Beethoven: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 — Wilhelm Backhaus, Karl Böhm, Wiener Symphoniker
About this event
The premiere of this concerto took place at a marathon concert organized by Beethoven at Vienna's Theater an der Wien on 22 December 1808. The program included the world premieres of Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, the Vienna premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 4, and excerpts from other works by Beethoven - more than four hours of demanding contemporary music by a "difficult" composer!
The soloist opens the concerto with a theme that seems like a gentle echo of the forceful "Fate" theme that opens the Fifth Symphony. The Andante is a kind of dialogue between the two different temperaments: the stark and stern strings, and the gentle, pleading piano. The boisterous finale rushes through a variety of contrasting moods before bringing the piece to a rousing close.
Karl Böhm conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the pianist Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969), who was over 80 years old at the time and had been playing this Beethoven concerto for 70 years already. One of the eminent piano virtuosos of the 20th century, he was renowned above all for his performances of Beethoven.
Repertoire
Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G major op. 58
Duration: approx. 34 minutes.
This video is provided free of charge as a teaser video as part of a cooperation with UNITEL in connection with the relaunch of myfidelio.
Dieses Video wird im Rahmen einer Kooperation mit UNITEL im Zusammenhang mit dem Relaunch von myfidelio als Teaser-Video kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt.
We're here to help
Should you have any questions, problems or suggestions, please have a look at our help pages or get in touch with our team here.