Schumann - Sonata No.2 in G minor op. 22

The "numerous flaws" here are not so numerous as in Les Adieux, and they bother me far less here anyway. In fact I much enjoyed your conception of this great Sonata. There was a stumble in the Presto that should maybe have been cleared up but apart from that there was nothing that spoiled the experience. My only criticism is about the acciaccaturas in the Scherzo, which are rather sloppy and inconsistent.

All in all good work, you seem to have a good feeling for Schumann, as well as a clear idea of the structures. There is much nice phrasing and dynamics throughout. The Presto is taken a bit leisurely but is not the worse for it. I found the piano sound more agreeable than in the Beethoven. Is it the
same instrument ? Or was it tuned in the meantime ?

The ID3 tags were mostly ok except that you are supposed to put the opus number in the title, as well as the numbering of the individual items, please see the links in the original post. I'll update the site pages tomorrow.

 

This is up.

 

I enjoyed listening very much. The outer movements usually go a bit faster (in particular final rush in the first where it goes from "as fast as possible" to "even faster", suggesting Schumann actually intended a loss of control there). I was impressed by your handling of the first movement development, which is quite treacherous, and the second movement you bring out beautifully. But I agree with Chris about the Scherzo. Watch out for slowing down at phrase endings to gain relaxation at difficult passages, you do that a lot (in particular at the final movement) and I wonder if you are completely aware of the effect.

Joachim

 

When I was in music school (I won't recall the dates) very few people played Schumann, although some people talked about playing it. So I'm not familiar with this work. (There is, I think, an f#minor one that got played a little.)
But it was a very enjoyable listen.
The piano does sound pretty good - whatever you had done was successful.

 

Some comments and questions. I have heard the piece before, but not studied it, so that's the source of most of my questions!

First, congratulations on mastering such a monumental work! it is an achievement.

Movement 1: The first and second sections that have the first theme (do ti la so) seem very choppy to me. Did Schumann put a lot of off-beat accents? I hear a lot and they rather interrupt the flow of things. However, the more lyrical sections are very beautifully done and not choppy at all. So I guess this could be a purposeful artistic decision and I understand why a pianist would do it. Ironically, the parts that seem most "stormy" to me are the parts with the melody in octaves and a surging accompaniment underneath, which are totally free of choppiness.
Also, the recap is just wonderful. So exciting. And probably it's more difficult than the opening. Maybe you settled into the piece as you were playing!

Movement 2: I admire your tasteful, dreamy rubato here. This has a lovely unhurried quality that I find difficult, but necessary, to employ in my Schumann playing. The repetitive accompaniment is present but shaded nicely, providing the pulse without dominating too much. The ending seems a little abrupt. That seems the kind of thing Schumann would do on purpose. (Is it on purpose?)

Movement 3: What a great complement to the previous movement. You're playing it a little heavy, but if it were lighter it wouldn't be as nice a contrast to the slow mvt.

Movement 4: I can tell you love this one the most! The drama is very exciting here, and the fast sections still have nice long lines with no choppiness at all. Some well-placed ritards in the slower sections that add to a playful quality. This reminds me of the rondo in Schubert D. 845. I'm not convinced by some of the smaller-scale rubatos (some 16ths being suddenly closer together than others) and would have preferred larger-scale rubato, but still, it is a very engaging performance and a terrific conclusion to the sonata. The pp approach to the coda was a great choice.

 

Congratulations! I'm working on this piece now, so I know how hard it is - especially to play it in interesting way.

First movement - I hear it faster. Probably M. Argerich spoiled my ears, but I think it loose a bit of it's distressing character in slower tempo. I like your voicing - you hear all voices. I think you loose pulse in spots where are some off-beat accents. In the middle of development I think you could work more on balance.

Second movement - I like your sound, but your rubato there didn't convince me. It looks like you are using it too much when there are these thirty-two notes. Or you just play from phrase to phrase without connecting them.

Third movement - I think you cheat in these anxious motives with thirty-two notes . I do it also, but maybe not as much as you - at least I hope so. In this movement I like almost everything - the tempo, mood, pedalization.

Fourth movement - this one should be faster in my opinion, because in this tempo you can show its mood. Slower parts are played very well, nice details there. I've an impression that you sometimes had problems with anticipating what's next in these faster parts. I like your sound in Coda - you started it with very fine articulation, but you didn't maintain it. But I've the same problem, when these arpeggios are widers it's starts to be hard to not blur them...

Once more - decent work!

 

Yeah, the tempo of these is a nightmare, especially in the last one. I'm going to play it at a recital soon and I'm so scared... But I want to do these in faster tempo, because I hear them in that way. Maybe there is something about this that I want to prove myself that I can play fast. For my whole piano carieer I was avoiding this kind of pieces.

I would agree with your rubato if the tempo marking of the second movement was Largo, Adagio, etc. But it's Andantino, so it should go forward a little. Your rubato is stopping the flow. But still music is beatiful, so don't worry .

I practiced this motive a lot slowly with counting out loud. Also I practiced it voices separetely a lot. And I think I found a proper hand movement. For me it's kind of movement with high wrist like you want to stick Ab Eb but the hand slips on D G (fingering 52 41). But I believe most important thing which helped me with it was counting out loud.

There are some reasons: I recorded the whole sonata for my practice purposes on my piano (I'm on my own without a teacher...) which was horribly out off tune and I used very cheap mic. At the end of this week I'll be performing it and maybe my friend will be able to record it using decent equipment. If not, I'm planning to do recording at home, but now my piano is tuned and I've better equipment. The last reason is I'm not confident of my interpretation and my playing, but it's a poor excuse .