Back to the Moonlight Sonata:: Here is another instance in which Beethoven leads us a merry buildup to a -- whoops!! -- nothing there to hold us up. The sound becomes incredibly complex (remember you are supposed to have had the pedal down the WHOLE time) then suddenly it seems to thin out just before the weird arppeggios. Chances are you responded to the thinning out by speeding up. That is like skidding on black ice or running off the cliff.
Before you return to what feels like solid ground you should have undergone a fundamental transformation.
If you were listening it would have happened and it would have built an incredible amount of genuine suspense.
A great piece. Every time.
