Favorite Works From Our Staff - Matt Murray
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If you have been reading Classical Music in (About) a Minute for a while, you probably know that the staff at M3 Creative Academy love classical music. So that you can get to know us better, the next few weeks will feature some of the favorite works of our excellent staff. Today, M3 Creative Academy’s owner, Matt Murray, will help you explore a work that greatly inspired him as a teenager.
The first piece I’d like to share with you is Beethoven’s piano sonata No. 8 in C minor, otherwise known as the “Pathétique.” I first came across this piece when I was in Junior High when my piano teacher assigned me the second movement of the sonata. She provided me with a photocopy, and I learned it as quickly as I could. By December of my 7th-grade year, I performed it at our studio recital, and I had listened to the full sonata countless times from my dad’s CD. I also asked for my own copies of Beethoven’s piano sonatas for Christmas. That year, my older sister bought me both volumes, and I began to sit with my scores and follow along as I listened to all of Beethoven’s sonatas.
In January, I brought the scores to my teacher and asked her to help me learn the first movement. She focused her studio on younger students and encouraged me to find another teacher to help me achieve my dreams of playing Beethoven. That Spring, I joined another studio and began to learn many great classical works. By the end of high school, I had learned the first movement. Finally, in my last semester of college, I learned and performed the third movement having completed the sonata.
Even to this day, I love Sonata Pathétique. It reminds me of how inspired I was to pursue music, and when I was younger. Recently, for the first time, I was able to teach the second movement to a student. The sweet memories of my original performance came rushing back, and I was once again experiencing this great work with fresh ears.
