Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 in G major for piano and orchestra op. 58, performed by soloist Yulianna Avdeeva and the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck. Recorded live on 16.12.2023 in the Kölner Philharmonie.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major op. 58

00:00:00 I. Allegro moderato
00:18:57 II. Andante con moto
00:23:21 III. rondo. Vivace

Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor

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Introduction to the work:

Beethoven, the titan, the unwavering genius. This exaggerated image of the composer, which developed in the 19th century, has quite objective foundations. One example of this is a mammoth concerto with which Beethoven rather immodestly introduced himself to the Viennese public: On December 22, 1808, he pulled out all the stops at the Theater an der Wien and presented exclusively his own pieces. The Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were premiered, as well as the Choral Fantasy op. 80. And that was not all: there were also various parts from the Mass in C major and a great aria - as well as the Fourth Piano Concerto. The composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt wrote: "We held out in the bitterest cold from half past six to half past ten and found the experience proven that one can easily have too much of a good thing - and even more so, too much of a strong thing."

Beethoven also cleverly polished up his value time and again with horrendous admission prices. A contemporary newspaper review of a similar marathon premiere of his Third Piano Concerto states that he had "the first seats double, the closed seats triple, and each box (instead of 4 [florins]) paid for with 12 ducats". He used this means of inflated prices so skillfully for his prestige that there was even a rumour circulating that he had made a profit of 1800 guilders from this single concert evening - the salary of a high civil servant at the time. And not the monthly salary, but the annual salary.

However, the conditions for the first public performance of the fourth piano concerto were not particularly rosy. The orchestra of the Theater an der Wien was so bad to Beethoven at the time that he was not allowed to be present in the hall during rehearsals. He allegedly paced back and forth in the next room - and after every movement, the conductor is said to have come to him to discuss which detail he would like to have improved and how. However, the sources do not reveal how the interaction between Beethoven at the piano and the orchestra was possible in this way.

Text: Otto Hagedorn