This is the slow movement from Beethoven’s fifth (and last) concerto for piano and orchestra, known as the Emperor Concerto. It’s contemplative and majestic, and altogether beautiful without being in any way pretty. What suggested it was Glyph’s question from last week:
Is “exciting” a quality of “beauty”? Always? Sometimes?
This one, which stays slow and deliberate throughout, proves that the answer is not “always”.
Ahh. My favorite! I love the whole damn thing. The answer to whether it’s exciting or not is answered in the third movement.Report