Composers write for the instruments that they have. Had Beethoven owned a modern piano I’m sure it would have had an effect on his compositions. This piece wonderfully played, sounds better on the instrument it was written for, as you can hear.
@@finden3362 He didn't hear at all in the last decade of his life, but he clearly new how every instrument in an orchestra sound. That's why he despite his disability was able to keep composing. He dedicated all his life to those instruments the sound doesn't disappear from memory.
If i'm not wrong, -it is the much lower string tension which gives a shorter sound period - str8 strung which gives a never heard before clarity at bass section. Both these traits cannot be reproduced in todays piano
Likely also using the moderator which places felt between the hammers and the strings. This piece was clearly written by Beethoven with this device in mind. It gives the sound an ethereal quality that can't be made on a modern piano.
The Action of the early pianos were much lighter than the contemporary pianos of today, so pianist could just caress the keyboard and generate a gentler sound,...some of today's pianos do sound too "forceful" I do agree,..........the Felts employed in the Hammers and Dampers were of much different Quality also........
something that works for guitar idk about pianos is 432hz tuning, make my strings vibrate longer and i can feel it much more through the wood of guitar
Overall, closer to a modern piano than I would have thought. I like how the treble and tenor notes never get muddled by the bass as they can with modern sustain.
The first piano designs were "straight-strung" instruments, that's why we can hear the notes more individually without extra unwanted generated Harmonics alike, the new generation of Pianos which over produce an exaggerated amount of harmonics that for certain Repertoire, are not so "desirable"...........New Piano designers of today such as Steven Paulello...are trying to bring back this "particular old-feature" into the Modern Piano-World......
@@oscarlasprilla9345 Ah. Now I begin to realise why my much younger (1880) straight-strung John Brinsmead grand doesn't sound hugely different (a little more mellow perhaps. But then it needs restringing and a complete action overhaul :/ )
4:53 - that hits me the hardest. That brutal, dull bass hammer of reality coming in, that won't be reasoned with or beautified. It has no real volume, but I feel the dread of it. I can't deal with that... My cat that I've had for 16 years is dying and I'm struggling with it so hard. I feel it in this music.
Several of the resolutions remind me of places in the slow movement of the VII. Just looking at the music, you'd think that the bass in the left hand is easypeasy, but it's not.
Yes. That. The piece for me always sounded like struggling with heartbreak, when you try to lift your head, and reality is hitting you in the back. yes. Beethoven apparently wasn´t a very happy person, and this piece shows. I hope your cat died well, and all resolved by now.
In order to really experience Beethoven's music as he intended, you would have to gather all of the various pianos that Beethoven had from the beginning of his life to the end and then play the sonatas on each instrument depending on when they were written. Even the range of the piano changed throughout Beethoven's lifetime.
What I appreciate about this interpretation is that there's nothing but what Beethoven left us as seen and truly expressed by the lady pianist. And it helps me so much to hear all the connections, otherwise lost in various misinterpretations and over-interpretations. Good job, Mrs. Sofronitsky.
@• Zarathustra • Source? It says adagio sostenuto, and plus his handwriting is so damn hard to read. Unless you're talking about the 2nd, 3rd movment which both of those interpretations are preposterous, and the 3rd movement would be almost humanly impossible.
@@octahedron115 It's played here at half the intended speed for the first movement. The last movement is not impossible at a presto tempo. 1. The first movement is in 2/4 timing. 2. 2/4 timing means you count every half note rather than every quarter note. 3. Adagio refers to the beat of the count. 4. Therefore, you play it about twice as fast as you hear here. IDK how it turned into such a slow movement, when you play it faster, you hear so much more of the real melody; the arpeggios are a texture. To our modern ears, the slow arpeggios sound familiar, like Debussy. This is Beethoven.
@Alcina I'm a "purist" and I think adapting music to different instruments is exactly what we should be doing. That's the proper way to play music, to constantly create new things with it. The Moonlight Sonata is playing off of Mozart's Don Giovanni opera: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f9qkvL6Dc5c.html
Don't know about being better. It is a different instrument with less resonance. But modern piano is a relative term as well. I bet you mean modern acoustics but forget the DPs. Any touch sensitive keyboard is "pianoforte" by definition, the difference is the complexity and ability of the synth. I bet I can tweak my Kawai digital to sound the same.
@@haywardmaberley4898 Not bad. First thing is tune A to 432hz to get that "slightly off" feeling. Then take all resonance settings to 1, and raise a bit if it sounds wrong. Remove the damper noise completely. Do this with several of the piano sounds you have until you feel it is the right one. Maybe make the touch lighter, I didn't. Sounded good with my default SK ConcertGrand sample. Mabe SK5, a shorter grand will be better for you. Have fun!
This rendition really is among the most beautiful I have ever heard, it fits a historic instrument so much more than the modern Grand, the sound in the first movement sounds a lot more somber and ressigned, the second movement is a momentary glimpse of dubious optimism after the grief of the first movement and the third filled with rage and anger, afterwhich there is acceptance.
Dear Aimilize, we are very happy you liked this video! We now moved to the new channel - like to see more fortepiano videos, are now developing new channel "McNulty fortepianos" ru-vid.com/show-UC1oecYTTloJCtR7BSVAyFZg we put there new fortepiano videos each week and will be happy if you subscribe
The 1st movement, it resembles Beethoven. His sadness, despair and deep emotions. It is played so well, I would say this is the "Perfect", fully accurate version of Beethoven's beautiful masterpiece. The second movement sounds very different on this piano, it has the touch of happiness, but it seems as if the happiness is a disguise, a cover for the deep sadness inside. The third movement, it is fabulous. It has the rage, the fury and the still-remaining deep sadness standing behind. It has grief in it, and it is pure music. Beethoven was truly a Mastermind, whom no one can ever surpass. His every work is genius for me. This legendary performance of the Sonata Quasi Un Fantasia, this is as if Lüdwig Van Beethoven has returned for us to play this legendary piece.
Wow... All those keys that Beethoven touched. I'm so speechless. For me deep inside I feel this rare. But I can hear the beauty of his music alive and in our hearts.
I'm sorry to make you sorry but that is not a piano played at by Beethoven, it's a copy built by Paul Naulty. But still it's what it would sounded like when LvB would have played it. But I could wish for better sound quality.
@@fardpig4269 I'm a pianobuilder and I have to say that both cross strung und straight strung instruments have their flaws. Chris Maene for example built a modern concert grand which is straight strung like historical instruments and Daniel Barenboim loves the sound this grand piano produces, because the sound is clearer than in a cross strung instrument. This happens because of the interference between the strings if they are cross strung. I hope I could help a little bit :)
@@Leopoldultimativ3 wow a piano builder I always wanted to learn how to restore old pianos. I don't like the junk they are making today I always knew the older pianos sounded better. The age of the soundboard and the larger too. When properly tuned the old uprights sound like concert grands. I got to play on an old steinway my piano tuner restored back in the early 70's the piano was a rare size 6 feet four inch model. I wish I could have bought his puano. Lord knows where it went to. But he had his technique when he tuned pianos. No one could tune like he did. Old school piano tuners knew that old sound that the younger generation missed out on. Well maybe I might find a tuner that has the same technique.
They're also more practical. On top of not ruining the music I create, I can actually fit one in my room without keys I don't use or want making it too long and they're way easier to move. In my opinion, I feel the piano peaked in the mid 1800s when the modern piano was available along side period instruments but now there's no diversity left in the piano industry so you ether have to hunt one down that's more than 100 years old and usually needs work, modify a modern one or build one from scratch if you want anything different. If a modern piano was my only option, I wouldn't be playing piano at all.
Now I understand why composers was so fond of Alberti bass. It sounds SO MUCH PLEASANT at the period instrument where now it sounds muddy.... the 1st & 3rd sounds *right* in this fortepiano
Many European pianos have a clearer bass than what you find on a Steinway, so I suspect they would sound better with the Alberti bass, not to mention the prevalence of chords in the left hand that occur even as late as Brahms. Those also sound muddy on modern pianos. More muddy = more powerful, though, that's one reason why the Steinway sound has taken over.
Various manufacturers have duplex scale or something similar. For example, Bluthner has a fourth string in the upper registers which is not damped and rings sympathetically. Baldwin had "accu-just hitch pins." But there is something that Steinway did to make the bass notes have more overtones than, say, a Bosendorfer (which is interesting, because two Bosendorfer models have more bass notes which also vibrate sympathetically, yet Bosendorfer's sound has less overtones than Steinway's). The rims on both pianos also act differently, so that changes the sound too. I think the Steinway's rim reflects the sound back inside more, increasing the sound and overtones, whereas the Bosendorfer has the rim as a kind of extension of the soundboard.
@@erick-gd7wo The duplex brings out the tenor more than anything. It adds a bit of extra resonance and ringing. The clearness is due to the scaling of the strings. So something that most people who are not piano tuners don't realize is that no piano can be in harmony within itself. Its impossible from both a mathmatical and physical standpoint. This results in something referred to as inharmonisity. Or being out of harmony and in the 1970s Dr. Sanderson found a way to calculate it. Normally the inharmonisity starts high at note 88 and gradually drops down when you go to the base in ideally a smooth transition until you get to the base notes where inharmonisity actually starts to go back up again. Now the reason this occurse is because if you drop the inharmonisity in the base completely you will have a hard time hearing it. Now where you drop it down to and how high you go back up differs from US and EU markets due to preferance. In Europe they want a cleaner base so they taper out the inharmonisity where it almost flat-lines with a slight rise. Where in the US it has a steeper rise which is why US manufacturers like Mason and Hamlin are known for a nice growly base where as German manufacturers like Bluthner are known for a more clear base. These are intentional designs of choice. 1 is not better than the other since its a matter of taste rather than objective quality.
I had this song playing in my room for New Years I may not know much about music but it made me think on how much I appreciate my parents for giving me a good life Thank yall
@@TheAboriginal1 Are you talking about sonata, symphony, concerto etc? Ik the word “song” is music with words in them, but it’s not that deep, not unless we’re using musical terms, names, or whatever it may be. But idk if that’s what you were talking about.
I thought I had heard this song before as it was meant to be. I was wrong. This blew me away. There were tones and sweeps of music i had never heard before and i was lost in it. Absolutely magnificent. Just wonderful.
That's one of the more pretentious things to correct someone about. It's largely immaterial. Like a person who says "film" and feels slighted by somebody calling it a movie. Relax lol.
Great! I think this wld be the closest representation soundwise of the way Beethoven & his audience wld have heard it. Thanks for this upload. Now we have the chance to at least have an idea what the original sound was like.
Viviana Sofronitsky, daughter of Vladimir, married to Paul McNulty. Beautiful playing, beautiful instrument. I love the birds in the background. Reminds me of a story about Toscanini, rehearsing an orchestra in a barn on a rural tour; he stopped the rehearsal and yelled at the players that he wanted them to sound like the birds that were chirping in the barn's rafters.
Very beautifully played. The sound of the fortepiano brings out so much beauty in this music that is lost on later instruments with steel resonating plates that obscure everything.
We are very happy you liked it! If you like to see some more videos my videos (and not only mine ;-) on fortepianos, please subscribe to our current channel McNulty Fortepianos - ru-vid.com/show-UC1oecYTTloJCtR7BSVAyFZg thank you for your support! Viviana
Enjoyed this very much. I'm sure I can't transport myself back to a time when people weren't used to modern pianos... to a time when this music was fresh and new... but we can imagine
Bravo! A beautiful performance on a wonderful piano. I particularly liked the clarity of the very low bass notes - reminds me a little of a harpsichord. I heard lines in the inner voices that I've not heard on other recordings. The dynamic range of the piano was impressive and the tempos were also very good. Thank you for bringing Beethoven back to life.
Much, much better on a fortepiano than on any modern piano. This reminds me of the wonderful work Arthur Schoonderwoerd Cristofori did with Beethoven's Concertos, a true masterpiece with no modern "grand" ideas in them.
I would love to try the 1st movement with a constant pedal, just to let each note die on its own and add all kind of reverberations. On a modern piano that would be too overwhelming...
Beethoven did mark this movement "senza sordino", meaning "without dampers". His intent was that the dampers should be raised for the duration of this movement, but I've never heard anyone even try doing it. It would have to be a half pedal on a modern piano, but the effect would be wonderful.
With an electronic keyboard (horrors!) one can choose the piano voice, blend 2 sounds, & play with the sustain & maybe get the fortepiano effect Beethoven assumed . . . excuse me, now I've got to go to my keyboard & try it!
@@karlakor there's a video on youtube where a guy talks about the piano of the era and what the 'old way' is that beethoven specifically requests, and goes on to play it as beethoven says with dampers raised for the whole first movement.
Such a lovingly tenderness is found in this interpretation, with the original piano Beethoven composed with. It really brings your soul into one with the music and the music alone ... nothing else but the three lovingly notes softly caressing you. So many thanks for sharing !
If you have a digital piano with dual voice capabilities, try combining the grand piano voice with a harp (not a harpsichord voice, but a harp voice) . It creates a sound similar to a forte piano
The first movement is so filled with sadness and pain, while the third movement is such an aggressive piece, filled with anger... I love both!! (2nd movement is fine, not a fan though)
The second movement is just a cleansing pallette for the third movement. It's to dilute the somber tone projected from the first movement and to make our minds fresh for the finale. The aggressive and passionate third movement
Thank you both - the rendition and interpretation moved my soul over the moon and out of this world - absolutely beautiful. The best I have ever heard and felt. I wish you luck in all your projects.
Dear Chris, thank you for your support! I am very happy to hear this! Our new videos are on McNultyFortepianos profile - www.youtube.com/@McNultyFortepianos Also, please come to visit our workshop when you will be in Prague - our pianos live are even more beautiful 🙂
Nice to see a music video where the focus of attention is the music, and not the would-be cleverness of a film editor who's trying to dazzle you with changes of viewpoint every couple of seconds. Interesting sound on this fortepiano.
I am blown away by how RIGHT the pianoforte sounds on this sonata. On my Galaxy Note 9 cellphone I was stunned but then listened again through my Sony MDR7506's the headphones I know best... during the ending section of Mv. 1 around 4:45 on the bass notes sounded so pure and powerful, my God the depth of that instrument... Full on goosebumps came and I couldn't stop the couple tears from spilling over onto my cheek... The 3 movement has never sounded better... I recommend to everyone who loves this piece as much as I do to get the audio from the performance and save it until a better version of her performance surfaces or another pianoforte is played by a master like her.... This is an ugly world... Things like this is what makes it worth living. Thank you to the OP. Edit: Sofronotski's Mozart Pianoforte recitals are on Spotify.
@;op 4 I hear you, you know how the timbre of an instrument never sounds 100% like it does to the naked ear, regardless of how great the microphone is, so I can only imagine the experience when the recording, on a compressed RU-vid video, sounds this majestic. After my comment I listened again several times over two days. It's a breathtaking performance in addition to the tone of the instrument being so heavenly.
@;op 4 That's the beauty of it, the mystery and "magic" involved. I've written a lot of songs (not saying anything like Beethoven!) but pop/rock stuff and it's just fooling around, strumming chords then all the sudden it feels like you're a channel for something else. It's hard to explain. I've heard other songwriters describe it that way, like a medium. Thing with Beethoven & Mozart, etc. is that they were classically trained and knew theory inside out; sometimes that is a big help when stuck for the next bit. If you know the key the songs in, the chord your playing is A minor or whatever, you'll know which scale tones are supposed to fit aiding in composition. It's an incredible process. But to write something like this is art of a high order.
@;op 4 It's awesome to see a 15 year old with as much passion and knowledge as you have. I'm an audio engineer/musician by trade and I knew that's what I wanted to do since the 6th grade. Being in any art/entertainment field is tough but persistence is what everyone who makes their living doing it share. Never give up and realize time moves so much faster than we think. Seriously before you know it you're 20, 25, 30, etc. Good luck @;op 4!
@;op 4 No worries. My Twitter is the same as my RU-vid, @WhatSpadeThinks I use the DM's a lot so mine is open so just drop me a line anytime. The best theory lesson I ever got early on was to know the piano keyboard back to front. I play mostly guitar but play keys to add stuff to demos etc. Knowing the keyboard (which is just the chromatic scale repeated) will open up music big-time, so if you're not 100% on it, that's a good thing to know. Be cool!
I thought these old instruments had no depth and string died immediately . This is fabulous and somehow its dark and quiet and delicate sound . It really helps you see what Beethoven had for his materials . I think the last movement will sound like a hurdy -gurdy being beaten alive . can ou imagine Liszt ,chopin ,Alkan coming into this typpe of instrument .Chopin has anyone given us a new world of figuration equal to that of chopin . Mendelssohn and Schuman and Schubert great music but none of them contributed to our real knowledge of the capabilities of the hand like chopin . Rach and godowsky add very little . Ravel only adds something . Did Debussy know the pedal like a thinking artist . I doubt it but he too gave us a new piano world as did Messiaen ! This 3/4 movement - not a scherzo or a miniuet what is it called . It has become really one of my favorites in beethoven like the slow mov of early and the late op.101 Amajor sonata and the Hammerklavier and Tempest slow movement s ! The finale was not as scary and machine shatering as i expected . Now i must find Liszt sonata and Chopin 2nd played on a 1850 or earlier instrument !
yah, it may be a fortepiano at a much later date than Beethoven since the sound is so much more modern than Beethoven's time fortepiano. Excellent interpretation BTW, esp the last movement! The added clarity of the fortepiano without loss of bass or depth of sound is perfect for this music! The L hand bass notes are not muddled up as can occur with modern instruments.
This piano is made after Walter, piano which Beethoven had in his youth. If you maybe surprised that is sounds so full and colorful, the reason is that is is just good copy :-) It is the same as with violin copies - good Stradivari copi from Cremona will sound beautiful, but some bad cheap factory violin copy will just squeak
75Chopin; it's tricky knowing what kind of Walter fortepiano replica is being played. Walter himself built fortepianos from about 1780 to a bit after 1820! An about 1820 Walter replica (which may be what we are hearing) is going to sound more modern compared than an 1800 Walter design.
A composer of time wrote music based on its instrument on his era. While modern piano tends to be heavy in action and creates larger sound with bassing lower notes, an original piano forte tells different colour of playing, I now understand why Beetho wrote these kind of sonatas, because it sounded better on his pianoforte.
Deafness broke out in 1798 and Beethoven had lost 60% of his hearing by 1801. In 1816 he was completely deaf. He could still at the time of the composition of this piece.
He might have been deaf but he still heard his music in his mind like we do after playing the piece. sometimes I hear music even days after playing it.there is a lot to learn about the history of past composers. If you see educational movies about Beethoven there is a lot to learn. I would love to find them on the net.
ABOUT BEING DEAF. PLEASE EXPLAIN THE BETHOOVEN QUARTET OP. 111. A GREAT CHALLENGE FOR PEOPLE WITH FULL HEARING. MAKES THE NEW LISTENER IF WE ARE CRAZY OR ALSO DEAF.
Forget his creativity. Imagine how much of a hold he must have hand in knowing how rhythms and harmony worked to work it out just with his mind. That talent scares me more than his lovely(terrifying) sounding pieces.
Amazing to hear one of Beethoven's pianos. I checked before commenting. Beethoven's tuning fork was pitched at 455.4; higher than our current 440. His tuning fork is in the British Museum. Wonder if this performance had the piano tuned 455.4?
Great to hear a modern version of the pianos of Beethoven's time. The notes do not make this clear. Beethoven never played this instrument! It is a copy of one he actually did play. Instruments of such age do not hold up to the punishment of piano playing and can longer hold tune. It does, however, give us a good representation of what the pianos of his day actually sounded like.
Yamaha have on their digital pianos added, amognst some others, Beethovens fortepiano sound - incase anyone wants to be able to play classical music and imitate the sound as closely as possible.
THanks for this recording. I don't understand the video. What is on the right side of the video? Is this a stage model? Why can we not see the performer's hands?
Dear Richard, this video made as a split screen, you can see the full stage on the left side and artist with piano (recorded from another camera) on the right side. You can not see hands because the piano is between hands and camera - you can actually see this camera on the left screen. This video is recorded live without cuts.
I'm torn on this whole "period instrument" thing. I have to admit this piano suits the piece better than any other I've heard and I'm very surprised to say that. With a composer as great as Beethoven he would have tailored his music to the performers and instruments of his age... but not entirely. There must be some quote from one of the greats about this subject but I've yet to find one.
@@usernotfound6475 Yes, but those instruments get better. Being a guitarist I know I wouldn't like something like Giuliani played on a period instrument, but I may revisit that idea. As far as this performance I kinda take it back, I like this played on a modern piano. Mozart piano pieces however sound much better on a period instrument, the modern grand does no justice to Mozart's pieces. I suppose that's because Beethoven's piano is much more similar to a modern piano than Mozart's.
@@Douglas1102 I know what you mean. I HATE harpsicords and i think that the WTC sounds so much better without them especially chorale like fugues like G sharp minor and e major from book II
@@leonhardeuler6811 thats more of an indication of how good a composer Bach was than harpsichord music sounding better on piano. Scarlatti, CPE Bach, Handel, Rameau on harpsichord any day over on piano.
@@Douglas1102 saying they got better is subjective, but the piano does sound different to a harpsichord to the point it's very difficult to compose a piece that sounds equally good on both instruments.
I do not understand that you always hear just the black polished Steinway D-274. Of course, the Steinway is a great instrument. To play always on the same instrument is the easiest way for pianists to come close to perfection. But I would prefer a little more different sounds. In organ music or church music there is more variety. They do not just use the great 147 rank Klais organ of cologne cathedral. You can listen to a lot of different instruments in different styles, a modern allround organ, a French romantic Organ, a northern Germany Barque organ or a middle Germay Barique organ - everything is totally different. The same is with old wind instruments and old string instruments in Renaissance and Baroque music. Lots of conducters try to use these old instruments. But most pianists do not know other instruments than the Steinway D-274 or maybe 7% a Bösendorfer and 3% Fazioli.
