ARCADI VOLODOS

Published in 1790, Clementi’s Op. 25 Sonata in F-sharp minor feels decades ahead of its time in terms of its deeply felt, Romantic poeticism. Its first two movements especially cause the Chopin Ballades to spring to mind. The first movement combines fleetly capricious semiquaver bursts, sharp dynamic contrasts and sudden changes of melodic and harmonic direction to create an almost improvisatory quality. The slow movement then presents a huge range of melancholic expression, before a racing, rippling concluding Presto. Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D major was composed during a rare pocket of happiness, on an alpine summer holiday. A jubilantly rushing Allegro leads to a serene Andante. Then after a Scherzo with lively dotted rhythms and a smoother trio, the concluding Rondo’s main theme underpins a pastoral-feeling melody with a march beat.