This sonata sits in a very odd spot in Beethoven's output, not fitting well into the late or middle period while somehow containing elements of both.

The structure of the piece is strange right down the middle; 2 movements sharply contrasting in character and resolution. To call the first movement ambiguous and enigmatic is really an understatement, it seems tense and lost in it's self, unsure whats around the next corner and reacts to what is in either an aggressive or faltering and submissive way (it's easy to see the whole movement as a conflict between these two themes, however violent or moan-full the conflict really is). By the end we are left disoriented and silent unsure how or if to continue, the answer comes in the last movements rondo.

We're taken out of this dreamworld into a world of faithful and propulsive tenderness, love not of the self-indulgent kind but love of a kinder and more reflective kind. The Rondo theme comes back repeatedly in moments of stress and harmonic tension eventually ending on an optimistic note leaving any memory of the chaos of the first movement behind.

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90