Although Beethoven was at the time this music was composed already an experienced orchestral composer, the Concerto in B-flat was the first orchestral work he considered fit for publication. But, to avoid criticism, he would coyly announce to the publisher that this concerto and its successor, the Piano Concerto in C major, were not “among my best works.”
However, the B-flat Concerto makes no pretense at being the kind of “integrated” whole exemplified by the late Mozart concertos, with their suave balance and intertwining of solo and orchestra. Here, in the first movement at any rate, it is the orchestra’s job to present a theme and then allow the piano first to toy with a subordinate theme and then to dance merrily around, expand, and develop the orchestra’s principal theme.
The pensive Adagio, with its sweetly flowing melody, that becomes more elaborate as the piano takes over from the orchestra, is beautifully rounded off by a pianissimo restatement of the principal melody.
The rondo finale is lightweight and jovial, reversing the first movement procedure, i.e., the piano here states the melodic ideas, which are then elaborated by the orchestra. The syncopated refrain – heard a total of four times – is a foretaste of the Beethoven to come a few months later in his C-major Concerto, Op. 15.
Here is Krystian Zimerman to play this masterpiece for you:
