Editor: Murray Perahia, Norbert Gertsch
Fingering: Murray Perahia
Urtext Edition, paperbound
in preparation
revised edition
replaces HN 1308
Order no. HN 772 · ISMN 979-0-2018-0772-0
Level of difficulty (Piano): difficult (Level 6/7)
Beethoven’s three Piano sonatas op. 2 were the first works in this genre to which he gave an opus number, thus signalling to the music world the special importance that he assigned to them. He wrote them during his first years in Vienna and, along with his op. 1 piano trios, they helped to establish his reputation as one of the most significant composers of his time. These three sonatas – all of them small masterpieces – are arranged in ascending order of difficulty and virtuosity. At the heart of this A-major Sonata is the well-known, profound Largo appassionato movement, whose staccato bass line is reminiscent of double bass pizzicati. It stands in stark contrast to the nimble Rondo-Finale, whose theme returns each time with ever more elaborate arabesques. Murray Perahia’s fingerings have been tried and tested over several decades of performing these works, and offer a new approach to these milestones of the piano repertoire.