BEETHOVEN Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major (Op. 69) Score

"Ludwig van Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 was written in 1808, during his middle period. The sonata was composed in the same year as the Piano Trios Op. 70 and the Choral Fantasy, and the same year the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, which were begun earlier, premiered. It was first performed in March 1809 by cellist Nikolaus Kraft and pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, and dedicated to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, who was a cellist himself.

In the course of his life, Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano. The Op. 69 was the first he had written since his Op. 5 over a decade earlier. Mark Kaplan writes: "In general, the writing in op. 69 is thinner than in the early cello sonatas ... greater compositional technique allowed Beethoven the possibility of using fewer notes with confidence." The contemporary cellist Steven Isserlis describes it as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance."
Wikipedia 2020

Performed by Mischa Maisky and Martha Argerich

Allegro ma non tanto - 00:05
Scherzo. Allegro molto - 12:44
Adagio cantabile - 17:44
Allegro vivace - 19:43