Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major

There’s an intriguing mixture of the old and the new in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 11. The large-scale four-movement structure of this work, composed between 1799 and 1800, appears, at least on the surface, to look backwards to the more Classical style of his first three piano sonatas. Moreover, some of the writing, especially in the first movement “Allegro” and the beautifully flowing “Rondo” finale, is reminiscent of Beethoven’s great predecessors, Haydn and Mozart. Another surprisingly retrospective feature comes in the third movement. Here, instead of his customary driving scherzo, Beethoven writes an old-fashioned, graceful “Menuetto”, although this material frames a stormy middle section which is far removed from conventional 18th-century courtly elegance. The most forward-looking music comes in the remarkable second movement “Adagio con molto espressione”, its wonderfully ornate and passionate right-hand melody exploiting the piano’s singing tone in a manner which foreshadows Chopin’s Nocturnes.