This sonata was one of my choices for the sonata selection for ARCT. It was pretty much between this one, and the Pathetique. Unfortunately, with my teacher, Pathetique obviously won. And the reason was quite simple - that one, is so much easier.
But I've always liked this sonata. It's not that well known, it's super hard, but I think it's very fun to play with, and it sounds incredibly grand.
That, and kind of typical of Beethoven, it does not follow the typical sonata structure. In this one, The first movement is the relatively 'slow' one. The second movement is atypically fast, with a smoother middle section. Then, there's this tiny, I guess we could call it the 3rd movement, or some inbetween movement thing that leads right into the final, monstrous final movement. Despite it's monstrosity, I love this movement...
There's just so much play around with. (In terms of play, you're still following the music, but the way he wrote it and everything, it's just so interesting/fun to read and play.) That, and the second movement's awesome sounding too. The first one... I'm not a very big fan of that.
Here's a version of it, played by the Maestro Barenboim. It's fantastic. (Split into three parts, because it's too epic for youtube, though not split by movement)
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DD: Alexander the Great
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