Beethoven: Sonata in F major, Op. 54 | Boris Giltburg | Beethoven 32 project

Nestled between two titans – the Waldstein and the Appassionata – is an unusual, enigmatic two-movement work. Beethoven’s contemporaries and later generations of critics didn’t think much of it, and it remains seldom performed today. The Sonata was Beethoven’s first serious look at the possibilities of a two-movement form (if we disregard the two ‘for the drawer’ Sonatas, Op. 49), which he went on to explore in the increasingly poetic Opp. 78, 90 and finally 111. Here, the first movement itself (0:06) seems to contain, if not two separate movements, then certainly a clash of two very different worlds. On one hand a stately minuet, its dotted rhythm opening motif repeated in several registers over the keyboard, rich and warm in the bass, pure and crystalline in the soprano. On the other hand, an explosive cascade of double octave triplets, insistent almost to a point of parody or ridicule (1:01). The two elements alternate, shifting the balance of power throughout the movement. At first, the thunderous