Piano Sonata No. 31 in A‑Flat Major

In 1820, Beethoven interrupted work on large-scale projects, including the Missa solemnis and the Ninth Symphony, to compose a final trilogy of piano sonatas, including the Piano Sonata in A-flat major Op. 110, the middle work of the three, published in 1822. After completing the previous sonata, Op. 109, Beethoven suffered a period of illness, and on recovering he began work on Op. 110 while also composing his final sonata, Op. 111. As in the other two sonatas, the work’s centre of gravity is its finale. The first movement "Moderato cantabile molto espressivo" is predominantly lyrical, while the second is a brief scherzo in F minor, its gritty humour characterised by disorientating syncopations, leaps and hand crossings. This segues into the finale, which is a weighty pairing of anguished arioso and consoling fugue. The operatic arioso, with a vocal-style recitative and songlike lament, leads to one of Beethoven’s most serene and Bach-like fugues, quite unlike the hard-driven, obsessive examples of the “Hammerklavier” Sonata or the Grosse Fuge for string quartet. The arioso returns with a faltering, almost spoken vocal quality that has the kind of visceral immediacy also found in the “Cavatina” from the String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major Op. 130, before a final treatment of the fugue, now upside down, which builds with glorious inevitability to an emphatic conclusion.