Piano Concerto - Characteristics - Form

Form

A classical piano concerto is often in three movements.

  1. A quick opening movement in sonata form including a cadenza (which may be improvised by the soloist).
  2. A slow, free expressive movement
  3. A faster rondo

Examples by Mozart and Beethoven follow this model, but there are many others which do not. Beethoven's fourth concerto includes a last-movement cadenza, and many composers have introduced innovations. Liszt's concerti are played without a break, although separate movements are clearly evident.

One example of a concerto in only one discrete movement (Allegro brillante) is Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major (1893).

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