Beethoven's complete Piano Concertos

Jane Jones hosts a special week on the Full Works Concert during which, every night, she’ll profile each of Beethoven’s five piano concertos.

In a special week of the Classic FM Full Works Concert, Jane Jones showcases each of Beethoven's five Piano Concertos. 

The great composer completed these masterworks in under 20 years, but from the age of 38 he would never finish one again as his deafness stopped him from performing.

DISCOVER: Beethoven's Emperor Concerto >

MONDAY 14 JULY  
Along with Beethoven's first Piano Concerto tonight, we’ll hear one of his finest overtures, music by one of his teachers, Haydn, and a cello concerto by Beethoven’s friend, Antonin Kraft.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont - Overture Opus 84
Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major Opus 15
Andras Schiff/Bernard Haitink conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden

Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.104 in D major
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Colin Davis

Franz Liszt: La Campanella
Valentina Lisitsa

Antonin Kraft: Cello Concerto in C major Opus 4
Prague Chamber Orchestra/Michal Kanka

TUESDAY 15 JULY
Tonight's Concert opens with the Overture to The Barber of Seville by Rossini, which Beethoven admired. There’s also music by one of Beethoven’s biggest heroes, Handel, and a composer who was famous during Beethoven’s lifetime, but who has been dwarfed by him today, Louis Spohr.

Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville – Overture 
Rinaldo Alessandrini conducts Concerto Italiano

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major Opus 19
Vladimir Ashkenazy/Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Zubin Mehta

George Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso in F major Opus 6 No.9
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner 

Antonio Salieri: Flute & Oboe Concerto in C major
Susan Milan/David Theodore/City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox 

Louis Spohr: Symphony No.9 in B minor Opus 143
Orchestra of Italian Switzerland/Howard Shelley  

WEDNESDAY 16 JULY
Tonight’s Concert begins with the music of Carl Maria von Weber, one of the many talented composers who found themselves in Beethoven’s shadow. We’ll then hear Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3, a trumpet concerto by Beethoven’s friend Hummel and a symphony by Schubert, whom Beethoven said had ‘the divine spark’.

Carl Maria Von Weber: Jubilee Overture Opus 59
Philharmonia Orchestra/Neeme Jarvi

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor Opus 37
Martha Argerich/Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Claudio Abbado

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Symphony in A major H.660
English Concert/Trevor Pinnock

Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major
Tine Thing Helseth/Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

Franz Schubert: Symphony No.2 in B-flat major D.125 
Academy of St.Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner

THURSDAY 17 JULY
Tonight it’s an all-Beethoven programme. Jane has the Piano Concerto No.4, as well as Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, all of which were premiered in the same concert.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor Opus 67
La Chambre Philharmonique/Emmanuel Krivine

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major Opus 58
Alfred Brendel/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Emmanuel Krivine

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.6 in F major Opus 68
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly

FRIDAY 18 JULY
Beethoven’s final Piano Concerto, the ‘Emperor’, is followed by music by Czerny, who premiered the concerto, Cherubini - who Beethoven described as his greatest contemporary, and one of Beethoven’s greatest influences Mozart.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat major Opus 73 ‘Emperor’
Emanuel Ax/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Andre Previn

Luigi Cherubini: Sonata No.2 for Horn and Strings
Barry Tuckwell/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No.35 in D major K.385
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/James Levine

Carl Czerny: Concerto for Piano Duet Opus 153
Cologne Piano Duet/Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra/Florian Merz