The title Rate of Change is a subtle bringing together of the internal rhythm of a beat and the effect of change in beat length. The music explores how changes of movement can be used to build and articulate an expressive form. The music’s structure is that of a palindrome centred at bar 77, but it’s a palindrome that distorts itself on the way back to the opening figure.
This commentary begins to display some of the textural variety so often found in Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas, notably in two sections where the cello plays in the bass underneath the music of the piano part.
The extract above shows the second of these passages marked grazioso.
The extract above shows the second of these passages marked grazioso.