Few works count as milestones of piano literature - and of music tout court - as Beethovens Thirty-Two Piano Sonatas do. And few of Beethovens Sonatas can claim a status comparable with that of his last three works. They are not just beautiful, masterful, touching; they also mark a moment in the history of piano music which clearly divides what came before from what came afterwards. Op. 109, with its deceptively simple opening, its brilliant Prestissimo and majestic Theme with Variations; op. 110, possibly representing a portrait of Christs life (with the tender first movement and the alternation of tragedy and grandeur in the concluding Fugue); op. 111, with the powerful tragedy of its first, dramatic movement, and the enchanting otherworldliness of the Arietta: these three masterpieces are a true insight into the Beethovens soul.