Piano Sonata in c-sharp, Op. 27/2

Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas remain one of the greatest treasuries in music. From teaching vehicles to piano competition staples to bedrock of any serious classical CD collection, these sonatas span Beethoven's earliest and latest published music, providing an unparalleled window into his artistic development. Several of the most famous have been given descriptive epithets—not by the composer himself, but by market-savvy publishers or critics: Pathetique, Appassionata, Tempest. Tonight we hear the popular Moonlight Sonata, so-called because the rippling arpeggios of the opening movement suggested moonlight on water to German critic Ludwig Rellstab, writing in 1832.
Beyond its title, the work is remarkable for the hypnotic rhythm and slow tempo of its first movement. This Adagio was such a hit in Beethoven’s own day that he was heard to comment, “Surely I’ve written better things.” Since convention called for a fast opening, Beethoven's departure helps explain the work's official designation: Sonata quasi una fantasia. A bright middle movement provides brief respite from the darker key of the outer movements. The galloping finale is one of Beethoven's finest, capping a powerfully end-oriented composition. The arpeggio texture unifies first and last movements, but where the former is measured and lyric, the latter comes on like gangbusters. Tonight we have the pleasure of hearing Beethoven’s music performed on the kind of fortepiano for which it was originally conceived.

(c) Jason Stell