Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor

Beethoven was one of the most revered pianists of his generation, yet he was no conventional virtuoso. Whereas the prevailing tendency was toward sleight-of-hand pyrotechnical wizardry, Beethoven pummelled contemporary piano mechanisms to the point of implosion, leaving hapless assistants to pull free broken strings while he continued playing, apparently oblivious of the chaos around him. None of his other early piano sonatas captures the young lion in full flow with quite the blazing intensity of the “Pathétique” (Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13), one of the few colourful titles Beethoven actually sanctioned. Completed in 1798 and dedicated to one of his most valued patrons, Prince Karl Lichnowsky (1761-1814), the “Pathétique” had such early notoriety that it was rushed into print in Vienna and Leipzig. Beethoven throws down the gauntlet right at the start with a crashing C minor chord, followed by chains of tonally disruptive diminished chords that raise the curtain on a storm-tossed musical landscape. The central “Adagio cantabile” provides a songful oasis of calm before the rondo finale returns us to a hectoring C minor, only this time with a curious touch of playful whimsy.