Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner I'm having a hell of a time with this passage

I've been trying to get bar 10 off beethovens Op. 13 mov. 1 down for a couple days now The rythmm is throwing me off. first it's sixty-fourth notes and then its 128th notes.( i'm talking about the last big run in this bar) the first two groups of 64ths are split up .the first one is marked with a six over it and the second one is marked with a seven. and then there's a group of 16, 128th notes. I've got most of this movement down but this passage is driving me crazy. does anybody have a good way of explaining how to perform this run?

There are two beats (but call them four, just to make it easier - each beat is one 8th note-value)

1 - The first two 16th notes

2 - The 6-group and 7-group

3 - The 16-group

4 - The fermatad note and pickup to measure 11.

Think about it like this:

The first beat is easy, right? Divide the second beat (total of 13 notes) into groups of 3, 3, 3, 4. (The four should only be slightly faster than the groups of three). Divide the third beat (total of 16 notes) into groups of 4, 4, 4, 4. The fourth beat is easy.

So, really, between the second and third beats, you're just playing a chromatic scale in 8 groups: 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4.

The main focus, however, is not necessarily to get all of this in strict timing - the point is that you create the effect of accelerating down the chromatic scale and then suddenly stop on the fermata and then go right into Allegro molto e con brio.

Does this help?

i don't play it, but i was curious enough to take a look at it. basically, you count 4 beats in the bar with each base chord corresponding to each 2-beat group. then, at 1st 2-beat group, RH play 1st beat with the 1st 2 notes, and 2nd beat with those 6-note & 7-note groups; at 2nd 2-beat group, the 1st beat goes with the long chromatic run, and 2nd beat goes with the last 2 notes.

so, in order to count it right, you might want to double the beats: using 8 instead of 4 for this bar and play it with your count.

I'm actually working with the Pathetique right now. Neither Horowitz nor Rubinstein play the run in strict time. Both give the impression of accelerating straight through to the B-natural at the end of the run. The strict beat at this point is so slow, that to play the chromatic "in-time" is not really desired. You are, after all, setting up the change in tempo that immediately follows...why not accelerate into the fermata? It creates a more drastic and dramatic effect, and every recording I've ever heard of the piece takes advantage of it.

Use the LH part as your guide. It is a lot easier to count.

Ryan

You can play this in strict time and give the impression of accelerating straight through - the notes do accelerate naturally. But, also keep in mind that any Beethoven should not necessarily be played in strict time all the way through - that would be boring. Even just playing the indicated tempo markings is not enough. Dare I say there should be some feel of rubato? (Not really rubato - more just playing from the heart)

That's what I was saying. Why bother counting? As ryan said very well, get the left hand chord and don't worry about what the right hand is doing as long as it hits the right notes, accelerates, crescendos, and keeps steady.

When I play it, my tempo is usually right around 152.

THANK YOU I'VE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!