The Beethoven Sonatas and the Creative Experience

An interpreter searching for meaning, Kenneth Drake begins with Beethoven's expressive treatment of the keyboard -- the variations of touch, articulation, line, color, use of silence, and the pacing of musical ideas. He then analyzes individual sonatas, exploring motivic development, philosophic overtones, and technical demands. Hundreds of musical examples illustrate this exploration of emotional and interpretive implications of ""the 32"". Here musicians are encouraged to exercise intuition and independence of thought, complementing their performance skills with logical conclusions about ideas and relationships within the score.