Beethoven Rondo a Capriccio - Viewer Q&A

Beethoven s Rondo a Capriccio, Op. 129 "Rage Over a Lost Penny" Moritz Moszkowski s edition in the Public Domain has excellent fingering and is recommended. http://imslp.org/wiki/Rondo_a_capriccio,_Op.129_%28Beethoven,_Ludwig_van%29 Spoken dialogue as text: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ This viewer-request tutorial is for Karina, in California, USA. Karina has asked for tips on playing the Alberti bass section in Beethoven s Rondo a Capriccio, Op.129 also known as "Rage Over a Lost Penny". The bars in question are 124 to 153. To remind viewers of this piece, here are the opening bars ... (example) Karina writes: I m having some issues with Beethoven s Rondo a Capriccio, Op. 129 with the Alberti bass pattern found after the E Major key change. I have quite small hands and I find that my left hand is slow and exhausted after tackling this Alberti bass passage. Do you have any practice suggestions on how to work through this? For those also interested in playing the Rondo, Moritz Moszkowski s edition in the Public Domain is linked below - it has excellent fingering and is recommended. http://imslp.org/wiki/Rondo_a_capriccio,_Op.129_%28Beethoven,_Ludwig_van%29 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Domenico Alberti wasn t actually the first to use this usually left hand accompaniment pattern of notes arranged in the order low, high, middle high repeated, but he used it so much in his music, his name became associated with it. If an Alberti bass falls within an octave, which it usually does, it s comfortable to play. However in our Rondo, we have a 10th and also an 11th between the low and high notes, so we need to jump like lightning in both directions up and down, that is if we are playing at the usual fast tempo. It s one of those sections that can t really be played unless the elbow, forearm, wrist and fingers are totally relaxed while breathing smoothly - easier said than done as we all know. I ll suggest a way to practice this section which I hope you ll find helpful: Think of the lower bass note G is a keynote. It falls on the first strong beat of the bar so we we can give this G a rhythmical stress as we return to it with highly focused attention. Bunch up the rest of the notes as a chord and practice like this: (example) Be very aware of your 4th finger. If you wish you can hold the 4th finger in the pressed key a little longer than indicated. Resting the weight of your hand on this note can make it less tiring playing the notes around it. (example) The Alberti bass is in 3 sections, but only 2 are different as the 3rd part is a repeat of the first. so you can break them up like this and occasionally practice them independently. Rondo a Capriccio usually gets played at a very fast tempo in performance. Although "Rage Over a Lost Penny" is written on Beethoven s autograph manuscript, it s not in his handwriting, and is attributed to another. Nevertheless, most pianists take advantage of all the possibilities for a dramatic performance this title implies which makes it a fabulous piece to study and perform. Karina, good luck with this section and thanks for watching.