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Beethoven's most underrated piano sonata

18K views 54 replies 30 participants last post by  Animal the Drummer 
#1 ·
What piano sonata of Beethoven's do you think is the most underrated? For me, it is piano sonata no. 16 in G major. It seems like people don't tend to play that one as much. I think it is a shame, as it is one of my favorites.
 
#2 ·
Got an opus number for that? I refuse to look it up. When you talk 'underrated', it would be good to say who is doing the rating. If it's Joe Schmoe from Kokomo, he doesn't think much of Op. 2/2.
 
#5 ·
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79. I don't think it's a "great work", but I still love it in the same way I'd love something like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik:
I think that's a useful attitude; Beethoven didn't always have a point to make. The Opus 49s work fine as gentle entertainment, Op. 78 is mostly an excuse for a beer party.
 
#30 ·
The first movement of no. 31 in Ab major is strikingly beautful. That, combined with the fugue in the last movement makes it a glorious sonata that doesn't get the attention that it deserves.
 
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#31 ·
I agree with the OP that Op. 31 No. 1 is under-appreciated-so full of humour and charm. Especially the painfully long and over-ornamented second movement (a parody of Italian opera). It's very funny when performed with the tongue-in-cheek attitude Beethoven had when he wrote it. Then again, perhaps I'm biased since I play the work.

Oh, and I found this hilarious clip just today (they are working on a bit from the aformentioned sonata):

 
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#38 ·
I believe when someone says something is underrated, that simply means they like it more than most people tend to. Same for the overrated thing; they like it less than most people tend to. ;)

One that I really enjoy that does not seem to get as much attention as the others is the first one (Op. 2).
 
#42 · (Edited)
A lot of people pass over the Op. 54 because they don't "get it." I was in that group until I listened to Schiff's lecture on the sonata, available (with all the others) at The Guardian's site. Most incredibly highly recommended!

http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/page/0,,1943867,00.html

A comment from the Boston Globe about Schiff's playing of the Op. 54 and his lecture as well: "One revelation is his performance of the F-major Sonata, Opus 54, probably the most puzzling and least loved of the 32. Schiff's playing - slightly slower than usual and with great attention to detail - opened it up in a new way. Not surprisingly, his lecture on it is especially insightful."
 
#46 ·
As nobody I've even known seems to like it as much as I do and rarely at all seeing it mentioned here,...for me, it is the e-flat sonata no.18...which, as Xtreme mentioned above, has a name yet still never gets the love I feel it deserves. Main reason, I feel: Execution. Don't need to tell you who I think recorded it perfectly, and that is why I like it so much.
 
#48 ·
Op. 101 isn't very frequently performed. It's actually extremely difficult, and there are subtle technical tricks that get messy especially in the last movement, with fourths. As a matter of fact, I hear Richter went as far as to say once that the A major sonata was even more difficult than the Hammerklavier. Well, either way both are great sonatas and they're ridiculously difficult to play and interpret, which is why they're not performed so often.

Sometimes I wonder if for some of Beethoven's works, technical difficulty prevents a lot of performance and therefore popularity. I don't believe this can be the case for all of his underrated pieces.
 
#49 ·
A funny story. Beethoven was quite aware that the Op. 101 was difficult. He wrote to his publisher Steiner that it should be called the "Difficult-to-play Sonata," adding: "For what is difficult is also beautiful, good, great etc. Hence everyone will realize that this is the most lavish praise that can be given, since what is difficult makes one sweat."
 
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