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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Concerto for Piano No. 4 in G Major
Composed: 1806
Premiered: 1808, Vienna
Duration: 34 minutes

After at last finishing Fidelio and its revisions, Beethoven produced a flood of great works, as though his creative urge had been dammed up by his seemingly endless struggles with his opera. They included the Fourth Symphony, the Violin Concerto, the Rasumovsky Quartets, and the Fourth Piano Concerto, all composed in 1806. The symphony and the two concertos have in common a calm serenity, rather at variance with Beethoven’s heroic, turbulent middle-period manner. The concertos are particularly lyrical and are on an expansive scale.  

This concerto begins in an unusual way, with the unaccompanied soloist announcing the first theme, an arresting figure whose rhythmic pattern is the same as the one dominating Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The orchestra responds immediately by repeating it in a totally alien key, and this feeling of ambiguity about the home key persists through all three movements.  

The slow movement is particularly striking. In only about five minutes, it tells a story in an almost operatic way. Beethoven himself did not mention any non-musical “programme,” but Liszt and many others heard in it a representation of Orpheus, the supreme musician overcoming the furies at the entrance to the underworld. The gentle pleading of the piano answers the stern phrases of the orchestra, in bare octaves, until towards the end, the piano melts the orchestra’s resistance and it consents to join in the harmony. Did Beethoven know Gluck’s music for Orpheus? Possibly, but Liszt certainly did.  

The spirited finale again begins in the “wrong” key. The main theme of the rondo reappears in several unexpected guises, and the feeling of unpredictability so characteristic of the whole of this work persists to the end.

This concerto had its premiere in 1808 at a concert which also included the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Choral Fantasia. Beethoven’s hearing was deteriorating, and although he was able to play the solo part, this was the last time Beethoven appeared in public as a pianist.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Concerto for Piano No. 4 in G Major
Composed: 1806
Premiered: 1808, Vienna
Duration: 34 minutes

After at last finishing Fidelio and its revisions, Beethoven produced a flood of great works, as though his creative urge had been dammed up by his seemingly endless struggles with his opera. They included the Fourth Symphony, the Violin Concerto, the Rasumovsky Quartets, and the Fourth Piano Concerto, all composed in 1806. The symphony and the two concertos have in common a calm serenity, rather at variance with Beethoven’s heroic, turbulent middle-period manner. The concertos are particularly lyrical and are on an expansive scale.  

This concerto begins in an unusual way, with the unaccompanied soloist announcing the first theme, an arresting figure whose rhythmic pattern is the same as the one dominating Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The orchestra responds immediately by repeating it in a totally alien key, and this feeling of ambiguity about the home key persists through all three movements.  

The slow movement is particularly striking. In only about five minutes, it tells a story in an almost operatic way. Beethoven himself did not mention any non-musical “programme,” but Liszt and many others heard in it a representation of Orpheus, the supreme musician overcoming the furies at the entrance to the underworld. The gentle pleading of the piano answers the stern phrases of the orchestra, in bare octaves, until towards the end, the piano melts the orchestra’s resistance and it consents to join in the harmony. Did Beethoven know Gluck’s music for Orpheus? Possibly, but Liszt certainly did.  

The spirited finale again begins in the “wrong” key. The main theme of the rondo reappears in several unexpected guises, and the feeling of unpredictability so characteristic of the whole of this work persists to the end.

This concerto had its premiere in 1808 at a concert which also included the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Choral Fantasia. Beethoven’s hearing was deteriorating, and although he was able to play the solo part, this was the last time Beethoven appeared in public as a pianist.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner.