Beethoven: Sonata Op.111 No.32 in C Minor (Uchida)

Yes, okay, this praise is a little hackneyed, and there’s no shortage of wild-eyed gushing over this sonata, but this sonata is not just great but *profound* -- a staunchly (weirdly) unrepresentative apotheosis of the form. I’m not sure this sonata can be properly explained – as Wittgenstein said, mysteries are meant to be deepened, not explained, but I’ll try to point out some interesting features. In general, the sonata is strange because it’s in just two movements: the first a welter of surging darkness, the second sharply contrasting, but otherwise more or less beyond conventional description. No-one’s quite sure if Beethoven really meant to write a 3rd movement, but it’s true in any case that the sonata has a searching, hanging quality despite the straightforward dualism between the two movements (major/minor, fast/slow, harmonic agitation/harmonic stasis, angular/melodic, propulsive/static, terrestrial/divine.)

The allegro:

- The striking opening, about which probably more than enough has already been said.
- The profusion of diminished 7ths in the introduction, which has no apparently structural answer (cf the Pathetique) even though it is mirrored (possibly) in the development at: 6:09
- If you listen to Romantic fugues, you’ll can’t help but keep thinking that the texture of the entire movement is extremely fugal (see esp 5:50). Properly speaking, the dramatic tremolo leads into a fugal theme that is never realised, instead turning into a free-form canon. The entire work is characterised by this sort of deliberate incompleteness: notice how disjointed the two main motives of the movement are, and how they never really seem to get off the ground. (Hence the description you’ll keep encountering when reading about this movement: “struggle”.)
- Note how often Beethoven uses the dramatic device of placing the hands quite far apart when you wouldn’t expect this. For instance, if both hands are playing mirroring each other, they will be *two* octaves apart, so that there is an “unspoken” note between them (6:18, 6:56, 8:32).

The arietta (theme and variations):

- Something which almost everyone fails to notice is that this arietta begins on an upbeat. The melody proper does not begin with the C-G fall. Instead it begins E-F-D. (Try to keep this in mind as you go through the variations.)
- That being said, for a set of variations, this entire 2nd movement is marked by rather exalted strangeness.
- Consider the nature of the variations themselves. They do not wander into different keys. They do not change tempo (NB the “incorrect” time signatures, since Beethoven leaves out all the implied triplets). They contain no thematic transformation in the style of Liszt in his B minor sonata. They do not elaborate on portions on the theme (cf the Diabelli Variations). Instead, each variation is a model of structural minimalism (something totally weird to ascribe to Beethoven): it goes through the theme’s harmony exactly as first written, preserving the broad melodic contour, and all that changes is how much each beat is subdivided: each variation (roughly speaking) divides the beats in the previous variation into either 3 or 4. The extraordinary thing is how much the nature of the theme changes via this simple device: it starts out form something that’s serene in a rather static, glacial, quietly monumental sort of way (9:20), and then gains a berceuse-ish lilt (11:38), and then a bit of swing (13:58), and then erupts into ecstasy (15:56 - this sounds like boogie-woogie, and there’s nothing wrong with listening to it that way, but be aware that this rhythmic pattern is something that has grown naturally out of all that has come before, and that this is not supposed to sound light-hearted but brokenly propulsive, maybe even rapturous in a slightly painful way), and then becomes a set of muted pulses of colour (18:00, 19:16) strung within an ethereal halo (18:40, 19:56) – a whisper, really, that proves that major keys can do a lot more than be happy, and can in fact be very sad – and then becomes a heart-stoppingly generous, grateful chorale (23:30).
- This very straightforward variation structure is interrupted at one point and one point only, and that moment is (like many of the moments of structural breakdown in Beethoven’s last sonatas) utterly gorgeous – listen for those tiny dissonances at the peak of the implied LH melody (20:41) – and then utterly devastating (22:07). It features the only modulation in the movement.
- This is the basic thing about the movement: a simple, unpromising theme, developed via a simple, unpromising heuristic, producing something sublime. (I mean sublime not in the usual sense, but in the Shaftesbury + Burke sense – big enough to look unmade, unheroic, unpropelled by any sense of human craft or will, a bit scary.)

[alicecarli]

My dad died last summer. It was pneumonia, but fortunately for him and the family it was not covid, so we were able to be with him when they took off the bipap for the last time. We had hoped that we would be able to talk with him briefly (with the bipap on, he could understand what we were saying, but we could not hear his responses) but as soon as it was off, it was so hard for him to breathe that he could not talk. Instead he was gasping and groaning, and we could tell he was deeply afraid. I had my phone with me. My dad and I had often listened to this sonata together; he described it as the most sublime piece of music ever written. I had never used youtube on my phone before, but I asked my family if it was ok for me to try to find music to play, and everyone agreed. This performance was the one that came up on top of the list for this sonata, and I was able, by lucky chance, to navigate to the beginning of the Arietta. I put the phone to my dad's ear. He listened. He relaxed. He stopped groaning. He listened quietly as his breathing slowed and stopped. We all listened together until the end of the work. I will be forever grateful that this performance was accessible to me at that time.

[PentameronSV]

0:00 - 1st movement
9:20 - 2nd movement

[kevhynaleks]

So since 15:55 we could hear jazz/ragtime, than an unearthly metaphisical spheric music, than finally from 21:15 a perfect Schönberg-like disharmonic-monotonic 20th century style avantgarde. So we could hear everything 100-150 years before it appeared. Prophet Beethoven predicted the future of the music in 1822. Thank you Lord he existed on this planet!

[vt]

This last sonata Beethoven composed is so deep. Full of magic and beauty. I just have to listen again and again to appreciate more of the beauty.

[МатвейМещеряков-цф]

The ending of this sonata... Just the last 3 bars... I don't know why, but it's sooo heartbreaking for me to know that this is the ending to the last sonata of the great Beethoven. I'ts so pure and simple, yet so emotional and full of hope.

[beethovenlovedmozart]

All of his sonatas get more and more complex and difficult to play over time. He didnt suddenly become a better piano player 15 yesrs later when he was deaf. Once his hearing faded enough where he could no longer perform them, thats when we see a jump to extremely complex and some cases bizarre music. He could finally write everything based on complex math patterns and not have to worry about actually performing it. Win win for Beethoven in my opinion. At this point, he just wrote whatever he wanted and let someone else worry about playing it later. No other composer had that luxury.

[AshishXiangyiKumar]

Anyway: Uchida plays this beautifully, with extreme fidelity to every single one of Beethoven's instructions (note the crescendos and decrescendos). The contrapuntal textures are very clear, the bass clean and powerful, and the pianissimos, which are crucial to the whole 2nd movement, are handled with utmost delicacy. I think the reason why the 2nd movement here is the best I've heard is because Uchida is so familiar with Schubert -- there's a lot of the same sense of harmony needed to keep Schubert going, an awareness of large structures stretched out over long periods of time, that's needed to keep this sonata sounding coherent.

[LexWinchesterr]

15:55 holy.. this came in early, 100 years early. This is just truly ahead of it's time, it's incredible.

[Ultrazone]

This sonata represents the spirit of Beethoven, the struggle he faced through his life and the hope that guided him in his final years. It's a testament to humanity: a C minor sonata, struggling through the Allegro con brio, floating with the variations (which bear a lot of contrasts between light and darkness) and ending the cycle of the sonatas with a wonderful and hopeful C major chord. Masterpiece. This is why there's no need for a third movement: the message is already there and it is clear and bright as the sun.

[truBador]

Beethoven never lost it. He only got better. My hero.

[david_heartfeltmelodies]

The 2nd movement of this sonata is represented approximately every life stage just like the sims game series: theme are lullaby for babies, variation 1 when growing up to toddler and usually rolling around. Variation 2 is Child stage and more playful. The “Jazz” part is in teenage, which is the most energetic and exciting variation. Then the freedom door opens after low tremolo note, young adulthood stage are presenting in the high register notes, then which the key changes, probably witnessed parents death (especially the chromatic notes on the major second). Then with heavy and in pain, the fifth variation is in adulthood.
The trills lasting for 1-2 minutes are the elder stage and enjoy the very late life. Lastly, with main motive recalled, it peacefully died with C chord

[tbarrelier]

Mitsuko Uchida is peerless in this performance. The clarity of her playing supports the rigorous logic of Beethoven's musical architecture as she lets the score speak for itself. With this final sonata Beethoven equals anything previously written in terms of polyphonic complexity and dramatic grandeur. I am still amazed by this sonata even after hearing it dozens of times.

[vt]

This piece is a blessing from Beethoven for us to listen to. I can't describe how much I love it. The Arietta touches the deepest parts of my heart no other piece has done before.

[mystogan]

Finally! I'm finished listening and familiarizing all Beethoven Sonatas in 2 years. It's such an amazing journey to me. So many emotions I got from his music =>

Thank you Mr. Ashish for compiling this gems. I'm glad I discovered classical music <3

[michelbensadon]

From 18:40 to 21:00 I really believe this is not music created by a human. It comes from somewhere out in the universe. The genius is that Ludwig had access to that dimension even if for only a couple of minutes. Wow!

[shaveentissera]

My goodness!!! This piece is beyond excellent. The Arietta, beauty bought out of pure simplicity. Simple, yet tremendously complex in meaning, just honey for your ears. And let's not forget the exceptional pianist behind this amazing interpretation. Strong as an ox, and light as a feather where needed. Just.... no words to describe. I really hope non-classical music listeners stumble across this masterpiece, I'm quite certain that absolutely anyone can find this piece a mesmerising artefact left behind by Master of romanticism, the one and only Beethoven. This piece really helped me today, thanks a bunch. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!🙂

[herrbrahms]

23:30 When the key signature drops its flats mid-measure for the recapitulation variation, it always feels to me like chains have been broken, they fall to the ground, and the music soars into the sky.

[jordidewaard]

It's funny how I can listen to all Beethoven Sonatas almost daily and never be bored of it, yet I can't even imagine having to watch/listen to anything else other than Classical music for over 5 hours, let alone around 12 lol. All Sonatas have such a unique feeling to them it's so good. How much I would love to be able to play movements, let alone full Beethoven Sonata's one day. One day I'll get there and I'll play through all of them I swear :)

[christopherland]

Greatest composition ever. I love Bach, but this is exceptional. Beyond comprehension.

[jameseckert]

1:49-1:58 Whenever I see one of the portraits of the older Beethoven, the wild-haired scowling "Titan" this is the phrase that most often comes to my mind.