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Beethoven's Moonlight - orchestra by Beethoven arr. Tony Matthews

One of the most popular piano works, by Beethoven, realised for orchestra in orchestral terms.

This piece is conceived as an attempt not to make the orchestra convey the piano experience, but to convey a realisation of the work for the orchestra on orchestral terms as if it had been originally written for orchestra.

Occasionally, advantage is taken of having more than two hands available, so where a straight piano transcription would sound thin, the textures have been ... (more)

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All Reviews

There are 5 reviews for this score

WOW!
Oh boy this really is great!!! I'm sure, even Beethoven would have loved it!!! Keep up the wonderful work... :)

ICanFly IWillFly

Excellent!
This arrangement is superb! I found it to have all the emotion of the original. The triplets' alternation in the first movement between instruments is quite interesting, and so is the use of pizzicato in the second movement, and though the third movement is virtually unplayable, it is still as good as the rest of the sonata.

Luke Waddell

AAAH!!! Love it!!!
Nothing else needed to say. Absolutely perfect. Could not be exectued better by anyone. Wonderful!!! Actually, I will have to say more, because I "must write a longer review". I particularly enjoyed the end of the 3rd movement. This is my favourite part of the whole sonata, and was executed perfectly. A good balance of melody between strings and wind - often either the strings or the winds are given the melody, and the other left to suffer with particularly tedious parts, but this piece incorporates both extremely well. Well done!

Christina Reid

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WOW!!! A MUST FOR ALL ORCHESTRAS!!!
WOW!!! AMAZING!!! SPECTACULAR!!! INVENTIVE!!! This arrangement is sooo good!!! Yes, you have definetley thickened the textures of this ever popular Beethoven Piano Sonata. I listened especially to the 3rd movement (Which is my Favourite, and which I am going to rewiew) And I thought that that would sound best for the orchestra, and I was right. The Effective use of the brass and timpani really added emphasis to the sonata, and I also liked the way that you didn't have all the string instruments playing at once. This arrangement is far better than Beethoven's original and you are probably the first person to arrange it good! I'm surprised that it hasn't been performed in orchestras before this arrangement, which most of us think have, but they haven't. $15.95 is definetly worth the price for this amazing orchestral score! You should honestly consider uploading Instrumental parts, but nevertheless you have been very inventive, and It has obviously taken you a LOT of time to arrange this! Bring us More!!!

Moonlight Marvel!
Three cheers for Mr Matthews and his painstakingly detailed arrangement of Beethoven's Moonlight! This has always been one of my favorite piano piece to play so I approached this arrangement with a bit of skepticism--would it really live up to my expectations? But, oh! it did! It was captivating! What did I like about this arrangement? Well, I could go on and on, but a few highlights: I liked how the timpani was added to give emphasis and almost a counterpunctual rhythm in places. In the second part of the second movement, I loved the low brass rendition, it brought images of dancing hippos to my mind. In the third movement, the 32nd note runs where handled very well--not a straight transcription but a fine adaptation of the piano part to the orchetral medium. And as highlight to the final?, Mr Matthews inserted a measure #398, led off by low strings, bassoon and timpani. I felt this was a stroke of genius--it really set the stage for the dramatic conclusion to this sonata. So, in short, I loved it. I would have loved a version of this when I was in high school band/orchestra. Of course, the third movement is probably beyond many student orchestras--just as the third movement is beyond many pianists. Yet, I would call attention to the first & second movements of this fine arrangement. It would be smiles to many in the audience and in the orchestra! Kudos, Mr Matthews!

David Benning

Associated Scores

Turkish Sonata (1st Movement) by W.A.Mozart arr. Tony Matthews

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