WILHELM BACKHAUS/PIANO
The amazing contradictions of genius that always appeared to the close friends of Ludwig van Beethoven were never more amply demonstrated to them than the events surrounding the first production of this masterful concerto.
April 5th, 1803 was the day. Beethoven had long advertised a special program with himself as piano soloist and admission prices had been doubled and tripled, much to the annoyance of the Viennese public. The program listed the First and Second symphonies, the oratorio Christus in Oelberg and the present work recorded here. Rehearsals were called for as early as eight in the morning and scheduled to continue until about noon. The concert itself was to begin at six!
It is definitely not established just how much Beethoven had completed of the concerto and the oratorio, but we have established facts that give us the following rather bizarre happenings.
At five in the morning of April 5th, Ferdinand Ries, a pupil and friend of the composer, came to visit Beethoven and found him at work copying out trombone parts of the oratorio! Ries also discovered that most of the solo passages for the concerto were not written out but only indicated by symbols which could mean nothing to anyone else save the author. The rehearsal was almost a complete fiasco and Beethoven despaired of the concert going on at all. The heavy obligations placed upon the musicians by the ever-demanding Beethoven, soon made them become sullen and angry. It is reliably reported that Beethoven did not even care to give them time off
BEETHOVEN CONCERTO No. 4
WILHELM BACKHAUS/PIANO
All Beethoven's great works in concerto form were composed within a period of about fourteen years. The B flat major concerto, known as the Second, was written in 1795; the 'Emperor,' which completed the series, in 1809, the year of Napoleon's entry into Vienna. The special effects of contrasted tonal color produced by the use of solo instrumentalist and orchestra are entirely musical, and the beauties obtainable by juxtaposition of timbres are particularly in evidence in the slow movement of the present work, which, as one commentator has said, provides "probably the most remarkable dialogue in instrumental music."
The G major Piano Concerto was written in 1805-6, a particularly prolific period of Beethoven's life. It stands rather isolated among his other piano concertos, being separated from its predecessor, the Third, by five years and from its successor, the
"Emperor," by four. The Fourth Piano Concerto had its first performance on Dec. 22, 1808, the composer himself playing the solo part.
First Movement: Allegro moderato
The concerto opens with Beethoven"s original and effective device of allowing the piano to give a version of the first theme before the orchestra. This statement is in G major. The strings then enter, with beautiful effect, with the theme in the remote key of B major, after which its orthodox statement is given by the woodwind back in the tonic key again. This first theme is a smooth, tranquil one, and is followed by the second, a little fragment of melody...