Beethoven: Sonata No.27 in E Minor, Op.90 (Korstick, Biss, Lewis)

The Op.90 Sonata evades easy characterisation. It’s highly compressed, usually taking no more than 14 minutes to be performed in its entirety, and is constructed with incredible efficiency despite its thematic richness. The refrain of the second movement rondo is one of the most beautiful melodies Beethoven ever wrote, but the first movement is far more difficult to pin down – it’s certainly full of tension, but of a rather lonesome and despairing sort –it’s not menacing like the Appassionata or violent like the Op.111. Of particular note is the development section of the first movement, which is as short as it is ingenious, and the structure of the rondo (which typically is a little mysterious – it has elements of sonata form, and no-one knows if it’s really got a coda and where it begins if it does exist.)

MVT I, Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck (“With liveliness and with feeling and expression throughout”)
EXPOSITION
00:00 – Theme 1.1
00:10 – Theme 1.2
00:22 – Theme 1.3
00:40 – Transition
01:00 – Theme 2.1
01:12 – Theme 2.2 (Note the 10ths in the LH, which are notoriously awkward to play)
DEVELOPMENT
01:49 – Theme 1.1, with accompaniment from Theme 2.1
01:57 – Theme 1.1 continues, but with its link to Theme 1.3 more clearly displayed
02:06 – Theme 1.1’s rhythm, over a G pedal
02:18 – Theme 1.2 with added counterpoint
02:22 – The RH introduces decoration, while Theme 1.2 is relentlessly shortened until only its head is left, used sequentially: 2:29.
02:42 – The final bit of RH decoration is augmented and gradually revealed to be Theme 1.1, in a transitory passage of extraordinary efficiency – stuff like what happens at 2:52 was really unheard-of before this sonata
RECAPITULATION – 03:57
04:50 – As a sort-of coda Themes 1.1 and 1.3 are repeated as they are in the exposition, but Theme 1.2 is gone.

MVT II, Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen (“Not too swiftly and conveyed in a singing manner”)
THEME – 05:20 (E maj)
EPISODE 1 – 06:15 (C# min)
EPISODE 2 – 06:30 (B maj) [Note the relation to the theme, and the gently dissonant slow trill starting from 6:42]
EPISODE 3 – 07:02 (B maj)
THEME – 07:20 (E maj, with a long modulating tail)
EPISODE 3 / Quasi-development – 08:35 (C maj/C min/C# min/C# maj/E maj)
THEME / Quasi – recapitulation – 09:20 (E maj)
EPISODE 1 – 10:15 (C# min)
EPISODE 2 – 10:31 (E maj – viewed from a sonata-form schematic, we’re in the recapitulation, since the B theme – episodes 2/3 – is now presented in the tonic, rather than the original dominant)
EPISODE 3 – 11:02 (E maj, with an unexpected modulation to C at the end)
11:04 – Transition
CODA
11:54 – Theme, in lower registers
12:56 – Theme, compressed
13:14 – Theme
13:30 – EPILOGUE [It’s a pretty extraordinary passage, introducing some rather string-quartet-like 4-part writing, decelerating, accelerating, and then sneaking in an ending so unobtrusive you don’t quite notice it’s already here.]

Видео Beethoven: Sonata No.27 in E Minor, Op.90 (Korstick, Biss, Lewis) канала Ashish Xiangyi Kumar