Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 | Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta & the Staatskapelle Berlin

The legendary concert for Daniel Barenboim's 70th birthday features one of the greatest classics for pianists: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of Zubin Mehta, with Daniel Barenboim on piano, of course. The concert took place at the Philharmonie Berlin in 2012. It was started off with “Happy Birthday to You.”

(00:00) Entrance
(00:35) Happy Birthday to You
(01:30) Allegro con brio
(20:17) Largo
(29:50) Rondo: Allegro

The Piano Concerto No. 3 is said to have electrified the audience at its premiere on April 5, 1803. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), a well-known piano virtuoso at the time, sat at the piano himself. He had asked his friend Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried to turn the sheet music during the performance. Unlike the orchestral parts, however, he had not yet written down the solo. Apart from a few marks that were illegible to his friend and some notations on how the piece was to progress, the sheets are said to have been completely blank. Whether Beethoven was in a hurry — as was often the case — and thus improvised the performance, or whether he played from memory and was having a laugh with his friend, is not known for certain.

Of Beethoven's five piano concertos, only the third is in a minor key. To be more precise, it is in C minor, inspired by Mozart's C minor Concerto K. 491. And yet Beethoven liked to experiment with classical forms and musical motifs. This is why this third piano concerto is also described as a symphonic solo concerto. This concerto form developed during the 19th century and is characterized by the close interweaving of the motivic and thematic development of the orchestral parts and the solo piano.

In the final movement, the Rondo Allegro, Beethoven switches from the rather somber and sad key of C minor to E-flat major, bringing the concerto to a joyful and virtuosic conclusion.

© 2012 Accentus/Unitel

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