[music] A couple of further points of interest in this exposition: the second theme doesn’t particularly provide a contrast of character, as second themes so often do – both are sort of nervy and driven. But it is a perfect riposte to the opening theme, in that it turns it literally upside down with this [music] turned into this [music] The six upward notes are now a downward plunge, and this [music] has become this [music] It’s so elegantly managed, though, that one can easily listen to the piece without even noticing; Beethoven doesn’t hit us over the head with his cleverness. This second theme is in A-flat major, the relative major, as is traditional; to review, in a sonata in a major key, we would have gone to the dominant, [music] but as this sonata is in minor, the standard modulation is to the relative major. [music] But as it’s sitting over this E-flat pedal tone – that’s the term for a repeated bass note [music] – it doesn’t feel settled. Also, even though we are in the major, there are little suggestions of minor throughout, such as this one [music] so that the true arrival in the major really only happens at the very end of the exposition. [music] Beethoven hammers home the major, three times, with a sforzando on the first two [music] and finally a fortissimo on the last one. [music] This always used to surprise me, because honestly, the more intense, expressive harmony in the phrase is this one [music] But this is not, tension-release, tension-release, tension-release; it's doubt – affirmation, doubt – affirmation, doubt – AFFIRMATION. The affirmation that has been at least partially withheld until this very last moment. The development is formally rather conventional, and much in keeping with the anxious character that has been well-established in the exposition. We begin in A-flat major, where we left off, and after a long dominant (C, in this case), we finally make our way back to the tonic of F minor for the recapitulation. (Beethoven is a good boy, here.) And, as is typical, in this process, he uses all the main materials of the exposition. I’ll play just the start of the development: [music] You hear the first theme first [music] and then just the turn at the end of it [music] – just as he did at the beginning of the piece. And then he starts to work the second theme: [music] All very standard. There is one fascinating feature of this development, though. Towards the end, we have a long passage on the dominant, which seems destined to take us back home. [music] But instead of taking us back home [music] it leads to this fantastic digression, honestly the most arresting moment in the whole piece. [music] The main thing about this passage is that it’s fantastic, with those haunting suspensions [music] But I’m struck by the fact that in this most distinctive moment of the piece, and a structurally important one, as it prepares the return, the only primary material he uses is this turn, which is not the opening theme, but just the tail end of it. Once again, just as it was at the very beginning of the piece, his greatest interest is not on this conventional gesture, the Mannheim Rocket, but on what follows it. Few composers would see this [music] as fodder for any sort of development, but this is one of Beethoven’s most remarkable qualities: his materials don’t necessarily need to be beautiful, or even distinctive, to function as tools out of which he can create anything he wants. If Haydn was the composer with the most ideas, Beethoven was the most resourceful composer ever.