Piano Concerto no. 2 in B-flat major, op. 19

Despite its number, this is the earlier of Beethoven's first two published piano concertos; sketches reach back to his Bonn years, and he was still revising it in the mid-1790s. He played it at his public debut in Vienna on 29 March 1795, and again in Prague in 1798, keeping the solo part unwritten so that rivals could not copy it. When he finally sold the score to Hoffmeister in 1801 he priced it below his other works and admitted plainly that he did not count it among his best. The scoring is modest, without clarinets, trumpets or drums.