The second movement of The Piano Sonata Opus 101 by Beethoven as recorded by Charles Rosen. Mr. Rosen will be performing all five of the Beethoven piano concertos this week in concerts Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights at Orchestra Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by study swaps grochowski. Mr. Rosen has generously agreed to speak with me for a few moments this noon hour about the music of Beethoven in General Charles. Rosen has not only had a distinguished career as a Pianist but he also has a degree in French literature and has a reputation as a man of extraordinary. Are you dissing on every conceivable subject from what we read, but for the moment I want to ask him about the Beethoven piano concertos in general. How do you regard the Beethoven concertos at the point in musical history at which they occurred are they do they continue the line from Mozart's and lead into 19th century music or do they represent a culmination of concerto style at that time? Well, it's one of those questions you have to have to say both obviously is that that the number of aspects of the the concertos which lead directly into into the through the 19th century was who for example that the opening of the Emperor Concerto which starts with a great big piano Cadenza? That is the through some quotes from the orchestra interspersed with cadenzas by the piano great deal virtuosity right at the beginning of that Brahms imitated that in the second concerto. The only thing that problems did was that he played the tune first played very quietly. And then the piano begins its Cadenza. In fact, the Beethoven actually came so near the Brahms is that there is a sixth piano concerto by Beethoven that he never finished which in fact begins just like the Brahms very interesting there was bombs couldn't have known that so that in one respect lots of you know, lots of respects like this that the Beethoven leads into the into the later works in others. Are there the I would take a position that's exactly the opposite of something that for example said I've seen the program notes for these concerts is that the first three controllers are supposed to be sort of like imitation of Mozart and it's the fourth and fifth concertos, which lead into newer newer things. It seems to me that in many respects the fourth and Concertos at closer to Mozart than the first three which are very much like Mozart successes there. So the first three controllers are much more like the if you like pre romantic music of Weber and humble and and so on many many other things like that, where's the fourth and fifth concertos really go back into into our Mozart not into the emotional world of Mozart, but into the way Mozart wrote music applied now to an entirely new emotional World Beethoven now Beethoven wrote. He's five official piano concertos over a period of roughly 15 years or so and I think the emperor dates from around eighteen nine or there about where we took longer because it's that the second piano concerto. He already started that back in 1790. Dates back a long time took a long time with the second widget. Second is really the first of course, you just just didn't like it as much as the first piano concerto which was written later and he published the first piano concerto for a week before the second. But the second he actually there are various sketch of the versions of it versus catches up with the go way back to about 1790. I think in any event the last completed concerto is around 18 9 and on to Beethoven lived for about another 18 years after that and continued to write sonatas and quartets and Symphonies, but no further concertos. Do you have any theories as to why he abandoned the concerto at that point in his creative life? Well, it was one very good reason, which is that he would abandon the concert career. He didn't play himself in public anymore. It's that the the last piece I think he played in public was the fourth. I don't think he ever played the fifth the emperor in a public performance unless I'm mistaken would there have been any other advocates for his music such as Charity or any of his associates what happened is but what concertos were generally written by pianists in order to have something that they could they have an exclusive right on something that they could go around and perform with orchestras and and make a living with the other thing is that just after writing this he had a certain amount of difficulty writing music is that he went into a period of psychological difficulty where he he sued his sister-in-law for the custody of his nephew and there were all sorts of things that thought and then at the end of that he suddenly had this tremendous creative burst, which he wrote the last three piano sonatas and the Deer Valley variations and the Ninth Symphony and the missis alumnus and then all the quartet and God knows what he would have done. If he continued writing you might have written another piano concerto after all but is that he went off into other fields in that the creative the great creative period lasts for about about the last nine years of his life and which but he did an enormous amount at that time. You've begun recording the cycle of concertos. The emperor has already been released here by Peters International fourth is about to come out quite soon. All of these are with conductor wind Morris and an orchestra called the simp simple enough Annika of London the remaining concertos. I think you are scheduled to do toward the end of this year. I've already done the second but I have to do the first before they can put it out because it'll be just one side. I'm supposed to do that in the red the others in November this I take it is the first time that you've played the entire concerto cycle within a period of just within one week. Well, I I did play them. I did play all the concertos in about 2 weeks with a number of Mozart controls. I was playing to on every program in New Zealand a couple of years ago. But this is as the certainly the first time I've ever played all five concertos and three days a concentrated week of work. I guess meant more concentrated three days of work is what I think of it as well. We look forward to your performances. This week the concert on Wednesday night includes concertos numbers 2 & 5 the Thursday evening concert has the third piano concerto as well as the violin concerto and we might mention at this point that lie Foley the concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra who was scheduled to do the violin concerto is indisposed and he will be replaced by Joseph Silverstein who is the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Friday Night concert this week includes numbers 1 & 4 to conclude the cycle. We thank you for taking the time to talk with us this noon hour. Thank you very much.