Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-Flat Major

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7, completed in early 1797, was his longest piano sonata—and quite possibly the longest by anyone—until the “Hammerklavier” of 1818. Published with the title “Grand Sonata”, this work pushes the bounds of the genre beyond anything imagined by Haydn and Mozart. It was especially admired by Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny, who suggested that it should have been called “Appassionata”. In keeping with the work’s grand scale, there are four movements. The opening “Allegro molto e con brio” combines a majestic breadth with an irrepressibly energetic drive. And the ingenious economy of musical material, the whole movement springing from the features of the opening idea, is typical of Beethoven. The noble slow movement (“Largo, con gran espressione”), full of rhetorical pauses, is followed by a playful third movement (“Allegro”) that is part minuet, part scherzo. The tenderness of the “Rondo” finale is shattered by a stormy episode in C minor, although serenity returns; when in the coda the main theme slides into the remote key of E major, the effect is like an otherworldly echo.