Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major

As with Beethoven’s Op. 2 sonatas, the final work of his set of three Op. 10 sonatas, published in 1798, is the most imposing. It is also the most technically challenging and expressively imaginative, including an expansive slow movement that is an early example of the kind of sublime eloquence that marked Beethoven out from his contemporaries. The “Presto” first movement is a prime example of Beethoven’s ability to create a compelling drama from minimal material, in this case an opening idea that is essentially a descending and ascending scale, initially heard as pianissimo octaves rising to a sforzando pause. The second movement, “Largo e mesto” (“mesto” meaning sad) in D minor, was unprecedented in its sustained expression of desolation, its anguished speech-like intonations, sudden outbursts and dramatic silences. This is quite unlike anything in Haydn or Mozart, and looks forward to the music of Beethoven’s middle period. Out of such despair emerges the “Menuetto,” which grows more animated and frames a boisterous trio section. Finally, the closing rondo creeps in with comic hesitations, its opening three-note figure dominating proceedings right through to the capricious ending, the music dissolving into the ether.