I'm playing the Berg at a Music College audition next month, and have been listening to a couple of recordings of it for interest. Both recordings sound to me to be almost frantic where they speed up. Is this generally the way the piece is played? - I've been leaning more to the romantic style, and emphasizing the anguish, more than the pace?

Be very grateful for anyone's ideas.

Hi,

How interresting that you're doing the Berg sonata - I'm working on it too at the moment! I discovered it quite recently actually and have only heard Roland Pontinens recording so far.

In the big buildup around page 4-5, I too speed up a lot, in a "frantic" way - I think it is supposed to sound very desperate. In general, I want to bring out the accelerandos and tempo changes to give the piece a somewhat "unstable" feel in many parts. Would it be possible for you to upload your own version of this piece? if you have the equipment, of course.

I'm curious about how you deal with this incredibly detailed scores - do you do ALL of Bergs dynamic markings? Some of them are actually impossible to do on a piano (crescendo - diminuendo on a single note/chord, for instance) but I've been "experimenting with time" instead if you know what I mean.

Hi,

I've got a Naxos recording of Peter Hill playing it, and also recorded Steven Kovacevich playing it at the Proms afternoon concert. I don't actually think the Steven had really got to grips with it ie the accuracy was a bit out!

I'll see if I can figure out how to upload - but don't hold your breath!

I'm struggling with getting the balance right between speeding up, and not losing the shape/line of the piece. I'm trying to keep in touch with the anguish - but it's easy to lose it when I speed up too much. I'm also trying hard to put as much of Berg's dynamic markings in as possible. Yeah - I agree - a crescendo on a singly note! (I wonder if he was a string player?) I feel I have to make the effort, as he so clearly wrote them in, but like you, sometimes it's the general sense of what he wants, rather than the actual dynamics.

More or less finished the hurdle of memorizing, but concerned about my accuracy!

Berg sonata is amazing!
I never heard any recording of it, but I have the sheet music and I once read trough it. I love it. So many interesting ideas in it. I envy you that you play it.

I feel pretty much the same. I've had the tendency to do the accelerandos very sudden (more like sudden tempo changes, almost), and now it's difficult to change. I feel that I have to work on just a few bars for an hour before I get EVERYTHING out of it! (in some sections, at least)

Such a great piece of music. Memorization took me almost a week, but I feel like it is taking me forever to perfect it. There's always something that can be improved in this sonata, it's never good enough!