Franz Schubert produced a considerable body of music for piano in 1817, a year marked by experimentation and exploration. In fact, Schubert nursed so many different ideas during this period that several pieces were left unfinished. The three-movement Sonata No. 5 in A flat major is probably among them, though there is disagreement about that; nevertheless, it stands as an enjoyable example of Schubert's inheritance and adaptation of classical ideals. The first movement begins with a stately theme on upward arpeggios, its pointed articulation contrasting the gentle, downward scalar contours of the characteristically lyrical second theme area. Throughout the movement, there is a clear sense of Classical balance and order—biographer Brian Newbould described this movement as "tight-lipped"—although a few brief harmonic twists in the recapitulation and coda hint at Romantic indulgence. The second movement relies on contrast as well, but in a more pianistically pronounced way. The opening theme enters above a slow and steady chordal beat, falling and rising laconically before pausing on a quick, winking gesture. A series of transformations on these thematic ideas is suddenly cut off and taken over by a busy contrapuntal section that wanders in relentless runs across the keyboard before losing steam and settling into the steady chords of the movement's opening. Although Schubert would adopt the four-movement piano sonata form as a general rule, the three-movement structure of the D. 557 sonata is not unique; the Sonata in A minor (D. 537) from the same year also lacks a fourth movement. However, that the third and final movement of the D. 577 sonata is in E flat rather than A flat has caused some speculation that the work may have been left incomplete by the composer. As it stands, however, the third movement serves well as a finale, rounding out the piece on the merit of its energy rather than any sense of overall harmonic resolution (and at any rate, even in his more classicist moments, Schubert did not always feel compelled to begin and end in the same key). Disregarding the larger harmonic context, the movement is Haydn-esque in its deployment of themes, balance of phrases, and especially its manner of transforming motives into coy caricatures and brilliant flourishes. There is a frenetic abruptness in the seams between sections, as Schubert walks the line between courting convention and playing off of it.

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