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BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No.5 Op.73 "Emperor"
- II. Adagio un poco mosso -
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Leonard Bernstein, cond
The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 by Ludwig van Beethoven,
popularly known as the "Emperor Concerto", was his last piano concerto.
It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to
Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil.
The first performance took place in December 1810, at the Gewandhaus
in Leipzig, the soloist being Friedrich Schneider. In 1812, Carl Czerny,
his student, gave the Vienna debut of this work.
The epithet of "Emperor" for this concerto, used in English-speaking
countries, was not Beethoven's own, but was coined by Johann Baptist Cramer,
the English publisher of the concerto.
Its duration is approximately forty minutes.
The concerto is scored for solo piano, two flutes, two oboes,
two clarinets in B-flat (Clarinet I playing Clarinet in A in movement 2),
two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani in E-flat and B-flat,
and strings