Mei-Ting, pianist's video: Beethoven Sonata in B-flat major Op 22 - COVID-19 Beethoven Cycle - Mei-Ting pianist

Welcome to Day 11 of the COVID-19 Beethoven Cycle! We have the grand sonata in B-flat major, Op. 22 today. There has been endless debates about the different periods of Beethoven’s life, the beginnings of Romantic Era and endings of Classical period, and the differences between them. I’ll get to that in the next few sonatas, but in my opinion, Op. 22 is the last Beethoven sonata of the classical period, and perhaps his greatest one. He takes the classical form, with all of its advances and trappings, and produces one of the finest examples of what it can do. The first movement is a brilliant movement in lieu of Haydn, but with plenty of Beethovenian legato and playfulness thrown in. The slow movement is in sonata form, and is already showing the structure and template for the incredible slow movement of the “Hammerklavier” sonata, composed 17 years later. The minuet movement is traditional and yet intrinsically Beethovenian, particularly it’s inner “minore” section, which is full of sturm und drang and honestly, a bit wild. Finally, the finale is beautiful, elegant, and brilliant, and typical of Beethoven, contains a fantastic coda. I cannot stress enough how brilliantly put together this sonata truly is. Now, you might think this is one of my favorite sonatas – it is not (although the difference between favorite and really liked is quite small in the 32!) – but I appreciate every little bit of nuance and craft that Beethoven was able to put into this sonata. Tomorrow, we will have the Op. 26, and many of the little “code words” I wrote today will make sense. I guess what I am saying is, “to be continued”! Thanks for watching, and hope you are all staying safe! 0:00 Introduction 0:11 First Movement 7:05 Second Movement 13:17 Third Movement 16:29 Fourth Movement