Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas [Paperback]

Robert Taub (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1574670719 | ISBN-13: 978-1574670714 | Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Acclaimed pianist Robert Taub offers the insights of a passionate musician who performs all 32 of Beethoven's well-loved piano sonatas in concert worldwide, bringing a "fresh perspective on Beethoven," as the New York Times put it. In this book, he shares his intimate understanding of these works with listeners and players alike. HARDCOVER.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For anyone who plays the piano, Beethoven's 32 sonatas loom as the mighty peak of the repertoire. Taub, a concert pianist who has played them all, gives a performer's-eye view of the experience. Taub sets the tone on the first page by declaring that pianists enter into "an implied moral contract" with the composer to understand and respect his intentions. What follows is a close, careful reading of every aspect of performance from fingering to tempo. Like Rosen, Taub does not follow the standard division of the sonatas, opting instead to describe them as "Epitomizing Classical Styles" (Op. 2-49), "Experimentation" (Op. 26-31), "Post-Heiligenstadt, Crossing the Rubicon" (Op. 53-57), "Compression, Homogeneity" (Op. 78-81a), and "Summation, Transcendence" (Op. 90-111). These are thoughtfully construed categories, but Taub is more persuasive when arguing that each sonata is unique, and the most fascinating part of the book for any performer is the division of the sonatas into nine distinctive programs (this reviewer finds the Tempest/Hammerklavier combination especially intriguing). Throughout, Taub is intelligent, informed, exhaustive (74 musical examples grace the text), and genial if sometimes a bit dry. Definitely a performer's guide (Rosen's study will probably work better for larger audiences), this is highly recommended for any library serving pianists, amateur or professional, who want to play Beethoven better. Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Pianist Robert Taub has performed throughout the United States, Europe, the Far East, and Latin America. From Merkin Concert Hall in New York and Kingston University in London to other venues worldwide, he continues to present the Beethoven piano sonata cycle regularly. His recordings of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas have been critically acclaimed, and Taub is renowned for his interpretations of contemporary music as well.

The Beethoven piano sonatas have been part of Taub’s life since the age of 8, when he ventured into Beethoven’s Opus 10 No. 1. Over the years he learned that the sonatas can be appreciated on many levels, and naturally he began to incorporate them into his concert repertoire. Taub’s Beethoven studies eventually resulted in his first performing all the sonatas as a cycle in Wolfensohn Hall at Princeton. His book Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas evolved from that performance and subsequent ones.

Taub served as the first artist-in-residence since T. S. Eliot at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, and was the first musician to hold the honor. Now he performs with leading orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

He also enjoys running, scuba diving, and restoring sports cars and motorcycles. In fact, the April 2001 issue of Classic Bike featured a motorcycle that he rebuilt. Taub resides in Princeton, NJ.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Amadeus Press (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574670719
• ISBN-13: 978-1574670714
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #761,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Beethoven, Ludwig
  • #71 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Piano Sonatas

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligence and Passion in Playing the Beethoven Sonatas, July 27, 2002

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas (Paperback)

The Introduction to Tovey's Edition of the Beethoven Sonatas begins: "The Pianoforte Sonatas of Beethoven must always be among the choicest possessions of all who love music and especially of those who make music their main object and study." Robert Taub is a performer and scholar -- he serves as artist-in-residence at Princeton University who has performed frequently and recorded the cycle of Beethoven's 32 sonatas. He has written an excellent if difficult book offering the insights of a performer into Beethoven's great music.

Taub's book will inevitably be compared with Charles Rosen's recent study "Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion." The books share many insights but are written from different perspectives. Rosen's work is broader and more historical in scope. Taub's book is the work of a concert pianist and it reflects, in sometimes a personal way, on how he learned the sonatas, how he interprets each of these remarkably individual works, and how he performs them. There is a great deal of detail on the technique of piano playing as applied to each sonata. We learn how Taub chooses his tempo, how he pedals, how he voices and emphasizes the notes in a chord, the decisions he makes in phrasing and in holding his fingers. We learn when and why he slows down and emphasizes a passage and when and why he strives to play a passage brilliantly.It is a work by a pianist which seems to me to be primarily for other pianists. although much that he says will be of interest to music listeners as well.

In learning and performing a complex work of music such as a Beethoven sonata, Taub tells us, a performer makes an implied moral contract with the composer. The contract requires the performer to delve into the music and to internalize it in order to understand what the composer wished to express. The performer effectively promises the composer to bring the music to life so that the audience may understand and be moved by the work -- so that the hearer may respond to and carry the music with him or her. For Taub the moral contract between performer and composer requires careful study of the score and -- particularly in the case of Beethoven -- a study of various editions of a particular work and of Beethoven's sketches, authographs, musical markings, and letters that cast light on how he conceived the work. The performer works with the composers intentions, for the work in its entirety as well as in part, to try to bring something of the power of the music to life. The music itself is inexhaustable and cannot be encompassed in any single performance or interpretation.

Instead of the traditional three-fold division of Beethoven's music, Taub offers a five-fold division of the sonatas. (Rosen offers a five-fold division as well but, interestingly it differs from Taub's) Taub's division of the sonatas is as follows: a). early classical, including the sonatas from opus 2 through opus 22 as well as the two sonatas of opus 49 (13 works); b). seven "experimental" sonatas, including opus 26 through the three works of opus 31; c) the three "post-Heilgenstadt" sonatas, opus 54, 54, 57; d) the three "compressed" sonatas, opus 78, 79, and 81a; and e) the final "transcendent" sonatas, opus 90, 101. 106, 109, 110, 111.

Following a discussion of general musical principles applicable to all the sonatas, Taub describes how he arranged them for performance of the cycle. This is probably the single most interesting part of the book. Taub decided against playing the sonatas simply by following the opus numbers but tried to arrange them thematically. I learned a great deal about Beethoven's sonatas simply from Taub's discussion of how he ordered them and from his discussion of how he chose the works he did for each individual program.

Taub's discussions of each individual sonata, in his nine programs, constitute the heart of the book. The discussions show, indeed, how Taub has thought of and internalized this music in trying to share it with his public. The discussion is fascinating as well in teaching how a performer works and learns. For those who attempt to play this music, as I do, there is a great deal to be learned from Taub's love for this music, his patience and his attention to musical detail. As Rosen did in his book, Taub spends a great deal of time in discussing Beethoven's opus 54 sonata (which lies between the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas) and which is little performed. But I feel that Taub's heart is mostly with the final "transcendental" sonatas -- opus 90, (which Taub I think properly groups with the last 5 even though this is not usually done) opus 101, opus 106 (the Hammerklavier), 109.110 and 111. There are some interesting details in the book -- we learn that Taub spent 8 years working on the Hammerklavier before venturing a public performance -- and that Benny Goodman once told Taub after a private performance of the Waldstein sonata that a performer who really wanted to play a work such as the Waldstein had to "make it his own". Wise advice and the reference to Benny Goodman makes it special.

This is a detailed, pianistic book on some of the greatest music ever composed.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For advanced music students and serious-minded pianists, June 3, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas (Paperback)

Playing The Beethoven Piano Sonatas by internationally renowned pianist Robert Taub, is compelling literature that analyzes the composition, performance, and emotion of Beethoven's famous and classic musical masterpieces in depth and detail. Written for advanced music students and serious-minded pianists, Playing The Beethoven Piano Sonatas also offers general advice for an ideal performance, as well as a wealth of "tips, tricks, and techniques" specific to numerous individual sonatas. Playing The Beethoven Piano Sonatas is very highly recommended reading for anyone with a fervent desire to perform Beethoven's great piano music to the best of their ability.