Beethoven’s earliest sketch for the Third Piano Concerto dates back to 1796, when he toured as a piano virtuoso in Prague and Berlin with one of his early piano concerts. Like many of Beethoven’s compositions, however, it will be years before the Third Concert takes its final form. Although scientists for some time believed that the concert was written in 1800 (due to the disappearance of several sketchbooks and Beethoven’s violent handwriting), most experts now believe that the bulk of the work on the concert took place in the autumn of 1802, It is combined with the Second Symphony of Beethoven, Second Symphony, Christ on the Mount of Olives, the Violin Sonatas Opus 30, the Piano Sonatas Opus 31 and the Heiligenstadt Testament. Enjoy this astounding version!
