Throughout his career Beethoven was prone not only to artistic leaps forward, but also to fond reflections of past achievements. Der Liebende clearly belongs in the latter category, for despite a suggestion in the harmonies of the variation (middle) movement of the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata (1803), there is little here that implies an affinity with such contemporaneous triumphs as the Op 75 songs, the ‘Harp’ String Quartet or the ‘Les Adieux’ Piano Sonata. There is an unmistakably Schubertian feel to Der Liebende, yet this delightful plaisanterie does little more than scratch the surface of the powerful emotions expressed in the poem.
from notes by Julian Haylock © 1999
