Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

I found Beethoven's music intimidating; I always have this image of a furious, wild-haired genius banging away at the keyboard as if it couldn't hold the immense power of his music. I just finished The World of the String Quartet offered by Curtis Institute of Music via Coursera; that was a very enlightening course so I was intrigued by Curtis' other offering on Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, delivered by the engaging Mr Biss who is an accomplished pianist in his own right. 

This course is an open course; ie no deadlines, free and it is updated with new material. I finished it 2 weeks ago and this week a new set of lectures were added. yippee! Well Beethoven's piano sonatas, as I've learned, is so immense; it was pleasant to delve deeper into the structure of the piece, the history and what makes the piece uniquely Beethoven's. 

I've gained a better appreciation of the genius in Beethoven's piano sonatas and I am reminded again of the sheer power and beauty evoked by the piano through these pieces. Mr Biss provides live presentation of the pieces plus his demeanor is so relaxed, I feel like my cool pianist friend is sharing great knowledge to me. 

 Check out Mr Biss' website here. The main reason why this course is so appealing is you have a specialist in Beethoven's piano sonatas break down the music for you, which is difficult for the layperson to do. I don't regret signing up for this course and I hope more lectures will be added in the future! :)

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