Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor

The Cello Sonata No. 2 was composed, like the First, in 1796, and is also dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. Broadly speaking, its formal outlines are the same: a very big first movement with a substantial slow introduction, which could almost be a movement in its own right, followed by a vigorous finale. But the character is quite different. Where the Cello Sonata No. 1 evolved confidently and for the most part good-naturedly, the Second’s emotional landscape is much more volatile: stormy at times, and introducing an element of fantasy, especially in the first movement’s quasi-Baroque introduction. Music like this reminds us that as a pianist Beethoven was a great improviser, and sometimes that impulsive flexibility can be felt in his written-out works, too. After the darkly impassioned minor-key first movement, the switch to major-key fun and games in the finale might be disconcerting. But Beethoven loved this kind of extreme contrast, and taken on its own terms it can be wonderfully entertaining.