Beethoven’s 4th Symphony

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4

During the nineteenth century Beethoven wrote many different types of musical pieces like operas, symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Beethoven had a gift for playing with each of these styles and making it unique to his distinct style in the music world. In Piano Concerto No. 4 he blurred the classical definition of a concerto to make a unique composition that stands apart from other concertos of the time. In the piece Beethoven uses many different compositional devices like consonance, dissonance, crescendos, decrescendos, and tone color, which are very distinct in giving the piece its unparallel style.

The section of the concerto can be divided into three parts; from the beginning to the cadenza at around 3’00” the cadenza from 3’00”-4’40” and from 4’40” until the end. Before the cadenza the piano and the orchestra are in a state of disarray and seem to oppose each other. The orchestra begins the section with a powerful roar, almost seeming to try to stifle the meek piano. The orchestra continues its steady, powerful droning between the pianos melancholy tone in this dialogue. With all its might the orchestra cannot drown out the piano, which grows in volume while the orchestra begins to die out. This mix of crescendo and decrescendo gives the listener a feeling that although the orchestra can be louder the piano has the power and range to even stop the most powerful voice. During the cadenza the piano begins with a calm smooth melody that rises and reaches a climax with the soloist playing up and down the scale and showing their extreme talent. After the cadenza the orchestra rejoins the piece but this time in a softer more consonant way where the orchestra and piano can mesh together. The battle between the piano and orchestra seems to finally be resolved with the piano showing its superiority and the orchestra seemingly mimicking the melancholy tone the piano had in the beginning of the piece.

Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto does not follow the traditional pattern of a classical concerto. Beethoven only wrote nine symphonies, but many of his other pieces resemble the sound he uses in those symphonies. The motive continues in the orchestra throughout the entire piece and in the soloist’s part it only really varies at the cadenza. This motive consistency is common among Beethoven’s symphonies. Another commonality the piece shares with a symphony by Beethoven is the psychological progression over the course of the piece. There seems to be a progression throughout the movement