Beethoven: Sonata No.3 in C Major, Op.2 No.3 (Jumppanen, Biret)

The third of the Op.2 Sonatas is the virtuoso showpiece of the set: it’s brilliant, extroverted, and gently humorous, filled with striking, motivic themes of the sort that are easily bent to developmental treatment. Its textures are distinctly concertante in nature: there are many passages that mimic orchestral tutti (0:19) or quartets (1:10), and there are Emperor-concerto-esque cadenzas at two points in the first movement (4:51; 8:00). The humour can be broad, as at 4:10 and 8:43, or subtle, as in the opening run of the 4th movement, the dissonances in the 3rd, or the false D major recapitulation and sudden harmonic changes in the 1st. Also notable about this sonata is the diversity of textures and figuration it contains: the 1st movement is symphonic, the 2nd Bachian (10:27), the 3rd delicate, with biting accents, and the 4th alternately impish and lyrical. MVT I, Allegro con brio 00:00 – Theme Group 1, Theme 1. The first 2 measures contain M1 in RH 00:19 – Theme Group 1, Theme 2. Like an orch