LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - GROSSE SONATE FÜR DAS HAMMERKLAVIER OPUS 106 - FRIEDRICH GULDA

Ludwig van Beethoven [1770-1827]
Klaviersonate Nr. 29 in B-Dur op. 106 [Hammerklavier]
I. Allegro
II. Scherzo: Assai vivace
III. Adagio sostenuto
IV. Introduzione: Largo - Allegro - Fuga: Allegro risoluto
Friedrich Gulda, Klavier
1970
by berlinzerberus

[@edhanslick5630]

Unsurpassed - it simply can´t be better. Great, great Gulda !!!!!!!!!!!

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Apart from by Gulda himself! kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2mplYaDqZ2CaK8

[@georgesmelki1]

@@joelmacinnes2391 Right! It's the same high caliber performance with the repeat of the Exposition in the 1st movement. The BEST!

[@joelmacinnes2391]

​@georgesmelki1 it's a monstrous piece of music, and I've heard many very good recordings of it but Gulda seems to encapsulate the best of each movement - it's a bold approach of playing so fast and taking the adagio at a brisker pace, but the way everything weaves together in the end is just magical, especially his lightness of touch in the adagio - I hear too many playing it fast with no meaning, hundreds of slips and a totally frantic fugue, or god forbid, in double beat where each note becomes an individual and nothing fits together - Gulda truly mastered the opus 106, I can only imagine how many 1000s of hours of work went into it

[@s1earle]

Even given the great time difference it feels that Gulda worked with Schnabel on this interpretation...impossible? To play this from memory in concert is a great achievement.

[@monicacaramelo7085]

Sometimes I think Gulda was a kind of Schnabel with good quality recordings

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

Firstly, thank you berlinzerbus for finding and posting this. I have loved classical music since childhood (over 50 years now) and there are some pieces that I've avoided listening to, even when they're by composers who I love. Parsifal was one, Until today, this was another. Somehow the fearsome reputation put me off, as though the difficulty for the performer would mean that as a listener I'd never quite be able to relax into. Well, I now know that it's a spellbinding piece. I found this performance as I was randomly surfing around KZbin. I recognised Gulda's face and thought I'd give it a try, partly because I thought at the very least it would be interesting. I was not disappointed. It was mesmeric. I haven't always been convinced by his studio recordings and I suspect that he was much better heard live. What a treat!

[@berlinzerberus]

My great pleasure Richard! I was there when Gulda climbed the 'Mount Everest'. 1970 I attended the recital with my parents because I was a quite young mid-teenager. BUT up from the beginning until the end it was absolutely breathtaking and at the end he played an own composition. of course Jazz! [Variation about 'light my fire'] The second Everest 'Parsifal' I heard live at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. it startet late because there was summer and it took a certain time until the audience was complete. Bur when the Vorspiel begun I was completely hypnotized athough the singers had been bad, and that was my first experience with Wagner and I got addicted in a way by this genius when I was 20yo.

[@berlinzerberus]

29:38 - 31:00 unbelievable!

[@ashleyxoxo.q]

those are called scales.

[@ashleyxoxo.q]

if you hear, c d e f g a b c and all.

[@Paulofibonelli]

@@ashleyxoxo.q groundbreaking

[@lucyprovedel7065]

great Gulda !

[@cristinamaiapm]

Lucy Provedel You notice the mistakes Wright?

[@klop4228]

Cristina That doesn't make it a bad performance. It makes it a less good performance than without mistakes, but if they are not common and the musical ability is good enough, the performance can still be said to be good.

[@paulprocopolis]

Great stuff! I very much like FG's tempo choices here and admire the control and direction of the playing, not to mention the powers of concentration. I guess Kempff still has the edge for poetry and expressive spontaneity in the slow movement, and I don't think there's any need to speed up the leaping, trilling climax (disintegration) of the fugue (32'54" etc.). However, I'm pleased to note that Gulda does not hold the 'puritanical' view that the opening of the first movement (and later equivalent passages) has to be played with the left hand alone. I really enjoyed it!

[@berlinzerberus]

Thanks Julian!

[@helloitismetomato]

0:10 - I. Allegro 7:39 - II. Scherzo. Assai vivace - Presto - Prestissimo - Tempo I 10:05 - III. Adagio sostenuto 25:57 - IV. Largo - Allegro risoluto

[@berlinzerberus]

Thank you!

[@cristinamaiapm]

helloitismetomato He said thank you! Say " You're welcome " !

[@helloitismetomato]

YOU'RE WELCOME!

[@wellerwu3085]

@@helloitismetomato Bruh

[@andrewkennaugh1065]

The Mount Everest for pianists...

[@remomazzetti8757]

One of the greatest and most profound pieces Beethoven or anyone else ever wrote especially the glorious slow movement (except for people who are too ignorant and tone deaf to appreciate it.)

[@chazinko]

It's Beethoven for grown ups.

[@marichristian1072]

And a fugue to die for!

[@321Lopper]

More like the K-2

[@TheBeautyIn3Dee]

Really, really fast tempi in the bookend movements. Nobody could play this gigantic sonata until Liszt. Great performance, a sort of Heifetz on the piano. The last movement sounds like modern music, atonal in places, skipping past Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms ... way into the 20th century. Incredible.

[@ProfDrislane]

"..skipping past Schubert, Schumann.." I suggest some more careful listening, including the late Schubert songs, the finale of Chopin's Sonata No.2 (and the A minor Prelude), and of course things by Bach like the Gigue from the D minor English Suite, Contrapunctus 11 from the Art of the Fugue, and the B minor Fugue from WTC Book 1, not to mention some really ear stretching canons in BWV 1079 and 1080...

[@johnlenti]

Michael Drislane Ecclesiastes 1:9, cf. Josquin

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

@@ProfDrislane I think both are right. Those pieces are exceptions of a lifetime that sounds like xx century on some section being atemporal and trascendental

[@benjamincuevaseninde]

-- Excellent & captivant. --

[@nohabraningunaigual]

Hoy, en esta tarde, incluso me gustó más. Gracias, Gulda!

[@PushkarCarlotto]

The best I've found so far! Marvellous interpretation, and incredibly beautiful piece! I will try and go for it. Thank you for the upload.

[@berlinzerberus]

You're welcome!

[@paolofranceschi6874]

excellent performance, wonderful video!!! great friederich...

[@joelmacinnes2391]

I cannot imagine how pleased Beethoven would be listening to that fugue

[@berlinzerberus]

Er hätte wahrscheinlich in seiner rheinischen Dialektfärbung gesagt: 'Er macht et schon jantz juut!' - Innerlich hätte ihm wahrscheinlich begeistert der Mund offen gestanden vor soviel Virtuosität und Wagemut. ;)

[@BachScholar]

In the first three movements Gulda averages only 106, 214, and 72 bpm, a far cry from the 138, 240, and 92 marked by Beethoven. Therefore, if he was trying to play Beethoven's metronome speeds, he was only able to succeed in the Fugue in which he averages 146 bpm. No pianist has ever been able to play Beethoven's metronome marks in the first three movements.

[@mikedaniels3009]

Were those period metronomes ticking right?

[@Ezekiel_Pianist]

@@mikedaniels3009 yes a metronome is a metronome it doesn’t change anything

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Peter serkin plays 1, 2 and 4 at said tempo, for some reason people play the 3rd slower

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Also it's not about the average tempo, there's such thing as a rallentando for instance, so the average tempo will always be slower than the tempo written. Also in the first movement only the first 2 bars (and all similar bars) are ment to be quite as fast as 138

[@ashleyxoxo.q]

amazing.

[@lallegressedupourpre4488]

La fugue finale, comme une impro. Magnifique Gulda

[@mikedaniels3009]

Zu viele Noten, Mozart..., sein Hammerklavier hat zu wenig Tasten, Beethoven.

[@LOLERXP]

This little wonder must always be available to all who find it. Thank you berlinzerberus.

[@berlinzerberus]

My pleasure! - There are at least 16 who do not believe in miracles. ;)

[@beliebigkeit]

The last movement shows that you can play super fast while still retaining clarity and structure and without turning everything into mush.

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Plenty could learn from this, especially the pianists of his own day

[@metteholm4833]

That fugue lifts Beethoven over the threshold to the 20th century

[@samspianos]

who is fugueing now?

[@TrevRockOne]

@@samspianos we're in the 21st century now

[@samspianos]

@@TrevRockOne tell that to the op

[@lucaszavaluentie4855]

I think this guy actually played this Sonata the fastest in the world! 37 minutes!? Wow

[@lucaszavaluentie4855]

Remo Mazzetti Now that I think about it, he did in fact do that. And now I have a different perspective of how this Sonata should be played, it should be played slower at the correct tempo the double best theory offers

[@helloitismetomato]

Worth keeping in mind he does not play the repeat mark of the 1st movement, which would add somewhere around 2:25 to the final duration.

[@joelmacinnes2391]

He didn't play the repeat in the first movement for some reason, but his Adagio is played at the intended speed of 92(?) Beats per minute, which no one else does

[@irenecabrejos33dekossuth]

Thank you very much! Unbelievable indeed! Each time a superb pianist as Gulda conquers with brilliancy Beethoven's "Hammerklavier", all the universe seems to rejoice...

[@andrewkennaugh1065]

irenecabrejos33 Sadly,the vast majority of people on planet Earth haven't heard of the Hammerklavier Sonata... but I take your point...🎹🗼😎

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Excellent interpretation. Marvelous pianist.

[@ragoji]

It is a great performance!

[@mikepen3477]

10:23 He looks like Clifford Curzon!

[@GDT908]

Merci Gulda, merci Beethoven.

[@lucarossi7424]

Genius!

[@beatriz9799]

apparently someone that I was talking on omegle just made me listen to 1 hour of beethoven and lost the connection... now i’m dying to know who that person with an excellent musical taste is.

[@pablobear4241]

I’ve made people listen to rachmaninoff on Omegle, never Beethoven though. Lucky you lol

[@hansulrichbehner8026]

Gulda plays the first fugue in 4' 49 minutes starting from 28:10 . In 1970 he played the fugue even faster than the original prescripted speed of 4'52,5 minutes [144 Mälzel per crotched]. In contrast to HJ LIM (4' 46) who generally plays much faster (154 Mälzel) but loses time by several delays Gulda keeps his same speed. The young prodigy Laetitia Hahn starts in the same speed like Gulda overtakes HJ LIM after 2'20 minutes and augments her velocity more and more without any hesitation till she overcomes Gulda and Lim with overwhelming 4' 34 minutes.

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Not about playing it as fast as humanly possible, and 4.49, how much closer to 4.52 are we looking for 😂 I think it's astonishing how well articulated everything he plays is despite the mental speed

[@melomafali8740]

It sounds like Beethoven would chase the XXI Century , and make his own imperious statement. Futuristically outrageous.

[@berlinzerberus]

;-))

[@forestanimalito236]

It is not so futuristic. Gulda simply breaks with long romantic style of playing, where almost everything has to be schmaltzy and shlepping, esp. Beethoven as a crossover between classical and romantic epoch. Anything he plays makes sense: tempo, energy, passion and where necessary even gives romantic flavor (in slow movements)

[@Ralphowitz]

Dank für das Hochladen und Kompliment an alle Hörer! Sie haben einen exzellenten Musikgeschmack.

[@tarakb7606]

He uses a constant non legato/staccato touch with pedal for "legato" passage work. Which might explain why it sounds so percussive in places.

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

I found his pedal technique fascinating, not least when he lifted his right heel off the floor. How he didn't cripple himself with the tension is anyone's guess but it wasn't half effective.

[@christopherboye7112]

Obviously a great pianist and technician. I like the interpretation as well, but he skips the recapitulation in the Allegro (?) and adds interspersed base chords to his liking. I must be a strict constructionist - I like things played as written.

[@Ezekiel_Pianist]

As do I

[@lucaszavaluentie4855]

Boy, is this guy good!

[@AGZ75]

Que linda versión. La que más me gusta a mí. Si bien la de Solomon y Richter son buenas.pero la técnica de Gulda aquí es impresionante. Porque da un puñetazo a las negras bajas?es permitido esto en la interpretación del piano?

[@nicolaspachecoarango]

El lo hace para crear un sonido más corposo, es una cosa que de hace, aunque no le he visto mucho en Beethoven más que todo después del romanisticismo.

[@monicacaramelo7085]

@@nicolaspachecoarango Al empezar el ultimo movimiento del 5to concierto de Beethoven, Michelangeli tambien le da un puñetazo a las notas mas graves

[@STEPHANM0ELLER]

So gehört's!

[@vivirut]

impresionante versión de Gualda...Bravisimo

[@edhanslick5630]

Gulda !!!

[@davidbeuchot7235]

So wonderfull!!! Meraviglioso!! Incredibile!!! BRavo!! Bravissimo!!

[@OE1FEU]

Someone should have briefed the piano technician about who the pianist and his programme is. Maybe he would have either tuned tuned the piano to survive the second half in tune or referred the job to a technician who could have done so. Painful and sad for this incredible and unique recording.

[@makake-rw1fk]

Wie erwartet ein Meister. In der heutigen Zeit ist dies ein Schub♬ kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5iTd6KHi85qo5I

[@chaikagome9725]

Bravo!! (35:41 memo)

[@melkithierry9289]

Waouh !! Quel prodigieux sens du rythme ! Ça swingue !! Des dynamiques sublimes !! Un GRAND MAITRE du piano et de la musique !!

[@chipxd5370]

Si quieres ser un gran pianista domina lo básico y práctica y después practica lo imposible y podrás tocar estas joyas

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

35:41

[@jasonamil8820]

Peanuts strip of January 23, 1952, brought me here.

[@yusukeundisolde]

すんげえ筋肉だな。

[@berlinzerberus]

筋肉だけでなく、頭も!

[@lorenzodaponte2827]

Belin che brio.

[@cristinamaiapm]

lol

[@felixlehwalder2758]

Fabelhaft!!!

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

Martha Argerich Teacher

[@MrLextune]

Thanks for posting this!

[@joelmacinnes2391]

Doesn't even bow 😂

[@huangfrancis8717]

Did he play the piece on original tempo(which Beethoven wrote)?

[@jerrytupperware6499]

A little slow yet(at the 1st movement), but this is almost played on original tempo.

[@Ezekiel_Pianist]

@@jerrytupperware6499 it’s not even close bach scholar made a comment here stating that the tempo was a far cry from Beethoven had conceived

[@Ezekiel_Pianist]

No he didn’t

[@joelmacinnes2391]

@@Ezekiel_Pianist well he was wrong

[@Ezekiel_Pianist]

@@joelmacinnes2391 you have no idea obviously…

[@ernesthoven]

Extraordinario!!!

[@tashwhimpey8114]

0:12

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

Hammerkavier in 36 minutes ?😳😳😳😳

[@olivierdrouin2701]

Sans répétition de l exposition de l zllegro

[@joelmacinnes2391]

It would've been 39 had he played the repeat

[@RolandKarlBryce]

Wow, really urgent and sometimes that is the flavour required! His hands resemble Beethoven’s! (c.f. Plaster cast of the composers hands. ) Maybe that is why he plays this so fluidly?

[@zerok2809]

Is hella easy