(MUSIC) So, as we’ve seen, the exposition of op. 90 fluctuates more-or-less constantly between restlessness and resignation; in the development, the balance is skewed towards the restlessness. Whereas the opening of the piece was a back-and-forth between the two characters, the version of it that launches the development is a long, slow build-up of intensity. (MUSIC) First of all, those pulsating eighth notes (MUSIC); they mean that the stop-go aspect of the opening has been replaced with a relentless steadiness. And as we make a long crescendo, we not only cycle through a lengthy series of modulations – new harmony practically every bar – but we see the phrases go from two-bar units to one-bar units. (MUSIC) two bars. (MUSIC) two bars. (MUSIC) two bars And now one bar, one bar, one bar – with an accent on each one. (MUSIC) As the periods contract, and the harmony refuses to settle, the effect is of Beethoven really putting in the screws. And when this motion stops, the tension hardly subsides, with Beethoven putting an ominous, unmoving G pedal point in the bass (MUSIC) and when the bass finally does move, it offers neither relaxation nor resolution. (MUSIC) So, everything that has happened in the development so far has been based on the opening theme; now Beethoven starts riffing on the secondary thematic idea of the movement, which again, has been transformed to make it nervier than it initially was. (MUSIC) When it first appeared, this theme had block chords as an accompaniment, with one harmony per bar (MUSIC). This time around, the left hand plays single notes on every single quarter, meaning that the whole passage is in two-part counterpoint, filled with unsettling dissonances and passing tones (MUSIC). And then, the primary line transfers to the bass, and shortly all hell breaks loose. (MUSIC) This is a climax of tremendous power, and again, Beethoven uses both harmonic and rhythmic means to make it so. We begin with a four bar period (MUSIC), followed by a two bar period, (MUSIC), and thereafter, it's bar by bar by bar. (MUSIC) It's like a rhythmic noose being put around our necks. And while we only modulate to a new key every four bars – a fast but not exceptionally fast rate – we do have a new harmony each bar, which means that we are never, ever in a settled place (MUSIC), until finally he lands on that b in the base, the dominant of e minor. (MUSIC) Again, this is quite a terrific climax, and it seems poised to lead to a firm, unambiguous cadence (MUSIC). Instead, the b disappears, the dynamic grows hushed, and we have possibly the MOST harmonically ambiguous recapitulation Beethoven has ever written. (MUSIC) 12 bars elapse between the moment when we last hear that b (MUSIC), and when the return finally comes (MUSIC), meaning that for once, a strong V-I is not the catalyst for the recapitulation. It’s all the more surprising, because again, this (MUSIC) seems to exist precisely to create a firm harmonic resolution. Instead, the bass simply cuts out, and what prepares the return is the way that this (MUSIC) transforms into this (MUSIC). First he slows it down (MUSIC), and then he slows it down further (MUSIC), and then he shortens it from five notes to three (MUSIC), and then with a whirlwind composed entirely of that gesture, the return simply arrives. (MUSIC) It's like the movement as a whole: never what we expect it to be, and peculiarly, unconventionally powerful.