Beethoven, Third Piano Concerto, First Movement
In this first movement, Beethoven composes a conversation between the pianist and the orchestra.
The first movement Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, marked Allegro con brio, is challenging because of the delicate balance Beethoven asks the pianist to create between power and extraordinary control. The opening is dark and serious, beginning in C minor, and the music gradually builds enormous tension before the piano finally enters. Many musicologists have made comparisons between this work and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, which Beethoven knew and performed, and any pianist would do well to be very familiar with the Mozart work in order to study the Beethoven.
Regardless of comparisons however, it is clear Beethoven takes the idea in his own direction. When you practice the first movement, it is tempting to concentrate on the fast scales, octaves, chords, trills, and other technically difficult passages. These things certainly need to be mastered, but technique is only the beginning. Beethoven's phrases have direction, and every musical idea has a relationship with something that came before or will come afterward. The pianist must listen carefully to the orchestra, because this is a conversation rather than a competition almost as if piano and orchestra are there to tell different parts of the same story.
Moreover, the large first-movement cadenza is particularly important, and worthy of all the attention the pianist can give it. Beethoven's own cadenza contains dramatic contrasts, rhythmic surprises, and passages that almost seem to anticipate the Romantic piano style that would come later. When I practice it, I think about architecture: where is the music going, where does the tension increase, and where does it finally release? To play every difficult passage with the same kind of excitement, is to make every room in a house the same size and shape.
Therefore, when I sit down to study this first movement, I do not begin by asking, “How can I play this difficult passage?” Instead, I begin by asking, “What is Beethoven trying to say?” Then I ask myself how my technique can help me say it. I study the harmony, but also the themes. I listen carefully to orchestra, not just to follow them, but to also understand them. I practice slowly enough to hear every note. I think about the character of every articulation and dynamic marking. I study the cadenza as music rather than as a collection of difficult passages. Then when I finally begin putting everything together, I remember that Beethoven was not interested in perfection for its own sake. He was interested in expression as a means of communicating full and vibrant musical ideas.
