# Moonlight sonata



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

This is one of Beethoven's more famous sonatas, and for a good reason; Do you like it? I was always fascinated with anything that has to do with the moon, and the atmosphere the piece gives fits its name perfectly; I also find it deep and soothing; here is the full sonata:


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## premont

In this instance it is moonlight shining on Silicone Valley and not on Lake Lucerne (as the legend tells).


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

premont said:


> In this instance it is moonlight shining on Silicone Valley and not on Lake Lucerne (as the legend tells).


What do you mean by that? The pianist?


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## Triplets

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> What do you mean by that? The pianist?


Well, there is a lot of cleavage on display....


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## Larkenfield

The Moonlight Sonata... every composer's fantasy.


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## Manxfeeder

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> This is one of Beethoven's more famous sonatas, and for a good reason; Do you like it? ]


Of course. It's not so much three movements as it is one progression which speeds up proportionally: energy repressed, then released.

I don't have a problem with the video. If you don't look at the video, the playing is very good. But if it takes a lovely young lady with impressive video production to get the attention of a half-awake generation addicted to video games, I'm all for it. Then they can ease into the ugly players who are the true masters.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

Here's another doing:


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## Schoenberg




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## chesapeake bay

Beethoven wrote the 2 op 27 pieces when he was in his 30's, both were headed with "Sonata quasi una fantasia". It was 5 years after his death that a critic gave it the "moonlight sonata" designation so it wasn't really in Beethoven's mind when he wrote it. It has been noted by some that the first movement Adagio has some characteristics of a funeral march, though most pianists, like Lisitsa, play it at a faster tempo. Listen To Ivan Moravec's interpretation, to hear a different approach.


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## Oldhoosierdude

Triplets said:


> Well, there is a lot of cleavage on display....


It is now my favorite performance.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile

For some years I've been rather partial to this performance by Viviana Sofronitsky played on a McNulty fortepiano:




It's what I return to most often when I want to hear the piece.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

Here's a duo for the first part:


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## flamencosketches

ToneDeaf&Senile said:


> For some years I've been rather partial to this performance by Viviana Sofronitsky played on a McNulty fortepiano:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's what I return to most often when I want to hear the piece.


I didn't know Vladimir Sofronitsky had a daughter who was also a great pianist... wow.

My favorite takes on this sonata are Schnabel as someone mentioned above as well as Wilhelm Kempff.


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## Larkenfield

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> This is one of Beethoven's more famous sonatas, and for a good reason; Do you like it? I was always fascinated with anything that has to do with the moon, and the atmosphere the piece gives fits its name perfectly; I also find it deep and soothing; here is the full sonata:


There's 20 other better versions that could have been presented if one focuses on the recording rather than the cleavage.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

People, try and focus on Anastasia's playing and not her ... please!


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## BiscuityBoyle

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> People, try and focus on Anastasia's playing and not her ... please!


Alright: it's a perfectly generic performance most students at elite conservatories are more than capable of replicating.

For renditions of greater reserve, profundity and tonal beauty try for instance Gilels, Backhaus or Vedernikov.


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## Larkenfield

Larkenfield said:


> There's 20 other better versions that could have been presented if one focuses on the recording rather than the cleavage.


I apologize for these comments. I hold her in higher regard than that.


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## AnthonyAlcott

My preference and recommendation for the moonlight sonata would be Brendel. He plays with just the right balance of restrained passion, slightly threatening to break free of the restraint yet somehow still kept within bounds and still grounded (I'm speaking of course of the third movement). It is a difficult balance to strike, but I like it best when performed this way. It reaches the desired romantic intensity yet is still in fourth gear, if you know what I mean.


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## drmdjones

I know this is not the case, but this sonata has always struck me as a four-movement work missing the first movement. We get the other three movements; slow, scherzo, finale, as they would appear in a typical four-movement sonata.


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## AeolianStrains

Triplets said:


> Well, there is a lot of cleavage on display....


As usual with this user...


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