Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 32 piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music. Hans von Bülow called them "The New Testament" of music (Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier being "The Old Testament").

Beethoven's piano sonatas came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces suited to concert hall performance. Being suitable for both private and public performance, Beethoven's sonatas form "a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall".

List of sonatas

Opus 2: Three Piano Sonatas (1795)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major

No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major

Opus 7: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major ("Grand Sonata") (1797)

Opus 10: Three Piano Sonatas (1798)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major

No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major

Opus 13: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ("Pathétique") (1798)

Opus 14: Two Piano Sonatas (1799)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major (Also arranged by the composer for String Quartet in F major (H 34) in 1801)

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major

Opus 22: Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major (1800)

Opus 26: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major ("Funeral March") (1801)

Opus 27: Two Piano Sonatas (1801)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major 'Sonata quasi una fantasia'

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor 'Sonata quasi una fantasia' ("Moonlight")

Opus 28: Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ("Pastoral") (1801)

Opus 31: Three Piano Sonatas (1802)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor ("Tempest")

No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major ("The Hunt")

Opus 49: Two Piano Sonatas (1805)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major

Opus 53: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ("Waldstein") (1803)

WoO 57: Andante Favori — Original middle movement of the "Waldstein" sonata (1804)

Opus 54: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major (1804)

Opus 57: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ("Appassionata") (1805)

Opus 78: Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major ("A Thérèse") (1809)

Opus 79: Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major (1809)

Opus 81a: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major ("Les adieux/Das Lebewohl") (1810)

Opus 90: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor (1814)

Main article: Late piano sonatas (Beethoven)

Opus 101: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major (1816)

Opus 106: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major ("Hammerklavier") (1819)

Opus 109: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major (1820)

Opus 110: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major (1821)

Opus 111: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor (1822)

Performances and recordings

In a single concert cyclus, the whole 32 sonatas were first performed by Hans von Bülow. A number of other pianists have emulated this feat, including Artur Schnabel (the first since Bülow to play the complete cycle in concert from memory), Roger Woodward and Michael Houstoun, who has performed the full sonata cycle twice; first at the age of 40, and then 20 years later in 2013.[5] What makes Houstoun's an outstanding achievement is that in between those two cycles, he overcame focal hand dystonia.

The first pianist to make a complete recording was Artur Schnabel, who recorded them for EMI between 1932 and 1935. Other pianists to make complete recordings include Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wilhelm Backhaus, Daniel Barenboim, Malcolm Binns (on period pianos), Alfred Brendel, Annie Fischer, Richard Goode, Maria Grinberg, Friedrich Gulda, Jenő Jandó, Wilhelm Kempff, Paul Lewis, András Schiff, Russell Sherman, and Gerard Willems (the only pianist to do so using a Stuart & Sons piano). Emil Gilels also began to record the set but died before he could complete it.