Beethoven: Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 | Boris Giltburg | Beethoven 32 project

We finally reach the conclusion of the journey. In strong contrast to the Hammerklavier, where the bulging, straining creative muscles are evident in every note, the last three sound like an uninhibited stream of inspiration, captured mid-flow by Beethoven and shaped and moulded by him until they appear to us as near-miraculous acts of effortless creation. The last three are completely at ease with themselves, reflecting not the struggles of a creative genius trying to unfetter himself from all convention, but the poetic utterances of a composer who has gone so far ahead of us that one cannot but feel awe facing these inimitable musical worlds, and gratitude at having been granted access to them. The variations that form the finale of Op. 111, are a single, continuous narrative. This movement is for me one of the greatest of Beethoven’s creations – all-encompassing, utterly beautiful and endlessly deep. The theme, belied by its name (Arietta – ‘a short aria’), is a prolonged slow melody, defined by its