Beethoven: Complete Music for Piano and Violoncello

András Schiff recently observed that Beethoven's five sonatas for piano and cello follow a similar developmental trajectory to his 32 piano sonatas. The two sonatas from Opus 5 showcase the young, passionate Beethoven. The Sonata in A major, Opus 69, places him at the midpoint of his career, while the two works of Opus 102 already point toward the threshold of his late style. These latter sonatas are considered both experimental and fully realized. Schiff and Miklós Perényi's interpretations are characterized by virtuosity and could be considered definitive for Beethoven's work for piano and cello.