Perhaps above all, what characterises much early Beethoven is the striking relationship the composer establishes between the over-arching form of the sonata and its middle, development section.
Traditionally governed by the regulations of a strict musical lexicon, the sonata's development section could be regarded as a rejection of formal boundaries, or, at the very least, could constitute a playful rebuff of the rules. And at one time the terminology for musical form even found a new way of saying "development", employing the phrase "fantasia section", presumably to try to capture some of the form's improvisational character.
This tendency is never more apparent in Beethoven's Sonata in C Major, op 2. Crucially, however, no matter how exciting and "free" the development sections sound in this work, they retain a strong sense of being grounded in a formal framework. And this effect is captured expertly by Alexander Kanchaveli, the young pianist who recently took third prize in the Beethoven Intercollegiate competition in London.
Kanchaveli clearly enjoys the Beethovenian musical palette; it seems to allow him to exploit his expressive tendencies within a tightly controlled environment. Furthermore, his technical proficiency gives him the freedom to play with the extremes of the instrument's dynamic capabilities. Kanchaveli presented a program of minimal fuss and followed the Sonata with Chopin's Ballade no 4 in F minor, op 52.
This piece, though at times wildly indulgent, again allowed Kanchaveli to construct an effective atmosphere of anticipation, and when he finally unleashed the climactic moments, they were, literally, floor-shudderingly good.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article