to the keys, stuck to the keys. I find that this is very helpful. And then my last tip for this figure, which goes for the entire introduction, is that the first note of the slur, there are always slurs on two notes. So the first of the two notes, you can hold that note a little bit longer. So in an exaggerated way, it would be like this. You hold it while you play the second, and then you lift it with a second. Of course, I would not suggest lifting it with a second, but there can be a bit of an overlap before you lift it up so that you don't have this feeling of, oh, I have to lift that first note when I lift the second. I don't think that. I think, play first, play second, lift together. Of course, I kind of lifted before, but you see, there's this moment of overlap, and then I kind of lift them both together. So think of it as one group of two, and the impulse is on the first, you leave it, you don't focus on lifting it anymore, you play the second, and then you lift and go to the next. So once you have arrived at the triplet, very loud, dramatic section, it is very important that the triplets are totally not in the foreground. Of course, they are the hard voice, the technically hard passage, but try to really have them blurry, kind of just creating a color, creating more or less an emotion, an atmosphere. It's kind of this anxious atmosphere, and the melody obviously is... And everything else is completely unimportant. Now, I practice the triplets when I play them slowly, very rhythmically. When I practice it slowly, I play it like this. But once I reach my final tempo, I don't focus on these clear triplets anymore. I trust that for my slow practice, they will be there, and I just focus on just playing them quickly, very blurred. I'm not suggesting that you start tremoloing them, that you don't count them out. Of course, they should be as written, because there is not a tremolo written, they are triplets, but don't really focus on counting them out. Just focus on creating kind of a tremolo atmosphere. So when I play it fast, I really just... I focus on the melody in the left hand or in the right, depending on where I am, and the triplets are just kind of doing their thing. If you practice them well, they will be doing the correct thing. Other exercises that I use to practice the triplets are dividing them into sections. So I do three slow ones, three fast ones, like this. And I switch it around. But then in the end, as I said, when I combine it all, I really try to... I put also a lot of pedal in it, and I try to really just create a blurry atmosphere in which you cannot really hear the single notes of the triplets, but you only hear the melody. And also, I again, like in the previous one, I don't focus on lifting fingers. I try to really stay within the keys and just create this blur. And then together it sounds like this. The next passage is one that I find particularly uncomfortable, especially coming out of the triplets. Because in the triplets, you feel this dramatic atmosphere. You kind of are in it. You feel the passion. And then you get into this part. And I find that it is incredibly important that in that part, you instantly cool off. I always consciously tell myself, calm. When I come out of the triplets, where I really feel passionate. Here, I immediately think, okay, pulse, super strict rhythm. Kind of a similar technique, like in the introductory passage. You have these slurs over two notes each. The first one is the one with the impulse. The second one is the one where you lift, you could say, both fingers. You can also hear it in this passage. You can hear the intervals. Because I'm lifting the first note an ever so tiny bit too late. Again, this passage has to be piano, and it has to sound incredibly anxious. And I think that this anxious atmosphere will come if you play it rhythmically. And if you play it as softly as possible, it will come automatically. Because it comes from the pulse, from not letting go. It is composed in such a genius way that if you really just do what it says in the score, piano, rhythmical, slurs of two, then you will immediately get the atmosphere that it needs. Don't try to put in some rubato, or maybe do a bit of an accelerando. I don't think that that will help you. And I don't think that it will sound musical. On the contrary, I think that it could sound like it's not so tasteful musically. So really, just try to remind yourself to be very rhythmical, feel the pulse, and feel those slurs of two. And I think the atmosphere will be perfect. When you get into the next section with the sforzato chords, I think it's important to remind yourself where the heavy beat is. The heavy beat is the first beat in this piece. So first we have... Always the third beat having the sforzato, so there's a bit of a change already going on in the pulse. And then when you have the slurs that go into the first beat, and the first beat basically doesn't have a note, it's important to feel that lack of a note, as if it was a pause. Although it's not a pause because you're holding the note, but there's something missing there, and it's important to feel that beat, feel the lack of that beat, so that the atmosphere is right. And also so that the listener can have some sort of orientation, and knows where we are in terms of the pulse, and in terms of the beat. When the moment comes where the left hand has the eighth notes in this piano line, this is when we're back in a kind of comfortable beat, because we're hearing the first beat in every bar. And the important thing here I find is that the left hand is as legato, and as equal and even as possible. I know that this again is an uncomfortably written passage, but I practice the left hand separately. In this case I divide it into sections of four, so I take four slow ones and four fast ones. And I turn it around also, four fast ones, four slow ones. And then I practice it in half bar sections, bar sections, two bar sections. I really try to create a very reliable left hand in these few bars, so that then when I play through it, I can have it very piano, very soft, and very even and equal going upwards. And then the final part of the exposition is, again, I would say more atmospheric. It has this cadenza around A minor, and we have these chords in the one hand, alternating sometimes in the left hand, sometimes in the right hand. And the other hand has eighth notes. And I think it's important that those eighth notes do not sound like a study. You don't want it to sound like this. But you want it to be very dreamy. I also use quite some pedal in this passage, and I think that it should sound like the focus is on the harmonies, and like there's some kind of sound carpet, if you can say that. And it's not important to show each and every note. It's not this. Where every note is important. It's something else. It's very legato. It's more atmospheric. You're kind of calming down after everything that happened. Everything's coming to a close before it then rebuilds in the development. So this was my tutorial and my tips and also musical views on the exposition of the first movement of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata. Let me know how you like this format. It's a little bit different from my usual tutorials. I didn't go into detail about each exercise because I thought that it is interesting for a piece like this to also give you a lot of musical background and what goes through my mind musically and interpretation-wise, what my ideas are, how I think certain passages should sound. Let me know if this was interesting to you, if you prefer this or if you prefer the strictly technical tutorials. I guess it also, of course, kind of depends on the subject, if I'm just talking about a technical subject or an incredibly interesting piece in a musical way like this sonata. Let me know if you're playing this piece, what your experience is with this, if you agree with my interpretation or if you do certain things differently. I think it's always interesting to hear different interpretations for such classic pieces like this sonata. And I will now get back to practicing my recital program for tomorrow. If you haven't checked it out yet, I also have a second channel together with my sister. We have a podcast where we talk about a lot of personal topics. It's much more personal than this channel. It's not so much focused around piano, but around our lives in general. If you're interested in that, then check it out. I will link it in the description box down below. It's called The Sister Trill. And I will see you again in my next video next week. Bye!