# Presto Agitato, boy is it hard



## caters

I know Beethoven sonatas in general tend to be hard(Moonlight sonata is ARCT level as is his Pathetique Sonata), but unlike the Pathetique sonata where I can like think of it in terms of eighth notes taking the beat and the tempo comes to me in full, the Moonlight sonata is much more difficult because it isn't just a fast Allegro, it is a full blown Presto.

I remember one time I was practicing the Solfeggio in C minor at usual quarter note = 120 BPM tempo and then I decided to think of it as 8/8 rather than 4/4 and all of a sudden I could play it much faster just thinking of it in terms of eighth note rhythm rather than quarter note rhythm. This is one step I took to stop the roadblock at Allegro and allowing me to play Presto with very few mistakes.

Another piece that really helped with this was Chopin's Grande Valse Brilliante in Eb, the right hand to be more specific. I tried learning this in my second year of piano but it was like Chopin said "Get off my piano, you obviously don't have the nimble fingers yet. Start with my nocturnes first." Years later, all of a sudden, with no effort, I could play the right hand at full speed. The left hand has so many octave leaps like in a lot of Chopin music that I had to slow down.

Now, I felt I was ready to tackle Beethoven's Presto Agitato from the Moonlight sonata because I now knew that my fingers are nimble enough to play Presto and I can play the rest of the Moonlight sonata as well as the entire Pathetique sonata. So I went very slow as usual for practicing a piece for the first time and it is hard, like way harder than the Pathetique sonata. All these aspects make it hard:


Tempo being Presto
Powerful sound at a quiet dynamic
Alberti bass in the right hand
Alberti bass stretching across a 10th interval

The Alberti bass in the right hand makes it difficult because my right hand isn't used to doing a lot of Alberti bass, so it feels very awkward playing Alberti bass with my right hand. My right hand is more used to fast arpeggios, trills, and melody. My left hand is very used to Alberti bass though, primarily because when I play a Mozart sonata, there is often a whole movement where the left hand is almost all Alberti bass. Almost continuous Alberti bass at Allegro though, even for like 10 measures or so, makes me feel the burn, even when I'm doing everything right(like the wrist motion, no flat fingers, etc). I hope that this burn at Allegro from Alberti bass goes away. Is there anything I can do besides playing Alberti bass until I feel the burn and then stopping once I feel it to eventually be able to do Alberti bass at Presto with no issues at all?

And how can I make it sound powerful and quiet at the same time? Because, at Presto, a piano dynamic is hard to achieve, whereas forte at Presto is like second nature, I don't even need to think about it and the notes come out forte. At the same time, I have never really come across any other piece where a piano dynamic has a powerful sound. Most of the time I hear a powerful sound, it is from a bunch of forte and fortissimo dynamics or from sudden changes from forte to piano and vice versa such as in the Pathetique sonata. Most of the time I see a piano dynamic it sounds peaceful, sometimes even nocturnal(Chopin does that a lot, gives a nocturnal sound to his music by using quiet dynamics.

But in the Presto Agitato of the Moonlight sonata, it is both quiet and powerful simultaneously. How can I achieve that?


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## orgurf9

To achieve the quiet and powerful feeling you suggested, you need to play lightly and with great flexibility. Play the bass without any accents, and play the right hand with a slight crescendo, and NO PEDAL. I am all for artistic individuality, however Beethoven wrote his music exactly how he wanted it played.. When you reach the end of the second measure, put all the weight that you can into those two chords and with pedal, utilizing your entire back, shoulders, and forearms. In contrast to the chords, try to be as light as possible when playing the broken arpeggios, and try to rotate your wrist in the direction your hand is going. It also helps to envision yourself on a battlefield. The sudden force of the chords at the end of the passage should be reminiscent of cannons.


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