THE SONATA REVISITED (cont'd)
THE SONATA REVISITED

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hen playing this passage in G minor, the tendency is to try to incorporate the open D string into the fingering, seemingly at all costs, so that the following unwieldy combinations of shifts or string crossings result. Note that when playing the passage in A minor, with essentially the same fingering concept, the more satisfactory result is achieved.

In G minor:
In A minor:
Figure 8. A comparison of the fingering of the passages in different keys.

By going further and emulating the way in which the passage could be played on the arpeggione, it is possible to arrive at a fingering that is more facile.

Figure 9. A facile fingering that imitates the way in which the passage would be played on the arpeggione.

The same concept applies even more strikingly to the corresponding passage in the recapitulation.

The following passage from the development section is another example of how reliance on the open top string for ease of execution produces results that are contrary to the way the passage would have been executed on the arpeggione, not to mention often musically unfortunate.

Figure 10. Use of the open string in mm. 88 and 90 often produces unsatisfactory results—non-legato execution of the slur and unwanted accents.

 

Figure 11. In the corresponding passage in A minor, note that the repeated As in mm. 88 and 90 would not have been an open string on the arpeggione. Schubert undoubtedly composed this passage, and all occurrences of the motive from which it was derived, to be played on adjacent strings.

The issues detailed so far concerning passages in the first movement also apply to the corresponding phrases in the development section.

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