The nickname “Moonlight Sonata” for Beethoven’s Sonata in C-sharp minor, can be traced back to the 1830s where one reviewer, a poet, compared the first movement to a boat floating in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
This was many years after Beethoven had written the piece. And despite Beethoven having nothing to do with the subtitle, its fame has meant it stuck and is here to stay.
But Liam Wooding agrees with New Zealand pianist Michael Houstoun, when he said that this association with moonlight subtracts from the emotional character of Beethoven’s work. Houstoun describes the work, instead, as “relentlessly dark” and “violently black”.
So with that in mind to cast this well-known piece in a different, perhaps more murky light, let’s have a listen with fresh ears, to Beethoven’s Sonata in C sharp minor performed by Liam Wooding.
