These pieces, known as the Kurfürsten Sonatas, were composed in 1783 with a dedication to the Archbishop and Elector (Kurfürst) of Cologne, Maximilian Friedrich, while Beethoven was still studying with Christian Gottlob Neefein Bonn. “He will certainly become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, if he progresses as he started off“, Neefe wrote enthusiastically in the same year.

Announced as an “excellent composition by a young genius of elevenyears”, these three impressive and technically chall...