# Hammerklavier fugue



## Aurelian

I did not see all of the "Favorite Beethoven Sonatas" thread before writing this:

Recently I listened to the Hammerklavier fugue with the score. I mentally compiled a list of adjectives to describe this movement, and a majority of them were negative. About 2/3 through I said "enough already". 

What do you think of this movement?


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## Manxfeeder

I remember Peter Schikele playing a recording of this on his radio show and ending it with one word: "Wow."


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## Josquin13

I think it's very difficult to make the fugue work on a modern piano--as modern grands are too resonant, & clangorous in comparison to the kind of antique piano or pianos that Beethoven had in mind--which he tailored this music to. So often the fugue ends up sounding like an unwieldy mess on a modern grand--although some pianists manage to pull it off, I'm not denying that (Richter, A. Fischer, Gilels, Pollini, Webster, Solomon, Levit ...), even though they usually have to slow the fugue down to a bit, in order to accommodate the greater resonance from their instrument.

Here's Ronald Brautigam playing the fugue on a period piano: to my ears, the musical lines are more lithe, clear & distinct than on a modern grand, and as a result, I'd imagine this is closer to what Beethoven had in mind for the movement:






Now here's Maurizio Pollini playing the movement on a modern grand: To his credit, Pollini gets close to pulling the fugue off on similar terms, interpretatively--yet, it still sounds overly resonant and unwieldy in places, to my ears, and a tad encumbered, in comparison to what Brautigam is able to do on a period piano:






Perhaps Igor Levit is more successful, as he has a more 'baroque-like' touch than many other pianists:


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