Description

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C major op. 53, called the Waldstein Sonata, is one of the highlights of all piano music. The large-scale work was originally even more expansive with its extensive Andante middle movement, so that Beethoven eventually 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 brings the original middle movement, published separately by Beethoven and later called Andante favori (WoO 57). It may seem attractive to play the sonata in this early version and discover the unprecedented dimensions to which Beethoven had advanced the genre of the piano sonata. 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 printing as well as Haslinger's complete edition, which is significant in detail. Nils Franke's interpretative notes draw attention to the time of the work's composition and to its earliest reception, thus casting a critical light on all-too-familiar performance conventions.
Instrumentation:
piano
op. 53
WoO 57