The second of Beethoven’s two small Op.49 sonatas is a delicately playful and (though I don’t really like the word very much) aristocratic work. The first movement features an ultra-compressed development and two themes which are surprisingly well-bound together by via motivic linkages. The second movement, a menuet, is almost a small study in instrumental textures: the A section is written for a string section, B for woodwinds, and C for brass.

An interesting point is that the manuscript of this sonata contains no dynamic indications *at all*, with the exception of two pianissimos in the second movement. Pianists are really left to their own devices, and it is surprising that so many choose the same dynamic scheme. One definite point of divergence lies in the performance of the Menuet’s A section: some pianists (like both featured here) take the LH staccato (though if you listen closely enough you'll hear that they apply the staccato slightly differently), and some play it legato (Bavouzet being a good example).

MVT I – Allegro, ma non troppo
EXPOSITION
00:00 – Theme 1 (Note how the second idea of the theme at 0:23 is built from the triplet flourish that opens the sonata)
00:32 – Theme 2 (Note its linkage to Theme 1 via the use of a three-note stepwise motif heard in the second bar of the onata)
02:46 – DEVELOPMENT (Very short, freely integrating themes 1 & 2)
03:08 – RECAPITULATION

MVT II, Tempo di menuetto
04:42 – A section (Theme)
05:13 – B section (Episode 1)
05:53 – A section (Theme)
06:23 – C section (Episode 2)
06:52 – A section (theme)
07:23 – Coda

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