Alice Sara Ott, piano

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 19
Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 30
Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight
Field Selection of Nocturnes  

‘The energy propelling her playing seems unstoppable.’ (The Guardian) Alice Sara Ott, an exciting and groundbreaking artist, performs three of Beethoven’s most distinctive Piano Sonatas – the deeply affecting 19th, the intimate and lyrical 30th, and the Moonlight, an awesome work, its calm middle movement between described by Liszt as a ‘flower between two abysses’. Interspersed with these, a selection of watercolour-delicate Nocturnes by the Irish composer John Field.

Did you know?

Beethoven wrote 32 mature sonatas, three others at the age of 13, and left another unfinished.

Moonlight was a later title added to his 14th Sonata when the poet Ludwig Rellstab said the first movement sounded like moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.

John Field was born in Dublin in 1782, his pianist father and organist grandfather both professional musicians.

He was taught by Tommaso Giordani and assisted Muzio Clementi in making and selling pianos.

Listen out for…

The G minor signature of Beethoven’s 19th Sonata – a rare accent in the composer’s music, the three ‘voices’ of its melancholy opening Andantes and the interplay between major and minor tones in its Rondo.

The vivid use of variations in the third movement of Sonata No. 30 that treating its theme to multiple re-workings.

The slow, hypnotic arpeggios that open the Moonlight Sonata – a daring departure from the norm.

The torrential cascade of notes in the finale, their unrelenting urgency and agitation testing sonata form to its limits. 

Presented by NCH