The music is, of course, a solo piece for one instrument - the piano. Beethoven utilises the piano very well to enable a large amount of expression. This further supports the fact that this piece is in the Romantic style.

In the introduction, there are a few examples of places where the left hand plays a low bass note which is then followed by a chord more than an octave higher. The use of the sustain pedal enabled Beethoven to compose music much more densely.

At 6'00 (bar 167), the piano is in such a low range that both the left and right hand parts are written on the bottom stave. This gives this section of the development much contrast and gives this passage quite a murky feel.

At 6'15 (bar 187), the left hand drops out altogether. It almost feels like the music has catapulted the listener into the air. While the left hand doesn't play, a greater sense of anticipation is achieved before it returns at the start of the recapitulation.

At the second subject (2'18, bar 51) the score says sotto. This means "under". Literally. The left hand is physically underneath the right hand which has a passage of music lower down in the range of the piano. This is - logically - called a cross hands technique.

Because the pianoforte could play at different dynamics, Beethoven most certainly wrote this into his score.

At many points, including the first bar, we have fp, meaning loud and then immediately quiet. The contrast of the dynamics adds a huge amount of drama to the music. sf - suddenly loud - has a similar effect.

The music is often quiet (piano) and in the passage at the end of the development (from bar 167) the murky nature of the music is further enhanced by the dynamics being pianissimo.

Of course, the music is often loud and some sections are fortissimo, including the very final perfect cadence, which adds to its defiant sense of closure.

Despite Beethoven using much dynamic contrast, he was not the first composer to do it. Compare it to this 1774 piano sonata movement by Haydn (24 years earlier). Forte and piano dynamics are used to bring out the contrasting (typical) characters of the first and second subject themes. The movement also contains fp.