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Время создания: 1793 г.
Святослав Рихтер, фортепиано, Wiener Symphoniker, дир. Kurt Sanderling
Возможно, Rondo сочинялось, как финальная часть второго фортепианного концерта, однако, для первого публичного исполнения концерта в 1795 году Бетховен сочинил новый финал. Сочинение было впервые опубликовано в 1829 году, через 2 года после смерти автора. Карл Черни, ученик Бетховена, придал партитуре ее окончательный вид, поскольку некоторые фрагменты сольной партии были утеряны или остались незаконченными в рукописи.
The date of origin as well as the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Rondo in B-flat, WoO 6, remain unknown. On the basis of its musical style, it would seem to have been written no later than the early 1790s. Arguments have been advanced for its having been composed later, however, and for its having been written either as an alternative finale to the Second Piano Concerto, in B-flat, Op.19 (written in 1794) or as that works original finaIe. Some scholars have suggested that the Rondo was composed in the course of the Concerto's revision (during which time Beethoven published the C major Concerto, Op. 15, which then became known as No. I, though the B-flat was actually first in order of composition) and was rejected for inclusion in it because it was too lightweight; others have suggested that it was actually composed prior to the movement we know as the Concerto's finale, as part of a first draft, and rejected then. There is no evidence to support either of these theories and ultimately the work should be enjoyed on its own, for it is straightforward and unpretentious, as ingratiating a piece as could be. It has been around in its present form since 1829, when the virtuoso-composer and former Beethoven pupil Carl Czerny published the first performing edition, for which he completed the orchestration and the cadenza, which Beethoven had only sketched in the roughest preliminary form, and also provided the ending.
This work was first performed in 1793 and likely dates to that year or the previous one. It was originally designed to serve as the finale to the 1801 Piano Concerto No. 2, but was discarded and not published until 1829, two years after Beethoven's death. The composer thus suppressed the Rondo in B flat throughout his lifetime, but a performing version was fashioned by Carl Czerny because some of the solo part was apparently missing or left incomplete in the surviving manuscript.
The Rondo opens with a lively, playful theme in the piano's upper register. The orchestra then immediately introduces the second subject, as well as new material. The piano is not idle for long, however, and the soloist and orchestra share many colorful exchanges. When the main theme reappears it is given more attention, this time the orchestra taking it up. Yet it is hardly dominant, allowing the equally charming and graceful secondary material to share center stage. At the center of this Rondo, Beethoven introduces a lovely, rather carefree melody—really, a variant of the main theme—whose slower pacing provides deft contrast to the livelier music surrounding it. There is a brief but brilliant cadenza near the end, after which the main theme and related materials return for a joyous conclusion.
(All Music Guide)