Ludwig Van Beethoven is one of the greatest masters of the piano concerto. He has so much passion and so much gusto in writing for piano that came from the days when he was a child and forced to take piano. The percussive nature of the piano fits his personality of tortured livelihood better than nothing else.
For this last work, let’s review the Rondo in B-flat major for piano and orchestra. It is in a sort of swing 4/4 time, complete with triplets and chords going at breakneck speed. You almost can’t keep up with the detail. I love the unraveling of the scales in the B-flat and F-centered tonalities. I love the note shadowing with the scale-wise motion that ensues a quarter of the way through the rondo. The tonal structure starts in B-flat, works its way to F which is the dominant. Then, the chords work around to the E-flat tonality. It goes in a kind of circle of fifths. Then the texture quiets and goes into a staccato of sorts.
Harmonically, it goes all over the place in this circle that ultimately leads back to the home key of B-flat major. Once returning to B-flat major, the swing 4/4 rhythm comes back into view before slowing down for a brief moment. Then the phrase concludes with the piano and the orchestra bouncing along together. One thing to notice is how Beethoven and Mozart tend to linger on the F (the dominant of B-flat major) chord a lot before ending phrases. This is common in both sonata and rondo forms.
This rondo is a far cry from his other works like Moonlight Sonata. In this one, it is happy, hence the bouncy nature of all the music for at least the first movement. Many of his other larger works, his stress, his ongoing battles with depression of the loss of his hearing and many other things to go wrong in his life.
The rondo itself is pretty short so there may not be much more to say about this. The piano playing is phenomenal with how fast the various passages are executed. For pianists, practicing your scales is key. You have to do your do diligence and you could then be playing music like this. There are a few places where the scales turn to chords and go down scale-wise at breakneck space—pure genius Beethoven! He’s a composer’s inspiration.
