Fidelia - Beethoven - Sonata No. 13 in Eb/E Flat Major, Op. 27 No. 1

On-Campus Recital 23 May 2025. The first piece of my lengthy Junior Recital series. 0:00 I. Andante - Allegro - Andante 5:15 II. Allegro molto e vivace 6:55 III. Adagio con espressionisme 9:32 IV. Allegro vivace ~ As Beethoven, the legend who brought wonders to music which would lead to the Romantic movement in the 19th century, wanders the unknown, he began to explore highly unique alternatives that derived from the standard sonata compositional procedure, a practice that had been followed by many of his peers in the 18th century. Also known as “Sonata quasi una fantasia” (Sonata in a Fantasia manner), his “quasi una fantasia” works are often characterized with the recently introduced “attacca”, whose movements are to be played without pause. Despite the extreme contrasts of the movements, the use of attacca play and cyclic return of previous themes, bring forth the wholeness of the piece. The movements in question, are also outside the typical fashion of the classical sonatas at the time; introduced by a slow movement highly unlike the sonata form, followed by an energetic scherzo and slow, lyrical movements in an inverted order, before finally bursting into a presto ending. This unique sonata then, categorized as one of Beethoven’s “early sonatas”, is one that undoubtedly led him into a deeper exploration of many unconventional composition techniques used in his “middle and late sonatas”. ~ #classical #piano #beethoven #classicalmusic #pianocover #performance