Post by andrewb February 19, 2007 (1 of 17)
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Has anybody noted some slightly distracting noises on this disc, its really only in the Moonlight sonata that they are are discernible. There are some slight creaks and very soft thumps, basically a rustling noise, which seem to occur when the keys are being depressed or released on a chord, but the noise is so faint as not to be easily identified. The noises are really only a distraction in the adagio where the music is very quiet, they occur elsewhere but are not noticeable because of the louder music. Maybe the microphones were a little closer on this recording than on the earlier discs? It's the same instrument and location.
Its only a small drawback on another excellent disc, the playing in the Moonlight and the Pastoral is disarming, and I simply put this new account among all the other fine Beethoven piano music from great Beethoven pianists such as Gilels, Kempff, Pollini, Kovacevich etc. I don't compare them, each seems right when you play them, and Brautigam certainly is in that category, his playing does not allow me to think of how it might be played differently: it is just "right" when you hear it.
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Post by seth February 19, 2007 (2 of 17)
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andrewb said:
Has anybody noted some slightly distracting noises on this disc, its really only in the Moonlight sonata that they are are discernible. There are some slight creaks and very soft thumps, which seem to occur when the keys are being released after a chord, but are so faint as not to be easily identified. The noises are really only a distraction in the adagio where the music is very quiet, they occur elsewhere but are not noticeable because of the louder music. Maybe the microphones were a little closer on this recording than on the earlier discs? It's the same instrument and location.
Its only a small drawback on another excellent disc, the playing in the Moonlight and the Pastoral is disarming, and I simply put this new account among all the other fine Beethoven piano music from great Beethoven pianists such as Gilels, Kempff, Pollini, Kovacevich etc. I don't compare them, each seems right when you play them, and Brautigam certainly is in that category, his playing does not allow me to think of how it might be played differently: it is just "right" when you hear it.
timings please.
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Post by Peter February 19, 2007 (3 of 17)
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Sonata No.12 in A flat major, Op.26
1. I. Andante con variazioni 7'18
2. II. Scherzo. Allegro molto 2'41
3. III. Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un Eroe 5'52
4. IV. Allegro 2'25
Sonata No.13 in E flat major, Op.27 No.1
5. I. Andante – Allegro (attacca) 5'00
6. II. Allegro molto e vivace (attacca) 1'53
7. III. Adagio con espressione (attacca) 2'46
8. IV. Allegro vivace – Presto 5'14
Sonata No.14 in C sharp minor, Op.27 No.2 ‘Mondschein’
9. I. Adagio sostenuto (attacca) 5'49
11. III. Presto agitato 6'38
Sonata No.15 in D major, Op.28 ‘Pastorale’
12. I. Allegro 10'22
13. II. Andante 7'12
14. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 2'24
15. IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo 4'50
Total Time: 73'38 - don't know about track 10....?
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Post by seth February 19, 2007 (4 of 17)
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Peter said:
Sonata No.12 in A flat major, Op.26
1. I. Andante con variazioni 7'18
2. II. Scherzo. Allegro molto 2'41
3. III. Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un Eroe 5'52
4. IV. Allegro 2'25
Sonata No.13 in E flat major, Op.27 No.1
5. I. Andante – Allegro (attacca) 5'00
6. II. Allegro molto e vivace (attacca) 1'53
7. III. Adagio con espressione (attacca) 2'46
8. IV. Allegro vivace – Presto 5'14
Sonata No.14 in C sharp minor, Op.27 No.2 ‘Mondschein’
9. I. Adagio sostenuto (attacca) 5'49
11. III. Presto agitato 6'38
Sonata No.15 in D major, Op.28 ‘Pastorale’
12. I. Allegro 10'22
13. II. Andante 7'12
14. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 2'24
15. IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo 4'50
Total Time: 73'38 - don't know about track 10....?
I meant of these audio problems.
Thanks for taking the time to type that up, but I already own the disc.
I'll post a review tonight, but in short, the "Moonlight" and "Pastoral" are excellent.
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Post by Peter February 19, 2007 (5 of 17)
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Sorry, I misunderstood, but will have to own up to copying the info rather than typing!
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Post by ramesh February 19, 2007 (6 of 17)
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Presumably it's the action of the pedal. I played this after doing my review yesterday of vol 3. I have a CD of Igor Kipnis performing the 'Moonlight' on a 1793 fortepiano and there are no such pedal noises, but the Brautigam fortepiano has a more mellow, less twangy sound. Weirdly, the pedal mechanism sound is similar to what one can hear on the Exton SACD of Ashkenazy performing the Chopin sonatas, but the latter disc has a standard Steinway.
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Post by andrewb February 19, 2007 (7 of 17)
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seth said:
I meant of these audio problems.
Thanks for taking the time to type that up, but I already own the disc.
I'll post a review tonight, but in short, the "Moonlight" and "Pastoral" are excellent.
The noise occurs very frequently on track 9, too many times to list, but try track 9 between 1.49 and 1.55, its occurs several times here, stereo and multichannel. It is best described as a rustling noise accompanying each depression of the keys in this sequence. It's almost like distortion, as one might get on an old recording from before the 1950s, but I believe it is some unwanted noise in the piano mechanism.
The noise is faint and should not deter anybody from purchasing this disc, my aim in raising the question, apart from being curious about the origin of the noise, is that BIS, once aware of the problem, might be able to prevent its reappearance on later discs.
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Post by andrewb February 19, 2007 (8 of 17)
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ramesh said:
Presumably it's the action of the pedal. I played this after doing my review yesterday of vol 3. I have a CD of Igor Kipnis performing the 'Moonlight' on a 1793 fortepiano and there are no such pedal noises, but the Brautigam fortepiano has a more mellow, less twangy sound. Weirdly, the pedal mechanism sound is similar to what one can hear on the Exton SACD of Ashkenazy performing the Chopin sonatas, but the latter disc has a standard Steinway.
My first thought was the pedal, but then Brautigam's instrument has no visible pedal, maybe it has a hand-stop or some hidden knee lever, which were the first versions of the pedals we now know. In any case, Beethoven directed that the damper pedal be kept down throughout the first movement adagio of the Moonlght. Although this instruction might not be observed on a modern piano, I would have Brautigam's instrument could successfully obey this instruction and sound like Beethoven expected.
Hence, I do not believe it is pedal noise that I am hearing in this movement.
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Post by seth February 19, 2007 (9 of 17)
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andrewb said:
My first thought was the pedal, but then Brautigam's instrument has no visible pedal, maybe it has a hand-stop or some hidden knee lever, which were the first versions of the pedals we now know. In any case, Beethoven directed that the damper pedal be kept down throughout the first movement adagio of the Moonlght. Although this instruction might not be observed on a modern piano, I would have Brautigam's instrument could successfully obey this instruction and sound like Beethoven expected.
Hence, I do not believe it is pedal noise that I am hearing in this movement.
Andrew:
Please post some timings of where you hear the sound.
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Post by andrewb February 19, 2007 (10 of 17)
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seth said:
Andrew:
Please post some timings of where you hear the sound.
Seth,
Please see my post 7 above.
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