With the same dream-like immediacy of transition, we find ourselves in the relatively distant key of A flat major (linked to C major by the single common note, C). A beautiful middle section, repeated twice, serves as a point of calm, but can only delay the inevitable return of the storm and the final collapse. ‘A long aria’, one could say of the big opening phrase – but it’s written in pianissimo, and as such, appears to us as if in a dream, or through a softening mist, an inspired effect. Bach: Book 2 – Trinity VIII-XVI, On the Cantatas of J.S. With a bright spotlight shining (literally and figuratively) on nothing but these 5 concerti, every musical phrase, every cadenza, every slow movement, every coda became somehow more – more lyrical, more fiery, more personal, more fulfilling and more demanding. The finale (10:08) brings us sheer fun, a precisely controlled mayhem spun out of a pecking motif based on repeating notes. 53, known as ‘Waldstein’, after its dedicatee, Count von Waldstein, a close friend and early patron of Beethoven. One can imagine Beethoven proclaiming with happy self-assuredness: "look what I can do at the piano, no holds barred!" American musicologist Richard Taruskin, in his massive but marvellous Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (2010), gives an extensive discussion of Op. Perhaps, though, dubbing Op. 31 is less certain. I was offered the chance to play it as a teenager; I read through it briefly, decided with typical teenage cockiness that it wasn’t ‘that awesome’, and asked to play Sonata No. The structural innovation is easy to point out: out of the Sonata’s four movements, none are in actual sonata form. The dynamics are sharply contrasting, the tempo is very fast, and special effects (like the timpani tremolo imitation at 1:38) add to the turbulent, unsettling atmosphere. 111 will be released on New Year’s day 2021. Op. A middle movement of exquisite, fragile beauty, and a dark whirlwind of a finale with its rage and despair strengthened the impact that much more. 5 and 6. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. And adds that this sonata is “one of the wonders of mankind.” It moves, and moves one, in a kind of exaltation, to borrow the word from Anton Kuerti. 2), a ‘grand piano concerto’ (No. The next one to follow, No. The high point for me was No. 10, and before the Pathétique. A freshness emanates from the opening of the ‘Pastoral’ Sonata; its pulsing bass is akin to a beating heart, bearing the promise of a continuous, unstoppable flow. (On this day 249 years ago Ludwig van Beethoven was baptised. 2 (0:04) is the only one where a certain uneventfulness could perhaps be reproached, but Beethoven imbues even such a respectable, dependable Allegro with elegance and a refined sparkle. The repeats of the refrain (five in number!) An absolute masterpiece in its own right. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato 2. 17. Beethoven himself thought very highly of the work, and perhaps it is only in hindsight and through the lens of our own sensibilities that we find the sonata falling somewhat short of Beethoven’s greatest works. This music for me is both an embodiment of loss, despair and resignation and a show of great empathy from Beethoven to those who have experienced these emotions. But the evocative power of the music, its heightened sensitivity show Beethoven’s unstoppable growth as an artist. 14 – the utterly lovely, fresh, charming couple of short sonatas, are not just an antithesis but an antidote to the Pathétique, as if Beethoven needed to cleanse his spirit with limpid tones after the extreme dark intensity of the preceding sonata. A bravura first movement, overflowing with effervescent energy and good-natured humour, presents an abundance of melodies and motives. 32 in C minor, Op. Last week I played all 5 Beethoven concerti in Brussels, for the first time in my life as a concentrated series. Instead, Beethoven takes the last three notes – the musical equivalent of "that is all" – and builds an entire extended (and even somewhat dramatic) narrative around it. Not just the final results (though I know with a clear certainty there can be nothing final about these results – years of repeated exploration await), nor a list of listening guides or analyses, but that very intensity of feeling. See you in two days! The last two are famous f… Sonata No. It is akin to a pocket universe, where rules apply that might not apply elsewhere, and discovering and accepting these rules is a prerequisite to enjoyment. Daniel Barenboim performs Beethoven's Sonata No. On the factual side, we have filmed the first seven sonatas over the last 6 weeks. In short, it’s the antithesis of everything Beethoven created in the sonata so far. 10 No. In Beethoven’s later work, “the subjective and the conventional assumed a new relationship, conditioned by death.” Mann places great emphasis on the introduction of the C sharp in the transitional interlude between the fourth and fifth variations, as the interlude moves into E flat major until the start of the fifth variation. 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas.The work was written between 1821 and 1822. 17 and Sonata No. 7-11 – those that had been filmed before the lockdown – and will continue filming as soon as the situation allows. But in the very last bars the fundamental question of the movement reasserts itself, and all ends on weak beats. The instrument becomes ever more malleable in Beethoven’s hands, the colours and sonorities he conjures ever more lifelike and evocative, natural and almost self-evident, inescapable in their truthfulness. 12 in A flat major, Op. A development would upset this idyllic world, and Beethoven reduces it to a single chord (9:21) linking back to the reprise. He watched a few of the Beethoven 32 videos and offered to collaborate on some of the Beethoven scores we were filming. 111. Bach, Cantata 32, at Epiphany I – Longing and the Distress of Emptiness, J.S. 1. 22 is the grandest of the four in its scope, probably the most challenging one technically, but curiously also the most conservative in its spirit and musical language. Two other elements are in play: a hyperventilating motif made of short two-quaver groups, and a tremolo of triplets. Dreaminess suffuses the opening of Op. ), This year I will be intensely living through Beethoven’s 32 sonatas. 1 is likely to date from 1797 or early 1798, around the time of composition of the Sonatas, Op. The second theme is unexpectedly humorous, and just as unexpected are the premonition of the famous fate motif in the super-short development (16:19 – the 5th Symphony for a moment!) The ending achieves even greater heights of lyricism – surely among the most beautiful pages written by Beethoven. Until, without warning, the world explodes about us (15:39), launching the music (and us) into narrative and emotional turmoil. But any kind of upset expectation can be humorous, if the expectation is widely shared – as this one probably was at the time among the connoisseurs). It's the key of the Fifth Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto, the Coriolan Overture, the Pathétique, etc., etc. 10 No. He has known despair beyond any doubt, evident in his writing and some of his music. If one reads it without playing, the material seems almost primitive: series of broken triads, played with both hands in unison. And lest it all sound like damning with faint praise, for me these are magnificent examples of Beethoven dedicating the same love, care and thought to all of the sonatas, no matter whether intended as world-altering blockbusters, or as intimate and friendly musical utterances. Beethoven writes two doleful recitativo lines, both pianissimo, bathed in a single continuous pedal, allowing harmonies to cloud over – it’s an otherworldly sound, haunted and haunting (5:52). But then, I saw colleagues live-streaming from home, and the need to reach people with live music at this time, even if through a smartphone, became overwhelming. 13, but surely it has more than enough individuality to be loved for what it is, and not just as a precursor to a later work. The challenge of describing the opening theme exemplifies for me the complexity of feeling we’ll frequently encounter from now on. Read about Piano Sonata No. Therefore, I think it's most likely, as mentioned, that he fully intended the 2nd movement of Op. Here, the first movement itself (0:06) seems to contain, if not two separate movements, then certainly a clash of two very different worlds. The third movement is a lovely minuet, gentle and, apart from the more animated trio, carefree. Based on sketches in one of Beethoven’s notebooks, Sonata No. 11 was a closing, summarising chapter of Beethoven’s early sonatas, then Sonata No. 2, it's the third work of the sonatas Op. 20, perhaps another oblique indication that the early Sonata was not meant to be published. I still have two ‘old’ sonatas to share with you – Nos. The incongruous mismatch of the two elements strongly suggests an extra-musical narrative – but without any indication from Beethoven as to what it may be, it would have to remain open to our imaginations. ), and a more organic integration of virtuosity and music. 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