Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is one of the greatest of all works in this form. Certainly it makes innovations whose impact on contemporary audiences can only be guessed at. To modern ears, the effect of opening with a simple thematic statement from the soloist might not seem revolutionary, but it was almost unprecedented (Mozart hinted at something similar in his Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271). The operatic nature of the interaction between the pianist and orchestra in the slow movement was another groundbreaking novelty. Beethoven began work on it in 1804 and had a version ready by July 1806, but the first public performance had to wait until December 1808 (unusually, after the work had been published that August), in one of the most famous of all historic concerts that also saw the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. After the solo opening gambit, the first movement proceeds more conventionally, but the close relationship established between the soloist and orchestra continues in the middle movement, “Andante con moto”, an intermezzo with recitative-like unison strings that are repeatedly answered by placating phrases from the pianist. This leads directly into the rondo finale, which starts out in C major but circles its way back to the home key of G major in music of energising spirit—harmonically adventurous, pianistically enterprising and musically fulfilling.