Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Powerful, serious, and at the same time full of emotional depth. Beethoven's only piano concerto in a minor key is one of the first piano concertos in which the orchestra and soloist are equal partners. Here, Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is performed by the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn under the baton of Leon Fleisher with Margarita Höhenrieder on piano. The concert was recorded on October 14, 2015, at Max-Littman-Saal in Bad Kissingen.
(00:00) I. Allegro con brio
(16:28) II. Largo
(27:07) III. Rondo: Allegro
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is said to have electrified the audience at its premiere on April 5, 1803. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), a well-known piano virtuoso at the time, sat at the piano himself. He had asked his friend Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried to turn the sheet music during the performance. Unlike the orchestral parts, however, he had not yet written down the solo. Apart from a few marks that were illegible to his friend and some notations on how the piece was to progress, the sheets are said to have been completely blank. Whether Beethoven was in a hurry — as was often the case — and thus improvised the performance, or whether he played from memory and was having a laugh with his friend, is not known for certain.
Of Beethoven's five piano concertos, only the third is in a minor key. To be more precise, it is in C minor, inspired by Mozart's C minor Concerto K. 491. And yet Beethoven liked to experiment with classical forms and musical motifs. This is why this third piano concerto is also described as a symphonic solo concerto. This concerto form developed during the 19th century and is characterized by the close interweaving of the motivic and thematic development of the orchestral parts and the solo piano. In the final movement, the Rondo Allegro, Beethoven switches from the rather somber and sad key of C minor to E-flat major, bringing the concerto to a joyful and virtuosic conclusion.
Margarita Höhenrieder discovered her love for the piano at an early age. She gave her first public performance at the age of seven in Munich’s Herkulessaal. She studied with Anna Stadler and Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich, and later with renowned American pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher in Baltimore.
In 1981, she won First Prize at the prestigious Busoni Competition in Bolzano, joining the ranks of other notable Busoni laureates such as Martha Argerich and Jörg Demus. At the age of 28, she became Germany's youngest piano professor when she was appointed to the University of Music in Würzburg. In 1991, she was appointed to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich.
As a soloist, Margarita Höhenrieder has performed with many of the world’s most celebrated conductors and orchestras, including Kirill Petrenko, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, James Levine, Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, and Fabio Luisi, as well as with major ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
By the way, here you can find Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Margarita Höhenrieder youtube.com/watch?v=279KL-eVnVM and here Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the German pianist youtube.com/watch?v=yq56l01_DsQ.
© 2015 Accentus Music
Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey
in our Beethoven playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWcX1eOXH-w75x-_-7gRF-w
and in our playlist with piano concertos: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBU7k2TJgrgNCc9aygnNkaGZ
Subscribe to DW Classical Music: youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic
#Beethoven #pianoconcerto #fullconcert
Powerful, serious, and at the same time full of emotional depth. Beethoven's only piano concerto in a minor key is one of the first piano concertos in which the orchestra and soloist are equal partners. Here, Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is performed by the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn under the baton of Leon Fleisher with Margarita Höhenrieder on piano. The concert was recorded on October 14, 2015, at Max-Littman-Saal in Bad Kissingen.
(00:00) I. Allegro con brio
(16:28) II. Largo
(27:07) III. Rondo: Allegro
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is said to have electrified the audience at its premiere on April 5, 1803. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), a well-known piano virtuoso at the time, sat at the piano himself. He had asked his friend Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried to turn the sheet music during the performance. Unlike the orchestral parts, however, he had not yet written down the solo. Apart from a few marks that were illegible to his friend and some notations on how the piece was to progress, the sheets are said to have been completely blank. Whether Beethoven was in a hurry — as was often the case — and thus improvised the performance, or whether he played from memory and was having a laugh with his friend, is not known for certain.
Of Beethoven's five piano concertos, only the third is in a minor key. To be more precise, it is in C minor, inspired by Mozart's C minor Concerto K. 491. And yet Beethoven liked to experiment with classical forms and musical motifs. This is why this third piano concerto is also described as a symphonic solo concerto. This concerto form developed during the 19th century and is characterized by the close interweaving of the motivic and thematic development of the orchestral parts and the solo piano. In the final movement, the Rondo Allegro, Beethoven switches from the rather somber and sad key of C minor to E-flat major, bringing the concerto to a joyful and virtuosic conclusion.
Margarita Höhenrieder discovered her love for the piano at an early age. She gave her first public performance at the age of seven in Munich’s Herkulessaal. She studied with Anna Stadler and Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich, and later with renowned American pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher in Baltimore.
In 1981, she won First Prize at the prestigious Busoni Competition in Bolzano, joining the ranks of other notable Busoni laureates such as Martha Argerich and Jörg Demus. At the age of 28, she became Germany's youngest piano professor when she was appointed to the University of Music in Würzburg. In 1991, she was appointed to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich.
As a soloist, Margarita Höhenrieder has performed with many of the world’s most celebrated conductors and orchestras, including Kirill Petrenko, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, James Levine, Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, and Fabio Luisi, as well as with major ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
By the way, here you can find Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Margarita Höhenrieder youtube.com/watch?v=279KL-eVnVM and here Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the German pianist youtube.com/watch?v=yq56l01_DsQ.
© 2015 Accentus Music
Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey
in our Beethoven playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWcX1eOXH-w75x-_-7gRF-w
and in our playlist with piano concertos: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBU7k2TJgrgNCc9aygnNkaGZ
Subscribe to DW Classical Music: youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic
#Beethoven #pianoconcerto #fullconcert
