That note of uncertainty on which the first movement ends has always led me to the conclusion that the first two movements of Opus 110 should be played ataka. That is to say, there should be no pause or relaxation between them. I feel a little bit guilty saying so, because this is not something that Beethoven explicitly asks for, in Opus 109 by contrast, the notation leaves no doubt that he wants the first two movements played with no break in between. But listen again to the end of the first movement. Then, as a point of reference, now listen to the end of the first movement of the only other A-Flat Major Sonata Opus 26. Now, that is a point of rest. If the end of the first movement of Opus 110 were argument enough for making the link, the beginning of the second movement provides further evidence because the first note of the second movement is the very same note a C, on which the first movement comes to it's ambiguous close. So, while playing the movements ataka as an interpretive choice and perhaps a slightly nervy one, what is clear is that Beethoven was thinking about how one movement would dovetail into the next. This becomes ever so much more the case later in the work This second movement is by a considerable margin the most modest and conventional of any in the last three sonatas. The second movement of Opus 109 may be shorter, but its toughness is in itself radical as is its complex yin-yang relationship to the first movement of the piece. This second movement is by contrast a scherzo much like any other. I suppose it isn't technically a scherzo , first of all because he doesn't call it one. Instead merely giving it the marking allegro molto. Also scherzo are nearly always in three-four time, whereas this one is in two-four. But even that is not a hard and fast rule. This is a scherzo by any other name. It's a strict ABA form, the B being the trio, with repeats and all the trimmings. This movement is dark and rather intense, but it is above all gruff and earthy, signature qualities of the Beethoven's scherzo. It's wonderful but not exactly lofty or high on refinement. I can no longer find any documentation of this, but I once heard that the source material for two of the themes of this movement, the opening and then this one, were songs that Beethoven would have known from beer halls. I can't verify that, but the truth of it is almost not relevant. It's still accurately conveys the general character of this music, rough and tumble. You'll have the opening where the somewhat muted statement gets a shouted response. Then there's the beginning of the second part where the off-beat accents given aggressive elbows out edge to the music. Then this music, simple to the point of being simplistic clearly shows the influence of folk music. There's really only one moment in this sketch that cuts deeper, when that falling phrase is answered with a yearning rise without reaching down there to stretch it out and make the music sound suddenly uncertain vulnerable. It is startlingly unlike everything that surrounds it. But Beethoven absolutely will not wallow in it, he sniffs it out fast. In this movement, certainty rules the today.
