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We dive into the playful, exuberant Symphony No. 2 by Beethoven. Visit BBC Music for more guides and insights into the wonderful world of classical music
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed primarily between 1787 and 1789, although it did not attain the form in which it was published until 1795. Beethoven did write a second finale for it in 1798 for performance in Prague, but that is not the finale that was published.
Apr 5, 2024 · In addition to a solo piano, this piece is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. The Story: The Piano Concerto No.2 by Ludwig van Beethoven was the second published but the first completed. Although Beethoven had made two adolescent attempts, the B-flat Concerto, begun two years after his 1792 arrival in Vienna, was ...
- 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
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...
- Jessica Duchen
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 stands as a testament to the composer’s genius and his unyielding drive to innovate within the symphonic form. While it may be overshadowed by some of his more famous subsequent works, the Second Symphony captures a pivotal moment in Beethoven’s creative journey, a moment where he began to break free from classical constraints and envision a new ...
During that same concert, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. [1] It is one of the earliest works of Beethoven's "middle" period. Beethoven wrote the Second Symphony without a standard minuet; instead, a scherzo took its place, giving the composition even greater scope and energy. The ...
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Jul 8, 2024 · Symphony No.6 in F Major ‘Pastoral’ If the Eighth is the ‘little’ F Major Beethoven symphony, the Sixth ‘Pastoral’ is the magnificent fully-grown F Major Beethoven symphony. And the great thing about the Sixth is the programmatic nature of the work. Each movement depicts a different story taking place in the countryside local to Ludwig.
