Beethoven's Concertos : History, Style, Performance

In his concertos Beethoven joined in a sort of human expression that seems almost universal: a discourse of the individual and the group, or of leader and followers who sometimes work together in harmony and sometimes appear pitted one against the other (early definitions of the concerto, indeed, were divided as to which was the main idea of the genre—cooperation or conflict). In his concertos Beethoven typically cast himself as leader; the concerto was for him mainly a youthful preoccupation intimately bound up with his prowess and ambition as a public pianist. The hope is that a wide-ranging consideration of the historical context will serve to cast new light upon the music itself, which remains the central focus of this study.

[Plantinga's] point of view is always rational and low key, and one can learn a lot from this book without getting lost in the thickest of analysis. As an antidote to the breezy popularizations that saturate the market, "Beethoven's Concertos" is most welcome.

The distinguished veteran Yale music professor Plantinga (Romantic Music) once again earns the gratitude of music lovers with this effort, billed as the first ever full-length book about Beethoven's concertos. Of course, a number of books have been devoted to each of the composer's works, notably in the excellent Cambridge Music Handbook series, but Plantinga's idea to discuss them together is sound, in that Beethoven's concertos, whatever the solo instrument, have more in common with each other than with efforts by other composers. Musically sophisticated laypeople will find Plantinga's prose refreshingly clear and will appreciate his restrained use of musical examples. Plantinga's thoughts retain their human level and tone, no doubt owing to his decades of experience as a teacher. Devoting chapters to the individual works, he also adds valuable notes on performing Beethoven's concertos, debunking some of the "authentic" approaches to early music: "As in the case of Mozart, we have little precise information about just how Beethoven performed his own concertos." This is likely to be a long-valued contribution to the subject.
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