Piano Sonata No 27 in E Minor Op 90

“It is, aside from two passages, one of Beethoven’s easiest; but as far as the performance of individual passages and its whole spirit is concerned, requires every kind of care”, thus wrote a contemporary critic. And it is for this reason that Beethoven’s Sonata op. 90 is extremely popular today, both with piano students and also with professional pianists. It provides enough challenges: for example the notorious tenth figures in the left hand and – in the words of a contemporary – “uniqueness, striking twists and turns and an unfamiliar, yet no less stringent, composition”. Murray Perahia’s remarks and fingerings provide assistance in all of these areas from a very practised hand.