After the Pathétique, Beethoven’s more sedate Opus 14 piano sonatas might seem like a retreat. They are certainly more modest, intimate, less technically challenging, but they are less of a retreat than a contrast, emphasizing Beethoven’s refusal to follow a single path or mood.
The first movement of Piano Sonata 9 achieves an unexpected tension, but the highlight is really the second movement minor-key Allegretto in minuet-and-trio form. If taken slowly, it becomes quite poignant. The sonata concludes with what Charles Rosen calls an “amiable” Rondo.
#Beethoven250 Day 107
Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major (Opus 14, No. 1), 1798
Seemingly performing in near darkness, Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov discovers the magic in this sonata. His take on the middle-movement Allegretto is divine.
A few years later, Beethoven arranged his Piano Sonata No. 9 as a string quartet. Normally, he was opposed to adapting his piano music for other instruments, so his willingness for this piece suggests (at least to Lewis Lockwood) that it might have originated as a string quartet.