Performing Beethoven piano concertos with chamber-group accompaniment is a much less self-indulgent idea than one might think -- the arrangements here date back to the nineteenth century, and one of them, that of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, was apparently performed by Beethoven himself at the keyboard. Such arrangements filled a need in a time when a symphony orchestra was something that could be put together only by a large, prosperous city or noble house. Music of the nineteenth century was dominated by ...
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Performing Beethoven piano concertos with chamber-group accompaniment is a much less self-indulgent idea than one might think -- the arrangements here date back to the nineteenth century, and one of them, that of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, was apparently performed by Beethoven himself at the keyboard. Such arrangements filled a need in a time when a symphony orchestra was something that could be put together only by a large, prosperous city or noble house. Music of the nineteenth century was dominated by transcriptions and arrangements to a greater degree than is generally realized, and the phenomenon provided a sort of counterpoint to the notion of the solitary creator driven by the imperative of expression to create unique masterpieces.Of course, an authentic performance of an arrangement from the first decade of the nineteenth century wouldn't use a modern piano; it wasn't until a decade after the Piano Concerto No. 4 that Beethoven acquired an instrument resembling the grand piano...
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