Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3

Today I would like to share with you Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Beethoven wrote this concerto in 1803, under the spell of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. Beethoven paid tribute to Mozart’s concerto in the very first few seconds of this piece. (I’ll include Mozart’s piano concerto at the end – check it out).

Beethoven was one of the pioneers of pushing the limits of the piano, then still an adolescent instrument. This was the first Beethoven concerto to use the piano’s full range, beyond the then-standard five-octave range (the modern piano has seven octaves).

I wrote a very long essay on this topic. I implore you to read it here.

Here are a few performances of Beethoven’s piano concerto:

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24: