In a span of only eight years, between 1794–1802, Beethoven composed twenty piano sonatas, among them his so-called “Grande Sonate Pathétique” op. 13. It marks the consummation of his Classical style, yet also already alludes to his Heroic Period with its intensely Romantic characteristics. Composed in the “tragic” key of C minor, it foreshadows the expressive drama of later masterworks such as the Fifth Symphony or the Coriolan Overture. Of the famous sonatas, this one is the most technically manageable and thus proves immensely popular with advanced piano students. The new Urtext edition from G. Henle Publishers hails from the successful Beethoven collaboration between Norbert Gertsch and Murray Perahia, as usual with fingering and interpretive suggestions from the great pianist.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
