The third of the Op.2 Sonatas is the virtuoso showpiece of the set: it’s brilliant, extroverted, and gently humorous, filled with striking, motivic themes of the sort that are easily bent to developmental treatment. Its textures are distinctly concertante in nature: there are many passages that mimic orchestral tutti (0:19) or quartets (1:10), and there are Emperor-concerto-esque cadenzas at two points in the first movement (4:51; 8:00). The humour can be broad, as at 4:10 and 8:43, or subtle, as in the opening run of the 4th movement, the dissonances in the 3rd, or the false D major recapitulation and sudden harmonic changes in the 1st. Also notable about this sonata is the diversity of textures and figuration it contains: the 1st movement is symphonic, the 2nd Bachian (10:27), the 3rd delicate, with biting accents, and the 4th alternately impish and lyrical.
MVT I, Allegro con brio
00:00 – Theme Group 1, Theme 1. The first 2 measures contain M1 in RH
00:19 – Theme Group 1, Theme 2. Like an orchestral tutti
00:31 – Theme Group 1, Theme 3
00:40 – Theme Group 2, Theme 1. G min/D min/A min
00:57 – Sequential move to G min
01:09 – Theme Group 2, Theme 2
01:32 – TG1, T2 interrupts, with new closing material
01:56 – Theme Group 2, Theme 3 (cadential theme), closing with broken octaves reminiscent of TG1, T2
DEVELOPMENT
04:39 – TG2, T3, moving into C min, F min, then reaches
04:51 – Cadenza beginning on dominant 7th of Eb. Bass rises by semitones, bringing us though remote harmonies
05:08 – TG1, T1 (in Ebb maj, but might as well call it D)
05:16 – Development of M1
05:40 – Dominant preparation, still using M1
RECAPITULATION
05:57 – TG1. At 6:10 the tail of M1 is developed in octaves with syncopation
06:32 – TG2
CODA
08:00 – Cadenza, moving from Ab to a C 6/4
08:38 – More development of M1, followed by typical cadential trill
08:46 – Return of TG1 T1. At 8:52 the tail of M1 is developed
09:14 – The movement ends using TG2 T3, much as the exposition did.
MVT II, Adagio
09:26 – Main Theme
10:27 – Episode, Theme 1
11:03 – Episode, Theme 2
11:36 – Episode T1, repeat
12:26 – Episode T2, repeat (preparation for return of MT)
12:57 – Main Theme
13:57 – Bridge with main theme in C maj
14:09 – Episode, T1
14:30 – Episode, T2
15:10 – Main Theme
16:13 – Coda
MVT III, Scherzo: allegro
16:57 – Scherzo, Strain 1
17:15 – Scherzo, Strain 2, ending with dominant preparation
17:29 – Scherzo, Strain 3, with codetta at 17:38
18:14 – Trio
18:47 – Scherzo
20:04 – Coda, with some delicious dissonances
MVT IV, Allegro assai
20:22 – Theme, with 3 main ideas: (a), a rising scale, (b), the rocking figure (F-E-F-E-D) immediately after, and (c), a rapid semiquaver theme
20:39 – Transition, using the main theme
20:48 – Episode 1. At 21:12 dominant preparation, ending with (a) in dialogue
21:23 – Theme
21:30 – Transition. (a)+(b) in bass, moving into (ii), then (iii). At 21:39 the initial RH accompaniment is developed in a way that recalls (a) and (b).
21:53 – Episode 2. The second strain enters at 22:09. The return of the first strain at 22:31 harmonically rapidly diverges from the original, before dominant preparation using the second strain is reached at 22:53, ending with quotations of (a)
23:04 – Theme. At 23:11 it looks like the modulation will be repeated, but now the theme stays firmly in the same key throughout.
23:36 – Episode 1, in C. A brief foray into C min is followed by a sequence which rises instead of falling as it did earlier.
24:14 – Theme/Coda. Theme enters in LH, beneath trill. (b) is repeated thrice.
24:22 – Chromatic descent based on (b), followed by rising figure and further scales = (a), then lengthy dominant trill which is doubled and tripled as (a) decorates
24:48 – Theme in A, then re-attempted in A min, diverted to dominant, then (a) in LH answered by RH.
