Opus 109

Víkingur Ólafsson believes that Ludwig van Beethoven reinvented himself with the Sonata in E major, Op. 109, while at the same time paying homage to one of his great inspirations: Johann Sebastian Bach, who served as Beethoven’s “compass” for this venture into the unknown, as he puts it. The last movement of Op. 109 is a theme and variations that reveals “striking connections with the Goldberg Variations,” according to Víkingur. “Both are built on a songful Sarabande theme which comes back at the end in a cyclical return — the only time Beethoven does so in a variation movement. Even more, he brings little glimpses from the Goldbergs into play, including direct citations from Bach and such techniques as a fugato and so on.” Víkingur’s recital traces a path to this pinnacle through four works, all in E major or minor yet each strikingly different in character. Alongside a Bach prelude and the great E minor Partita, he includes a rarely heard Schubert sonata comprising only two movements that he believes was written in response to Beethoven’s own two-movement Sonata in E minor, Op. 90 — which is why it, too, merits a place on his program.

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