Kalevi Aho's Piano Sonata No. 2 Hommage a Beethoven (2016) is a tribute to that great giant of the piano sonata, Beethoven. The very opening bars already allude to the older master's most mammoth sonata, the Hammerklavier, op. 106. In many places, Aho has spread the texture over three staves in his search for a mighty sound. The third movement is in the nature of a scherzo, drawing on musical material from the second movement of the Hammerklavier. There are no allusions to Beethoven in the fourth movement, but its texture, with bells, is somehow evocative of Mussorgsky's Great Gate of Kiev. The last movement gathers the sonata's motifs together again until, little by little, they disperse and chirruping birdsong leads the sonata to an enigmatic conclusion. The sonata is dedicated to Sonja Fräki, who premiered the work at Mänttä Music Festival in August 2018.
- ISMN: 9790550115170 (M550115170)
