[2] In an analysis of the work in The Musical Quarterly in 1928, the critic Irving Schwerké wrote: The Sonata is classical in structure and in four movements, connected more by mutual formal perfection and nobility of thought than by cyclic procedures.
The Andante is in the direct line of the great slow movements of Beethoven, and a supreme example of the grandeur attainable by modern technic [sic] working in this inspired form.
The agitated Scherzo, with its unexpected fugal conclusion, is followed by the heroic Finale, comparable in breadth and majesty to the Stairway of Honour of the Palace of Versailles.
By the vastness of its proportions, the quality of its writing, the power of its developments, and by its luminous lyricism, the Sonata in E flat minor is unrivalled by any other composition of this type.
[3]The Sonata, described by the critic Edward Lockspeiser as "huge and somewhat recondite",[1] did not enter the mainstream repertoire, but it has more recently been championed by such pianists as John Ogdon, Marc-André Hamelin, Vincenzo Maltempo and Margaret Fingerhut.