The piano sonata took a huge dive after the death of Beethoven in 1827. Twenty-six years later, the sonata in this post helped take the genre back into the promised land (if only for a moment).

Brahms wrote his third Piano Sonata in F Major, Op.5 when he was barely 20 years old. Brahms only wrote three sonatas for piano, so effectively never wrote in the genre again but found an even more expressive medium for the piano in his solo works and intermezzi later in his career.

Brahms was a Classical enthusiast and a great Beethoven admirer (Brahms "plays" with the theme from Beethoven's fifth symphony in c minor throughout the work), so even though the third sonata was written with the freest of Romantic spirit it was confined to the strictest of classical architecture, even despite the fact the sonata is written in five movements as to the norm of three-four movements. The fourth movement Intermezzo sits between the typical Scherzo movement and the Finale movement.

Boris Berezovsky performs in a 1992 video.

1. Allegro Maestoso


2. Andante. Adante espressivo - Andante molto


3. Scherzo. Allegro energico avec trio


4. Intermezzo (Rückblick / Regard en arrière). Andante molto


5. Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato


Overall, I find it is an effective piece but it is not overly what I like about Brahms. Save for the ending section of the second movement, the third movement (a great scherzo) and some lovely writing in the finale, the rest I find too bland musically.