Sonata Op.49, No. 2 by Beethoven

Judge: Andrew DeFour

Review Date: 2025-03-26 02:27:05
Review Status: Judgement Received

First of all, it was wonderful listening to your performance. You've clearly put great time and thought into your interpretation and it's so encouraging to know you still want to elevate your performance (hence your submission to Prep My Art) so I'll get right to the notes:

Music offers many options to focus one's attention on, but the main 3 are:
1. Melody
2. Harmony
3. Rhythm

(Others include:
4. Lyrics for vocal pieces
5. Sonics for sound producers)

These can be combined, of course, and are almost all always present in a piece, but it's helpful to decide when one in particular is dominating the aesthetic of the piece and to serve that musical element with the highest priority.

This piece is strongly focused on rhythm and that seems like the highest morality that should be served. Whereas melody might sacrifice rhythm, allowing a phrase to rhythmically stretch or constrict based on a performer's interpretation; and harmony can absorb parts of the melody to paint a beautiful wall of sound; rhythm will forsake more expressive melodic and harmonic elements for the sake of creating a "groove" or "flow" or whatever you would like to call it. The math is measured in time and the performer is the master of the pulse, setting a BPM and deciding when best to speed or slow their initial choice.

When a listener hears a BPM that you set in a rhythmic piece, it is like a train that has reached a steady speed and is now on a subconscious trajectory that cannot easily be changed. This is why, when you aren't 100% attentive to all your rhythmic choices (assuming they are choices and not weakness in finger strength or a lack of mastery of the piece), a listener can feel that something is "off." The "tempo train" chugging along in one's mind based on the original BPM you set when the piece starts can be jolted by your departure from the very expectations that you have created. This isn't to say you cannot speed up or slow down a piece for affect, but as with any masterful and effective performance, your decisions will only succeed as long as they are conscious and deliberate.

So right off the bat, you start with a chord and an arpeggio that are disjointed rhythmically. The feel seems like it should be:

CHORD & triplet triplet CHORD

And this sequence sets the rhythmic feel for the piece. I want more of a breath after that first chord so that the entire sequence is fairly metronomic and lets the listener know that: 1. You are in control of the tempo 2. What IS the tempo?

Side note: every time you hit a big chord before the arpeggios, you have to give that chord its full duration (it feels like you move on rather quickly, either out of nervousness, excitement, or you just don't enjoy embracing that moment with the chord). Maybe subdivide the tempo so that you don't enter early on that arpeggio and give it the full amount of milliseconds that the groove demands.

More general notes: each triplet note needs to get its full value, both rhythmically and dynamically (each finger playing as loud or soft as you intend). Also, along with those big chords, the *rests* need to get their full amounts. This is incredibly subtle, but can be the difference between feeling like you are rushing (if you don't give a full value to a note) or dragging (if you are not clearly giving us a fermatta, then you should be coming back in on the BPM time you have set).

I understand that melody/phrasing is important, but if it is at the expense of an enjoyable pulse, then you are sacrificing one musical element (rhythm/groove) for another (melody/phrasing) when this piece is screaming to pay attention to the rhythm.

A way to be more expressive while adhering to rhythm is to grow you dynamics within melodic scale parts - crescendoing and decrescendoing the dynamic while remaining tight with your BPM. I think you do this pretty successful around 0:29. Your groove is slightly elastic here, but not egregiously so. You seem very comfortable and making conscious decisions to push and pull the rhythm, but not ruining the groove.

1:14 - this is a part where I'm not sure if there is a dropped beat and you rushed to the next section (and it should have more of a breath), or you are meant to move on that fast in which case you actually need to hit it slightly faster. When you hit the final two major chords and then the minor chord to begin the next section, it isn't clear if there is a longer rest after the final major chord (which would mean you need more of a breath/reset) or if it really is 3 equal chord durations, in which case they need to be tighter.

1:25 - this could be a sound mixing issue, but be careful about your accompanying chords (left hand) dominating the sound output when the melody should be the focus. Again, within this rhythmic piece are still the other two musical elements (melody and harmony). The harmony, in this section, should *support* the melody, and not detract from it. In fact, throughout the piece, make sure you are aware of when the melody is present - even during the heavily arpeggiated parts - and if you are truly letting the melody be dominant, while the arpeggios and left hand chords are supportive. It's like a painting where there is a focal point - maybe a person - and the background should not be drawing your attention away from the person, but just supporting them. Even artists use words like "loud" - don't let the supportive parts be louder than the focal parts (the melody).

1:35 this is a wonderful time for a ritardando and it feels very comfortable slightly slowing the train before bursting back into the groove. Great job.

HOWEVER - right after the ritardando, you start the rhythm up again and whereas at very beginning of the performance, you may have rushed from the chord to the arpeggios... this time you took too long. So, when trying to establish the groove/BPM here, it is very disjointed and detracts from the rhythmic focus of the piece.

1:42 - THIS is where you do a great job of keeping the rhythm after the chord into the arpeggio. I was tapping my finger to your groove and the chord lands nicely, and so does the FIRST note of the arpeggio, but then the arpeggio is very fast comparatively to everything before it. But at least here, you nail the correct duration of the rest after the chord going into the triplets.

2:00 - work those left hand triplets. It's hard stuff. You are like a drummer there... |: duh bada duh bada duh bada 😐

2:23 - here your rhythm is solid and your dynamics are shining through in the way you are crescendoing and decrescendoing.

2:27 - this right-hand run is perfect. Great rhythm.

2:41 - don't rush each of these chords. Play them all with full value. 1 2 3 4. Try not to bring them closer together like an accordion or bellows. Give them the amount of space that your BPM demands. Play those chords with a metronome and try to never play each chord BEFORE each beep or click.

2:48 - for these final right hand downward arpeggios, don't let them fly to fast. Get those fingers strong and really make those triplets full triplets.
For a visual:
1...2...3...1 not 1..2..3.....1

If I were you, I would play this entire piece to a metronome at various speeds and (after recording and listening back) see what sounds most enjoyable as the core BPM you wish to perform at. Then, you can figure out where to push and pull your rhythm, either using ritardandos to end larger sections, or even changing the BPM slightly between sections if you feel it is the right choice.

But I do not enjoy the bar to bar push and pull of tempo (again, treating a rhythmic piece like a melodic piece). I would much more enjoy a rhythmic presentation that shows a mastery of tempo/BPM with the expression coming from dynamics.

I think you've got this thing mostly down, just need to think about these rhythmic components and really be deliberate with how you present them.

Best of luck!

-Drew De Four

Judge: Jane Wood

Review Date: 2025-03-26 02:27:05
Review Status: Awaiting Judgement

Judge: Natasha Frid Finlay

Review Date: 2025-03-26 02:27:05
Review Status: Awaiting Judgement