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- Symphony No. 5. This song is arguably Beethoven’s most famous and iconic work. it is a distinctive four-note opening motif which encapsulates the struggle and eventual victory of the human spirit against fate.
- Moonlight Sonata. The “Moonlight” nickname was given to this solo piano masterpiece by the German music critic Ludwig Rellstab, who said the peaceful opening movement reminded him of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.
- Für Elise. Für Elise is a piano bagatelle in A minor written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1810. It is one of the most popular and recognizable piano pieces in the world.
- Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9) Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9) is a choral symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1824. It is his ninth and final symphony, and it is considered to be one of the greatest symphonies ever written.
- 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
Dec 29, 2020 · In 1806, Beethoven wrote his Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61. In 1807, he took the work that was clearly more pianistic than violinistic and rewrote it for piano as Op. 61a. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto in D Major, Op. 61a – III. Rondo (Daniel Barenboim, piano; English Chamber Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, cond.)
- John Suchet
- Archduke Trio. This was the last piece Beethoven performed in public, due to the worsening of his deafness. Dedicated to his greatest patron, the trio has a joyous first movement, but the slow movement is one of his loveliest.
- Waldstein Piano Sonata. The Waldstein Piano Sonata was dedicated to Beethoven’s patron in Bonn, back in his teenage years. Once again there’s a joyous first movement, with rapidly repeated chords at the opening – a challenge for the pianist.
- Triple Concerto. This is my candidate for one of the two most unjustly neglected compositions by Beethoven. He wrote it for friends, so the piano part – to be played by Archduke Rudolf – is not complex.
- Choral Fantasia. Like the Triple Concerto – unjustly neglected. It begins with solo piano, then orchestra comes in, then chorus and soloists. At the first performance, Beethoven was improvising, and the piece went off the rails.
- Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.2. This colossus of the piano repertoire topped the annual Classic FM Hall of Fame for the first time in 2001 and hasn’t strayed far since, reaching that No.1 spot an impressive eight times so far, since the chart began in 1996.
- Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.5 (‘Emperor’) We all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case you absolutely can: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 absolutely lives up to its imperial nickname.
- Grieg – Piano Concerto in A minor. The great Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg only completed one piano concerto during his lifetime, and it has become one of the most recognised in the world (thanks, in part, to the iconic comedy sketch by Morecambe and Wise, and the late André Previn).
- Shostakovich – Piano Concerto No.2. Shostakovich himself downplayed this concerto, saying it had “no redeeming artistic merits”, but audiences have always begged to differ.
Dec 10, 2020 · Piano Sonata No. 14, ‘Moonlight’. In all his piano sonatas, Beethoven pushed the limits of the rapidly evolving fortepiano. He also took a lot of Classical conventions (like the fast–slow–fast movement structure) and threw them out of a moonlit window. Ludwig opens this sonata with a slow, expansive, moody first movement, that's now ...
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Dec 23, 2023 · A. A. A. This fabulous set of the five Beethoven piano concertos was a highpoint of the Grand Teton Music Festival, where they were performed and recorded over a single weekend in July 2022. The soloist is the great Garrick Ohlsson, whose playing has wonderful character and personality, always derived from the music—nothing idiosyncratic ...
