Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is generally considered to be the first great piano concerto of the 19th century. Its precise date of composition is the subject of scholarly debate, but most believe it was largely composed in 1800 and finalised in 1803. It was Beethoven’s habit not to publish his piano concertos until he no longer played them publicly: he gave the first performance of the Third Piano Concerto on 5 April 1803, in the same concert as the premiere of the Second Symphony, and it was published in 1804. The key is C minor, the same as the Fifth Symphony, and often associated with the stormy moods Beethoven made peculiarly his own. The music reveals a considerable advance over his two earlier piano concertos, in terms of expressive resource and emotional colour, with a symphonic splendour that anticipates the great minor-key works of his middle period. Between the outer movements in C minor is a central “Largo” in the remote key of E major, with calculated shock value, its brooding intensity being sustained even as the piano writing becomes increasingly elaborate. The rondo finale, back in C minor, exudes nervous energy, culminating in a fugal passage—then a unique touch in a piano concerto—before the music is deflected into E major, recalling the tonality of the “Largo”. Finally, a brief solo cadenza heralds the joyous C major dash to the finish line.