Local News in Brief : All of Beethoven’s Sonatas in 10 Hours

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 32 piano sonatas over a span of 27 years.

Robert Haag plans to play them all in 10 hours from memory Saturday at El Camino College in Torrance.

“The world won’t collapse over my doing this, but it will be fun,” said Haag, a concert pianist and dean at the college who has been playing the sonatas for 25 years--but never before at one sitting.

While piano marathons are not new--the world’s record of 1,218 hours was set in Australia in 1982--Haag believes his keyboard marathon will be a first for the Beethoven piano works.

“They were done three or four years ago in New York, but in two segments,” he said.

The musical stunt has a practical purpose. Not only will Haag season the college’s new, nine-foot Steinway concert grand, but he hopes to recoup the $40,000 price from people who pledge money to hear the music.