Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Nos. 9-16

Here are piano sonatas from 9 to 16.  This includes No. 14, the famous “Moonlight”.  There is a nice, thorough analysis of that sonata here at The Classical Music Blog (unfortunately the page hasn’t been updated in over a year with new material).

Beethoven’s “Moonlight sonata”, a name coined by German music critic Ludwig Rellstab after Beethoven’s death, is one of the most widely known classical music pieces, and has been since it was composed some 200 years ago.

But let us examine it more closely and look at the facts surrounding the piece, find past and future musical connections and, of course, compare and choose the best recordings of the sonata.

It is said that Beethoven was inspired to write the sonata while visiting Lake Balaton, located in Hungary.

The sonata, which is in three movements, as most sonatas of the classical period, is best known for the first movement, Adagio sostenuto (there are about 10 times as many recordings of it than there are of the whole piece).

The Sonatas:

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