Beethoven – Cello Sonata in D, op 102 no 2

I heard some of this sonata a couple of months ago http://terrapinlistens2.blogspot.com/2008/07/beethoven-cello-sonata-in-d-op-102-no-2.html and had to listen to it again.

When I heard it before I didn’t hear any of the first movement, and the first time I heard it yesterday I thought how unremarkable it was for late Beethoven. That’s entirely relative of course: it’s still unmistakably Beethoven and therefore highly remarkable in absolute terms. On second hearing it is clear how much is packed into something less than 7 minutes long (and that includes an exposition repeat). The second movement is also great, but it somehow doesn’t feel like a late work. It’s the last movement which amazes: with obvious exceptions like the Grosse Fuge this sort of contrapuntal music isn’t the sort of thing you associate with Beethoven.

The performance (via Classic Cat) is of course nowhere near as good as the Rostropovitch-Richter one but it’s free so I’m not complaining. I’m tagging this as “classical” although my MP3 player is telling me it’s blues.