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Dec 29, 2020 · Explore the piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven, from his early works to his last masterpiece, the Emperor. Listen to different interpretations by great pianists and orchestras, and compare the original violin concerto with the piano version.
A guide to the music of Beethoven's piano concerto No.4. As if to underline this ‘opposite is also true’ thesis, Beethoven based the Fourth Piano Concerto’s long first movement on the same rhythmic pattern as the famous da-da-da-DAH ‘Fate’ motif that launches the Fifth Symphony. But it’s hard to imagine anything less like that ...
- Beethoven’s Five (or So) Piano Concertos
- Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1
- Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2
- Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3
- Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4
- Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5
- Recommended Recording
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Beethoven’s five piano concertos are all in three movements. Here their similarities end. The wonderful thing about Beethoven – OK, one of many wonderful things – is that he never repeats himself. The earliest of Beethoven’s piano concertos that we generally hear, No. 2, was first drafted in the late 1780s and the last completed in 1809-10, by whic...
The C major concerto, the official No. 1, was a case in point. Beethoven premiered it in 1795 in his first public concert in Vienna, having written the finale only two days earlier. His friend Franz Wegeler recalled him racing against the clock to finish it, handing over the sheets of manuscript page by fresh page to four copyists waiting outside. ...
Of No. 2 in B flat major, Beethoven wrote self-deprecatingly to his publisher: “This concerto I only value at 10 ducats… I do not give it out as one of my best.” Yet if he hadn’t written anymore, we would still love him for this work. Genial, warm, sometimes ridiculously funny – try those off-beat loping rhythms in the finale – the B flat piano con...
If there’s a key in Beethoven associated with high drama, it is C minor: he used it for the Symphony No. 5, the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata, much later his last piano sonata, Op. 111, and the Piano Concerto No. 3. This was written as the 19th century was taking wing; its first performance, given by the composer himself, was on 5 April 1803. Only six months...
In the Piano Concerto No. 4in G major, Beethoven inhabits new worlds that are both brave and breathtaking. It is brave, for a start, to begin a concerto with the soloist playing alone, very quietly. The piano’s initial phrase – a soft G major chord that pulses, then expands towards a questioning cadence – poses a challenge to the orchestra, which r...
The last concerto, subtitled the ‘Emperor’, is in Beethoven’s old favorite key of E flat major, and it lives up to its nickname in terms of grandeur, poise, and scale of conception. This is the only one of Beethoven’s piano concertos that the composer did not perform himself: by the time of its premiere in January 1811, his hearing loss was making ...
Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle’s landmark recording of Beethoven’s Complete Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra was a major highlight of the celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Their outstanding performances, streamed on DG Stage from LSO St Luke’s and recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon in Decem...
Explore Beethoven's five piano concertos, from his youthful C major to his heroic C minor, with Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle. Learn about the composer's musical evolution, the concertos' structure, and their performance history.
- Jessica Duchen
- 11 min
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The best recordings of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 5, 'Emperor' | Gramophone. Gramophone. Wednesday, February 15, 2017. A quick guide to the most outstanding recordings of Beethoven's revolutionary piano concerto. Welcome to Gramophone ...
- Gramophone
Mar 11, 2013 · 11 March 2013, 15:59 | Updated: 4 April 2016, 12:38. Beethoven completed five Piano Concertos in under 20 years, but from the age of 38 he would never finish one again as his deafness stopped him from performing, writes John Suchet. Five completed Piano Concertos, spanning a period from when Beethoven was around 19 or 20 to when he was just 38.
Learn about the five piano concertos Beethoven wrote between 1795 and 1809, from the First with its Mozartian grace to the Fifth with its majestic opening. Find out which ones are the most challenging to play and listen to, and which recordings are recommended.
