Beethoven: Sonata in G Minor, No. 1 ( Biret, Lewis)

B. s two sonatas (really sonatinas) are misnumbered: they were written at around the same time as the 3rd and 4th sonatas, but were published a lot later because B. never intended that they be published (weve got his brother to thank that these sonatas are known at all. ) Both sonatas are small, twomovement, unassuming pieces, unabashedly classical in style, and constructed rather straightforwardly for (in all likelihood) some of B. s friends (or their children). Which is not to say they are not wonderful pieces. The 19th sonata has a particularly moving first movement, with a starkly doleful first theme and a lyrical second. The second movement is struck through with little dashes of humour, starting from its rather long upbeat. And though it is not a radically new or innovative, the 19th perfectly written for what it is: an example of the classical twomovement form, concise, graceful, with a naturalness of expression that only the greatest classical composers ever achieved. MVT I, Anda