# Favourite less famous Beethoven Piano Sonatas



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Say we exclude:

Pathetique
Moonlight
Waldstein
Appassionata
Hammerclavier
No 32 in C minor

These could arguably be the best known. 

What would be you favourite lesser known sonatas? 

Mine would be:

Tempest in D minor
No 3 in C major
No 5 in C minor
No 27 in E minor
No 31 in A flat major


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

I don't think the final three sonatas or "Les Adieux" are little known, actually, but I'd surely put "Les Adieux" and #30 and 31 at the top of any list of the greatest works ever written for piano. Ditto the "other" Hammerklavier, Op. 101. 

I love the Opus 2 sonatas too, and very much like the Opus 10 sonatas. The Op. 14 sonatas are light but quite lovely. 

The Pastoral is not my favorite overall but the Andante is one of my favorite movements in the entire cycle.

I do not much like Opus 7.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

My favorite: Op. 31 No. 3.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Yeah, not including the Op. 101+ Sonatas, Les Adieux and Tempest.

2/3.
7.
10/3.
26 (this one is pretty famous, too).
27/1 (probably my favourite lesser known Beethoven Sonata).


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## Rinaldino (Aug 2, 2012)

Op. 10 n. 3 is a masterwork IMHO. Op. 31 n. 3 is pretty good, too. The last three ones are among the greatest works ever written for piano, especially op. 109 (but in the end, it's a matter of taste, I guess).


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

My list of famous sonatas wasn't definitive but if you could only pick six we probably all agree that they would be the most well known, even outside musical circles.

I do agree though that the last three are possibly the greatest works for piano ever written. One thing about Beethoven sonatas I have noticed is the mindblowing simplicity of the opening themes of most movements and how he develops it into something quite incredible. The appassionata always springs to mind, take all the composers that came before him and none happened across those opening few bars of the 1st movement. Then again, if they did would they have produced what Beethoven did? Probably not.

I spent most of my teenage years studying these works, and even played the 1st movement of the Tempest for my A level exam. Close to my heart, they are.


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## Morgante (Jul 26, 2012)

The first one.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

beetzart said:


> I do agree though that the last three are possibly the greatest works for piano ever written.


I agree too - along with Chopin's 4th Ballade and the Liszt B Minor Sonata.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

No. 16 in G major (it just happens to be the feature piece of the listening club this week). You almost have to learn it to fully appreciate its sarcastic charm. When I first heard it, I thought it was merely lovely; now, after having learned it for a good two years, I consider it a masterpiece.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Nos. 5, 13 and 18.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I've always thought the early C major one was a gem that doesn't get played enough.


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

2, 13, 18, and (especially!) 31 rank as some of the best music that Beethoven composed personally.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

I enjoy No. 25.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Whoops. Nevermind.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

number 30.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Excluding Op. 101+, Funeral March, Tempest, and Das Lebewohl.

Op. 10 No. 3
Op. 14 No. 1
Op. 22
Op. 27 No. 1
Op. 28
Op. 54
Op. 78
Op. 90


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