PhilPaine.com

Beethoven in 1803

None of Beethoven’s piano con­cer­tos have carved out any spe­cial place in my affec­tions. I’m not sure why. They just don’t seem to move me like the sym­phonies, sonatas, or quar­tets do. Num­ber One in C, Op.15 was actu­al­ly com­posed in 1796–7, long after Num­ber Two (1789). It has a few nice bits, but most of the time it sounds like warmed-over Hay­den. Glen Gould com­posed caden­zas for it that bright­en it up a bit.

A paint­ing of Beethoven in 1803, sev­en years after com­pos­ing the first piano con­cer­to, shows him noth­ing like his lat­er snarling, scowl­ing image. In 1796, its prob­a­ble date of com­po­si­tion, he would have still looked almost a teenager.