Andante con moto is a highly ambiguous term, depending on how you're looking at the andante itself: is it basically slow, or fast? It's 'going', so neither fast or slow. But how about the 'con moto'?? 'Reasonably going', is it faster or slower than an ordinary 'andante'? Same with the second movement of the Appassionata.

@@bernardwastiaux1920 it’s not as ambiguous as you think. We all know Andante is “walking tempo” and ‘con moto’ is literally translated as “with motion”....so I would have to say Andante con moto is “walking speed with motion” meaning not a slow walk, but obviously neither a fast walk or even a running tempo.

@@CarlBowlby I realise I was in mistake and stand corrected. The con moto should add some drive to the andante. Thank you so much for your reply.

@@bernardwastiaux1920 You’re welcome!

There must be an error on your side, piano agitato makes no sense, while poco agitato is a common indication.

@@Paroles_et_Musique well I guess the error then is with Barenreiter, who is usually very correct on all things.

@@Paroles_et_Musique It is in fact 'piano agitato", according to the two different scores I have at home. It makes a lot of sense, by the way: it means "piano and (but) restless". Logically, Mendelssohn would include the "piano" in the tempo indication because "agitato" is often associated with at least a mf nuance, and the piano is quite necessary to the effect of the piece. Also, it's common for tempo indications to address the character and sometimes (like here) the nuance of the piece. You're right, though, in that "piano agitato" is uncommon.

@@CarlBowlby Your Bärenreiter is right

+punkpoetry Ah, a typo...it happens sometimes. :)

I like Barenboim's versions. Maybe it's just because it's the one I'm most used to but I really like Perahia's.