Although traditionally known as No. 1, the C-major Piano Concerto is probably Beethoven’s second work in the genre (or the third, if we count his early piano concerto in E-flat major, written at the age of 14).  It was preceded by the concerto in B-flat major (Op. 19, known as No. 2).  Both concertos were published in the same year (1801) by different publishers

It is often said that this concerto is not yet completely Beethovenian in style, and certainly the debt owed to Mozart’s concertos is evident at every turn.  Yet it is just as evident that Mozart could never have written this concerto.  Besides features such as accented off-beats, an innovative treatment of dissonances, and a distinctly un-Mozartian melodic style, the work is longer and weightier than most Mozart concertos. 

Also, Mozart would never have started his second subject in a remote key as Beethoven did.  There is a clearly audible shift about a minute or two into the first movement, where a big orchestral tutti is followed by a silence and then the violins start a lyrical melody in E flat major instead of the expected G major; it is only gradually that the proper key is reached.

The solo piano enters with a new lyrical melody, as it does in many Mozart concertos. Subsequently, however, some novel modulations and the typical Beethovenian sforzandos (off-beat accents) reveal the hand of a new master.  At the start of the development, the most innovative section of the movement, the soft arpeggios of the piano are accompanied only by a few hushed string chords.  The woodwinds enter a little later, playing fragments from the main theme in contrapuntal imitation, then drop out again, leaving the piano alone with the two horns.  The piano plays an eerie-sounding, strikingly dissonant chord progression against the pedal note held by the horns; and this progression leads directly (and unexpectedly) to a fairly regular recapitulation.  Beethoven wrote three different cadenzas for this movement (one left incomplete), which no doubt preserve some of his own improvisations at early performances of the concerto.

The second-movement Largo opens with a richly ornamented hymn-like tune of supreme beauty.  The hymn-like tune reappears in several variations both in the piano and the orchestra.  The movement ends with a coda which, interestingly, brings back some of the eerie sonorities from the first movement’s development.The final Rondo is one of Beethoven’s most humorous movements. Its irresistible main theme, first introduced by the piano and then taken over by the full orchestra, is built from the repeats of tiny melodic cells, organized in asymmetrical phrases.  The second theme recalls an Austrian folksong from the province of Tyrol; this tune later became known as the Hoferlied, as its text honored Andreas Hofer, a freedom fighter from that province.  In Beethoven’s version, the folk song is punctuated by consistent accents on the fourth, and weakest, time of the measure.  After a return of the Rondo theme, there follows the central episode, an impulsive and energetic tune in the minor mode.  Both the main theme and the “Hofer” tune are then repeated.  There is a short cadenza, after which Beethoven treats us to one of his favorite jokes:  the long trill that ends the cadence is suddenly deflected to a far-off key, in which the main melody is played with a somewhat parodistic effect.  A regular recapitulation and a spirited coda conclude the concerto.

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— Peter Laki