Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F Major Op. 54: Piano: Instrumental

Bookended by two famous sonatas the Waldstein op. 53 and the Appassionata op. 57 the F-major Sonata op. 54 has always lived in the shadows regrettably. In this first large-scale two-movement sonata Beethoven experiments with striking character contrasts in the first movement and a virtuosic perpetuum mobile duet in the second. In both interpretation and mastery of technical difficulties this sonata therefore poses a considerable challenge for pianists and might have been avoided for this reason as well. The sonata shares the fate of many early works by Beethoven in one respect: no autograph exists. Murray Perahia and Norbert Gertsch have thus only been able to examinean original edition as a source for their new edition. As always with the new editions of Beethoven sonatas from Henle Maestro Perahia also provides the fingerings and his own commentary on the meaning of this sonata. Bookended by two famous sonatas the Waldstein op. 53 and the Appassionata op. 57 the F-major Sonata op. 54 has always lived in the shadows regrettably. In this first large-scale two-movement sonata Beethoven experiments with striking character contrasts in the first movement and a virtuosic perpetuum mobile duet in the second. In both interpretation and mastery of technical difficulties this sonata therefore poses a considerable challenge for pianists and might have been avoided for this reason as well. The sonata shares the fate of many early works by Beethoven in one respect: no autograph exists. Murray Perahia and Norbert Gertsch have thus only been able to examinean original edition as a source for their new edition. As always with the new editions of Beethoven sonatas from Henle Maestro Perahia also provides the fingerings and his own commentary on the meaning of this sonata.