Piano Sonata No.1 Op.2-1 - IV. Prestissimo

Description

The Prestissimo finale closes Op. 2 No. 1 by returning to the F minor of the first movement, ending the sonata in a fiercer mood than it began. For a set dedicated to Haydn, the writing here has already left the teacher's idiom behind; it is the start of a line that runs straight to the finale of the Appassionata, Op. 57, ten years later.

In F minor, the right hand's triplets roll on without pause while the left drives in loud chords against them. Only the middle section opens out, into A-flat major, where a calmer theme marked sempre piano e dolce appears — before the triplet current swallows it again and carries the movement to the end without slackening.

This is an advanced movement, and the difficulty is stamina rather than any single passage: keeping those triplets even for over four minutes. Find the speed at which they are genuinely level before pushing the tempo, and fit the left-hand chords precisely into that grid. How quietly the middle section is actually played decides much of the movement's shape.

Piano sonatas representative of the Classical and Romantic eras, including Beethoven's early works — substantial multi-movement pieces throughout.