Beethoven Piano Sonatas / Rodrian

GO FILES Beethoven Piano Sonatas

I am making these midi files (Beethoven piano sonatas) available now (rather than later) because I have reached a point of diminishing returns in their editing. That is, theoretically the pieces can always come closer still to the way I think they ought to be interpreted--but not by so much that it justifies my spending all that much more effort on it. Although it was fun while it lasted, it's time to work on something else now.

This music may not be reproduced by any means without the expressed written permission of S. D. Rodrian... with the one exception that these Midi files may be freely distributed through the WWW as long as they are not modified in any way.

As a point of departure you must understand that I use the SoundBlaster AWE32 card (on a P.120 PC): This card comes with digitally sampled instruments. [I use Master Tracks Pro.]

On other software (provided the hardware is capable of digitally-sampled instruments), if you don't know how to avoid the FM banks of computer-generated instruments try the Midi Mapper (which might have been properly programmed with your card's wave table instruments).

These files are set to a minimum 'stereo' pan. The following set of 'controls' instructions are for the AWE32 card, but users of other cards may deduce the effect I'm after from them...

for the CREATIVE MIXER: set the Treble, Bass, and MIDI Volumes to their loudest possible settings. Then set MAIN VOLUME to play at your own paticular comfort level. NOTE that the note 'velocities' in these files are set to the loudest possible setting (whenever and wherever possible).
Set all right/left 'balances' as close as possible to the center.

The best thing you can do is download the latest AWE64 drivers awe64synthupgrade.zip and execute SETUPEX.EXE after you unzip it from the zip file.

for the AWE32 CONTROL PANEL: Use the Qsound (not Reverb and Chorus).

for the BOB (break-out box): Make sure all the controller 'boxes' (under the M's) are unchecked... Save this setting to the default.bob file if need be: When any box is 'checked' it interferes with the controller information sent by the midi files for proper playback.

FILES:
Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Piano Sonata is probably his best-known one, in large measure due to the way the 'accompaniment' overpowers the theme in its first movement (considering what a powerful theme it is). Certainly the middle movement is not much more than a graceful little dance. Although its concluding movement more than makes up for it, being one of the master's unquestioned masterpieces.

Beethoven's 'Pathetique' Piano Sonata was probably the most startling piece of music that Beethoven's contemporary audience heard. Up to then music had worked almost independently of its audience--and here it demands its undivided attention: The work is like a soliloquy directed straight at its listener, and, considering the lovely theme of its second movement... who can blame Beethoven for introducing such a call for attention in its opening movement?

More to come... LATER

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All Copyright (P) 1997 Mr. S. D. Rodrian (my uncle)
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