Beethoven himself called his work a sonata quasi una fantasia. The term Fantasia refers to the unusual sequence of movements in the piano sonata, the movements of which differ in their tempos from the conventional sonata form.

The work does not have a first (fast) movement in sonata form, as sonatas of this time usually contain. Rather, it begins with an adagio, followed by a livelier Allegretto with a trio, followed by a fast, highly dramatic finale that has the structure of a sonata main movement.

It is noticeable that the pace increases from sentence to sentence. Franz Liszt characterized the second movement as "a flower between two abysses"

I have been playing the work since my youth and had to perform it frequently. The slow movement was always the most popular. I've completely changed the notation here, the original is in 4/4 time, here it's 6/8 time and the notation is much easier to follow.

As is so often the case, I played and improvised without fail using the main theme and I don't think I hurt the character of the piece. The classics may forgive the version.