Of the 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven, the #31 is my favorite, and today you have an opportunity to listen to this music again.
Composed in 1821, the Opus 110 shares the same humanity and other-worldly atmosphere of its neighbors, Opus 109 and Opus 111. In fact, the first movement is a close cousin of Op. 109: both display a warm lyricism and tenderness. It is also remarkably compact – some 19 minutes in length.
The Sonata is a distillation of ideas of compelling meaning and profound expression by a composer who has all but rejected the rules of classical sonata form. Indeed, in the hands of certain performers, it opens out like a fantasy, improvisatory and constantly intriguing and challenging.
Here too, Beethoven returns to Bach and the Baroque, especially in the final two movements.
Here is Seong-Jin Cho to play this music for you:
