General Information

Composer			Ludwig van Beethoven
Work 				Piano Concerto No. 14 in C sharp Minor 'Moonlight', Op. 27
Pianist 			Wilhelm Backhaus
Date Recorded 		Circa 1958
Date Transferred	29th of April 2012
Date Restored		3rd of March 2017
Serial Numbers		Decca CEP561
Bandwidth			45Hz to 9kHz
Transfer Stylus		0.7 mil elliptical
Transfer Cartridge	Ortofon OM5E at 1.8g
Transfer Turntable	Project Debut 2 at 45RPM
Cutter Compensation RIAA
Click Reduction		DeClick, wavelet mode, 60, 2 passes
Limiting Filter		48dB/octave Butterworth high pass at 45Hz
Additional Eq.		First order roll-off at 8kHz

Cover Text

This sonata's subtitle, "Moonlight", was not Beethoven's but was adopted after the German critic Heinrich Rellstab had likened the first movement to moonlight on a lake. His description clung, and iss now perhaps the most famous of all musical nicknames. The work was composed in 1801.
The slow movement begins the sonata. It opens with triplet arpeggios which persist throughout to the end, and above them a long, sustained melody soon emerges. There are occasional points of imitation between this theme and the bass of the piano, whihc echoes the rhythm in a sombre and menacing way. The movement is given almost entirely to this cantabile them.
The second movement is, in effect, a scherzo, for it moves considerably faster than the normal minuet tempo, but it is not as yet as vigorous as some of Beethoven's later scherzi. Indeed the movment, despite its speed, is rather graceful and charming and seems to betray its dance origin. Notice how the opening bars are immediately repeated with syncopations and latered phrasing. Unexpectedly the trio section begins more violently than the Allegretto itself and is very rapid in its changes of mood. After the trio comes the usual repeat of the first section.
The dramatic, urgent third movement is in fairly straightforward sonta-form. The first subjec, announced immediately, consists of groups of rapid ascending arpeggious, each culminating in two heavy sforzando chords. After a pause the quieter, more legato second theme is introduced, but it is quickly displaced by rushing scale passages. Later still a further legato phrase is heard, which soon gives way to a return of the opening arpeggios. There is a good deal of development of the first two subjects, and eventually the second of the legato phrases is reintroduced, after which two pasuses hold up the flow of the music. With elaborate arpeggios and a chromatic scale, the tempo gradually slackens and the music sinks to rest for a few moments, only to lead to a short, vigorous close.
