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Chamber music from Glasgow's RSNO Centre (1/4)

Recorded in early March 2020, pianist Steven Osborne performs Beethoven鈥檚 final piano sonatas to a live audience at the RSNO Centre in Glasgow.

Today鈥檚 lunchtime concert was recorded at the RSNO Centre in Glasgow, in early March 2020, with a live audience. Pianist Steven Osborne remarked from the stage, that 鈥榠f I had to pick one concert to play for the rest of my life, it would be this one鈥. These final two piano sonatas by Beethoven were written in the early 1820s and provoked the composer to remark that the piano was, 鈥榓fter all an unsatisfactory instrument鈥. He was pushing sonata form and the piano instrument of his time to the very limits. Pianist Alfred Brendel has described the finale of Beethoven鈥檚 Op 110 sonata thus, 鈥淚n a last euphoric effort, its conclusion reaches out beyond homophonic emancipation, throwing off the chains of music itself.鈥

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A flat major Op 110
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.32 in C minor Op 111

Steven Osborne 鈥 piano

Presented by Kate Molleson
Produced by Laura Metcalfe

55 minutes

Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No 31 in A flat major, Op 110

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No 32 in C minor, Op 111

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35b (I. Andante)

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Performer: Alina Ibragimova.
    • Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas & Five Melodies.
    • Hyperion.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35b (II. Lento, ma non troppo)

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Performer: Alina Ibragimova.
    • Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas & Five Melodies.
    • Hyperion.

Broadcast

  • Tue 23 Feb 2021 13:00