Ludwig van Beethoven

Cadenzas

Erwin Schulhoff composed his cadenzas for Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concertos No. 1-4 (no independent cadenza is intended for Piano Concerto No. 5) in Berlin in 1923. That means they were written at the same time as his Concerto for piano and small orchestra Op. 43, which combines impressionism and jazz and can be regarded as the first 'jazz' piano concerto in music history. The present cadenzas, however, do not show any influences of jazz but follow entirely the classical piano concerto tradition in a way which is virtuosic, and yet comapratively easy to play.