Beethoven composed his Fourth Piano Concerto in 1805 and early 1806 (it was probably completed by spring, for the composer’s brother offered it to a publisher on March 27). The first performance was a private one, in March 1807, in the home of Prince Lobkowitz, and the public premiere took place in Vienna on December 22, 1808, with the composer as soloist. In addition to the solo piano, the score calls for one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, and strings; two trumpets and timpani are added in the final movement.
The beginning is one of the most memorable of any concerto. Rather than allowing the orchestra to have its extended say during a lengthy introduction, Beethoven establishes the presence of the soloist at once—not with brilliant self-assertion as he would in the Emperor Concerto, but with gentle insinuation, a quiet phrase ending on a half cadence—and the orchestra must respond in some way. That response is also quiet but startling, because it seems to come in an entirely unexpected key, though it turns out simply to be a momentarily bright harmonization of the first melody note. This produces a moment of rich poetry that echoes in the mind through the rest of the movement.
Here is pianist Rudolf Buchbinder who performs this concerto at the Large Hall of the Friends of Music in Vienna:
