The Santa Barbara Music Club will present a stunning piano recital by Maestro Paul Berkowitz at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at First United Methodist Church, 305 E. Anapamu St.

Of course, any recital by Professor Berkowitz is an event not to be missed, especially when he is playing Schubert or Beethoven. His performances are always authoritative, though never, as he would be the first to admit, “definitive” (the only plausibly definitive performance of any work that you will ever hear is the first one, against which all future renderings are measured), and also very exciting.

Admission, as with most Music Club events, is free.

On Saturday, Berkowitz will play the final three piano sonatas of Ludwig Beethoven:  “Sonata No. 30 in E-Major, Opus 109 (1820),” “Sonata No. 31 in Ab-Major, Opus 110 (1821),” and “Sonata No. 32 in c-minor, Opus 111 (1822).” 

Beethoven (1770-1827) poured the spirit of his revolutionary age into the eighteenth century forms invented by Joseph Haydn. He was, at the same time, the greatest pianist of his time.

Seldom, if ever, have the gifts of a composer and performer come together to strike such brilliant sparks, illuminating, in flashes, a better world beyond this one (“No one who truly understands my music,” he said, “can ever know unhappiness again.”).

However, what made him wildly popular, while he lived and ever after, was not his technical revolutions — music lovers are inherently conservative — but his miraculous talent for turning kitsch into great art.

A perfect example of this gift is the opening movement of the Opus 110, in which he develops a sad and wistful little tune into a dazzling meditation on lost joys, without ever sacrificing the gentle delicacy of the original tune.

The three sonatas are, I’m sure, dauntingly difficult to play, though Dr. Berkowitz will keep that part to himself, sharing only the joy with the audience. There is enough mystery and obscurity in them to keep musicologists busy from 1822 until the end of time, but we needn’t worry about that.

They are, perhaps, autobiographical, though that sort of thing can be taken too far, but there is in Opus 111 some internal evidence — for instance, the quasi funeral march in the first movement — that Beethoven knew this would be the last piano sonata he would write.

He had long since, on account of his deafness, given up performing in public — or even when he was alone. He never heard the sonatas.

For information on this or other Santa Barbara Music Club programs and performing artists, visit www.SBMusicClub.org. 

Music Club’s Covid policy: “For the health and safety of our audience and performers, masks are required and must cover both nose and mouth. Social distancing is required.”