Video Daniel Barenboim: Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Op. 58

From the Klavierfestival Ruhr in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

Daniel Barenboim, soloist and conductor
Staatskapelle Berlin

0:50 I. Allegro moderato (19:41)
20:49 II. Andante con moto (5:16)
26:10 III. Rondo. Vivace (12:48)

The Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 is a work that begins - unprecedentedly - with the solo instrument alone, playing softly and gently ("dolce") and expounding the first subject over five whole bars. Particularly interesting about this theme are its thrice repeated quavers, which are vaguely reminiscent of the pounding motif associated with fate in the opening movement of the Fifth Symphony. Surviving sketches indicate that the opening themes of these very different works were indeed conceived at more or less the same time. The Fourth Piano Concerto dates from 1805-6, a period that also witnessed the composition of the Violin Concerto and Fourth Symphony. The Fourth Piano Concerto and Fourth Symphony both received their first performances at a concert at the Viennese home of Prince Joseph Franz Maximilian Lobkowitz in March 1807. Once again the composer himself was the soloist. A review of a second performance of the concerto described the work as "a new pianoforte concerto of tremendous difficulty that Beethoven performed astonishingly well at the fastest possible speeds".