Cancelled – Music in the Round: Sheffield
Upper Chapel Norfolk Street, Sheffield, England, EnglandBeethoven Piano Sonata no. 27 in E minor, op. 90
Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 29 in B flat major, op. 106, Hammerklavier
Tim Horton has chosen two pieces that demonstrate why Beethoven remains the most enduringly brilliant composer above almost all others. The compact 27th Sonata has a gentle easiness to its character, in which the most earnest and beautiful melodies are carried along on a rippling flow of nimble fingerwork. Contrast that with the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, which from its explosive opening statement, sets out to explore the possibilities of the piano in a way that no composer had ever dared to attempt before.