Beethoven, Sonata No 5 in C minor, Op 10, No 1, Prestissimo

"I keep using the word 'subversive', relative to the strange and wonderful harmonic and formal sleights of hand that we increasingly witness in Beethoven's music as we move forward into the 19th century. Subversive they were. We must remember that in the Viennese culture, in the European culture of the early 19th century, this music was an icon of the culture. And what happened in the music of the era was indicative of the larger culture, just the way what happens in motion pictures, and television and internet is indicative of our larger culture. And when someone comes along, and does all the right things but the wrong way - on purpose - as Beethoven in doing, well then, we must ask ourselves 'What's their game? What are they after?' And indeed, Beethoven is not willing to work within the strictures of his time. This is not just music; this is politics, this is division of the culture as it existed, and Beethoven's differences with the culture as it existed. This C minor sonata, is, by every measure, incredibly striking and incredibly subversive music." Professor Robert Greenberg