Another from Beethoven’s “new path”, the “Waldstein” sonata, Opus 53.
We come to the “Waldstein” sonata, Opus 53, dedicated to one of Beethoven’s earliest patrons. When Beethoven departed Bonn for Vienna, it was Count von Waldstein, Privy Councillor to the Archbishop-Elector of Bonn, who forecast that Beethoven would “receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn”.
The sonata itself was described by one reviewer as being “full of strange whims and very difficult to perform”. A wonderful work of art, it exemplifies the “new path” in composition that Beethoven had determined to blaze. It’s performed here by Lucas Jussen. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]