Beethoven: Sonata No.18 in E flat major, Op.31 No.3 | Boris Giltburg | Beethoven 32 project

The two previous trilogies in Beethoven’s sonata cycle – the three sonatas, Op. 2 and the three sonatas, Op. 10 – both had the third sonata in the group as their focal point and climax. Whether this is the case in our Op. 31 is less certain. On the one hand, Sonata No. 18 is the only one in the opus to be written in four movements, like most of Beethoven’s Grandes Sonates (Opp. 7, 22, 26 and 28). On the other, the Sonata is so easy-going, so light-spirited, so full of sunshine, that it feels much more like a release after Tempest’s dark tension than a further intensification.

I must admit there is very little I can write about the sonata – if ever there was a case where the music speaks fully for itself, this is it. Whatever unusualness it does have can be summed up in two points: a) it begins with a dissonant chord; and b) it has no slow movement, containing instead a Scherzo and a Minuet. Contrasting with these (not very major) points is the wonderful openness of character of all four movements, the clarity of narrative and the unclouded mood reigning throughout. Good-natured humour is abundant, as is virtuosity – sparkling and polished in the first movement, pointed and even biting in the Scherzo, and blindingly blazing in the tarantella finale (the blaze is explicitly requested by Beethoven – the tempo marking for the finale is Presto con fuoco – ‘Presto with Fire’). The Minuet is a jewel among the other movements, replete with beauty and poetry.

All in all, this Sonata is a balm for the heart after the Tempest’s darkness and pain, and a respite for the mind after the complexities of Sonata No. 16. It is immensely loveable and an absolute joy to perform.

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Beethoven 32 – Over the course of 2020, I have learned and filmed all 32 Beethoven sonatas. Subscribe to this channel to follow the project, and visit https://beethoven32.com for blog posts and listening guides to each sonata.

Boris Giltburg, piano

Filmed by Stewart French © 2020 Fly On The Wall, London (http://fotw.london)
‪@FazioliPianos‬