The 5 sonatas for pianoforte and cello by Ludwig van Beethoven
A personal characterization. The spirit of comedy prevails in the first sonata. The brilliant texts set the characters off against each other. Lyricism, gestures, masquerades and humour: all play their respective roles against an undercurrent - which runs through all high-quality comedy - of seriousness and drama. A remarkable aspect is the quasi-symbolic beginning to the introduction, which seems to portray the genesis of the piano-cello duality; tones sound in unisono before carefully going their separate ways to form the initial impetus to a melody (hardly more than a rudiment) which sets the performance into motion...