Episode 26 – Piano Sonatas

As John reaches the half-way point of his series on the life of Beethoven, he spends the coming episodes focusing on different aspects of the great composer’s music - and he begins with the Piano Sonatas. John reveals which sonata Beethoven wrote whilst at his lowest ebb, and how it acquired the perfect name. He also plays the piece that Beethoven composed whilst in the midst of a court battle to gain sole custody of his brother’s son, and the epic sonata written by Beethoven that even the finest pianists say is almost impossible to play. Finally, John discovers how Beethoven incorporated jazz into one of his sonatas; so much so that world-renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida describes it as “boogie woogie”. All the Beethoven pieces featured in this podcast are taken from the 90-disc Naxos box set, the Complete Beethoven Edition. You can buy yours by heading to Presto Classical and Europadisc.