Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonata op. 53

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C major op. 53, known as the Waldstein Sonata, is one of the highlights of all piano music. The large-scale work was originally far more expansive with its extensive Andante middle movement, so that Beethoven finally decided to replace the Andante with a relatively short Adagio introduction to the Rondo finale. In addition to the Waldstein Sonata in its definitive version, the new edition also includes the original middle movement, which Beethoven published separately and later called Andante favori (WoO 57). It may seem appealing to play the sonata in this early version and discover the unprecedented dimensions to which Beethoven had pushed the piano sonata genre. Alternatively, it may be appealing to combine the final version of the Waldstein Sonata with the Andante favori as a single piece in one and the same piano recital. The edition is essentially based on the autograph and first edition as well as Haslinger's complete edition, which is significant in detail. Nils Franke's notes on interpretation draw attention to the time of the work's composition and its earliest reception, thus casting a critical light on all-too-familiar performance conventions.