The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Vol. 3

Featuring

Jonathan Biss
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Compositional Technique

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 16, Op. 31 No. 1, explores musical humor, with its first movement revolving around the comedic inability of the two hands to play together.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in August 2013 at the Performing Arts Centre, Purchase College, State University of New York, using a Steinway & Sons piano.

Composer Biography

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 32 piano sonatas over 27 years, with this album featuring works from just four of those years.

Composition History

In 1801, the year the first two sonatas on this album were primarily written, Beethoven announced he would be taking a 'new path' in his conception of the sonata.

Cultural Impact

The finale of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 16, Op. 31 No. 1, was a crucial source of inspiration for Franz Schubert, who used it as a literal model for the finale of his A major Piano Sonata, D959.

Performer Biography

Pianist Jonathan Biss is recording the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas as part of a nine-year, nine-album project that began in 2011.

Compositional Technique

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15, Op. 28, features a remarkable passage in its first movement where an F sharp major chord is repeated for 28 consecutive measures, eliminating all other musical elements.