Beethoven: Piano Sonata in G Major Op. 31 No. 1: Henle

Due to his dissatisfaction with the classical style of music, Beethoven pledged to take a new path of musical composition and style. The Opus 31 works are the first examples of Beethoven's new and unconventional ideas, an attempt to make a name for himself in the annals of music history. For example, the first movement, unlike most sonata allegro forms, which the second theme of the exposition is dominant, the second theme is in B Major and minor, the mediant of the original key. Beethoven used this form in his later sonatas, like the Waldstein, Appassionata, and the Hammerklavier.

This sonata is light, breezy and has touches of humour and irony in its movements. Critics say that the Opus 31 works show a more pronounced "Beethovenian" sense of style that became more evident in later, mature works.