Beethoven, L. van: Piano Concertos in D, Op. 61 and No. 4

Featuring

Andrew Parrott
Ronald Brautigam
Norrköpings Symfoniorkester
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Composition History

Beethoven created a piano arrangement of his Violin Concerto at the request of Muzio Clementi, a composer, pianist, and music publisher, to make the work more widely available.

Composition History

Beethoven composed the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto in 1806, a year that also saw the creation of his Fourth Symphony, the 'Razumovsky' Quartets, and the second version of his opera Fidelio.

Interpretation

Pianist Ronald Brautigam, while playing on a modern piano for this recording, incorporates technical aspects of fortepiano playing, such as a sharper attack and stronger articulation, to achieve a historically informed sound.

Composition History

Beethoven dedicated the Violin Concerto to his friend Stephan von Breuning, a violinist, and Stephan's wife Julie von Vering, a pianist, perhaps as a wedding gift, with the violin version for Stephan and the piano version for Julie.

Compositional Technique

The Fourth Piano Concerto breaks with tradition by introducing the piano soloist alone at the very beginning, before the orchestra plays a note, establishing a new, close relationship between soloist and orchestra.

Compositional Technique

The Violin Concerto begins unexpectedly with four strokes on solo timpani, which form a main motif of the first movement and provide background for other themes.

Composition History

Although Beethoven did not compose cadenzas for the Violin Concerto itself, he was persuaded by Archduke Rudolph, the dedicatee of the Fourth Piano Concerto, to compose cadenzas for the piano version, which are used in this recording.