Pop legend Annie Lennox plays enchanting ‘Moonlight’ Sonata on her living room piano

15 January 2021, 15:27 | Updated: 25 January 2021, 10:42

Annie Lennox plays Beethoven ‘Moonlight’ Sonata on her living room
Annie Lennox plays Beethoven ‘Moonlight’ Sonata on her living room. Picture: Annie Lennox/Instagram

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

Annie Lennox takes on a Beethoven masterwork, and nails it like the music royalty she is…

For many of us, all this time at home has presented a silver-lining opportunity to sit down with a once beloved musical instrument and practise, practise, practise.

And it seems one pop legend has had the same idea.

“Well, I’ve wanted to play the Moonlight Sonata perfectly for quite a long time,” Eurythmics star Annie Lennox, sat at her living room piano, explains to her followers in an Instagram video.

“I’ve been practising a great deal because It doesn’t seem that I’ve ever managed to play it perfectly.

“But I’m going to try! So, just for the record, here we go…”

It’s a wonderful performance. Lennox even gains a tiny fly-on-the-wall audience member, as a little bird hears the beautiful Beethoven and does his best to join in – socially distanced, of course – from the other side of the window.

Read more: Annie Lennox sings deeply moving ‘Dido’s Lament’ with massed online choir >

Annie Lennox plays Beethoven

Lennox, who is perhaps best-known musically for her feel-good 90s hit ‘Walking on Broken Glass’, plays the first movement of the German Romantic’s enduring sonata with beautiful expression and sensitivity.

Click here to listen to our podcast, Beethoven: The Man Revealed on Global Player, the official Classic FM app >

And her performance, which has been enjoyed by more than 400,000 people across Instagram and YouTube, is being praised by music lovers all over the world for its star’s humble approach to music practice.

After all, how often do you see a legendary pop star being completely open and vulnerable about their journey to perfecting a song or piece of music?

As LVB himself once said – and as one particularly astute YouTube user pointed out – “To play a wrong note is insignificant. But to play without passion is inexcusable…”.