After establishing a new genre with his Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, Beethoven returned to it a decade later, working on his Sonata in A major, Op. 69 in parallel with his Fifth and Sixth symphonies. With its unexpected shifts of harmony and mood, this is a work filled with virtuoso flourishes and experimental surprise, elements shared in the defiance of convention and lyrical brilliance of the two Sonatas, Op. 102. Beethoven considered Handel to be ‘the greatest composer that ever lived’, demonstrating pianistic dexterity in the Variations, WoO 45 on the popular melody ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’. The first volume in this series is available on Naxos 8.574529.