Piano Concerto no 4 in G major, op58
Allegro moderato - Andante con moto - Rondo vivace

Two important things happened during the second half of the 18th century: firstly the sonata principle or structure emerged, which became the basis for not only the sonata, but also the symphony, concerto and chamber music; and secondly we see the piano become the dominant music instrument of the day, even if it was in an embryonic form. It was Mozart who was the first great pianist composer. Scholars can argue for hours as to what is his finest genre. Mozart wrote 27 piano concertos, no’s 9 – 27 show the composer as a genius. Ludwig Van Beethoven emerged on the Viennese musical scene very soon after the premature death of Mozart. He called on the help of Haydn in an attempt to take over the void after Mozart’s death. Although he built on the musical conventions, genres and styles of the classic period, pretty soon his music transformed this heritage and created a body of work that became models for the Romantic period. He certainly didn’t write as much music as Haydn and Mozart, but what he did was longer, grander in scale and the result of much deliberation.

He wrote five fairly conventional piano concertos. Tonight’s concerto, no 4 was first performed with Beethoven as the soloist in 1807 and it was published the following year. That first performance shared the bill with the Fifth Symphony and the Sixth – the Pastoral, and movements from the Mass in C – some concert!