A sense of urgency and reserved power is immediately created by the opening three bars, played very quietly on the strings, which contain all the main elements on which the first movement is to be based; an arpeggio, a scale, and the figuration of a drum tap. The orchestral tutti which follows is the longest in all Beethoven's concertos, leading to the eventual appearance of the soloist who enters with some dramatically effective (and subsequently very important) rising scale passages and a statement of the main theme more fully developed than anything so far heard from the orchestra. The second subject, already given by the orchestra in the course of the long orchestral ritornello, is by contrast flowing and lyrical, and the continuation of the movement consists of an assured and masterful discourse between soloist and orchestra of all the principal material plus a number of subsidiary ideas. Perhaps the essence of this "dialogue between equals" is achieved in the coda that follows the solo cadenza and brings the movement to a close; the drum taps (really on drums now) against very soft held string chords whilst the piano interpolates a series of still softer, more distant arpeggio forms, in falling cascades of semiquavers. Then a strong affirmation of the C minor tonality and so to the end.  

The long and beautiful slow movement is in the seemingly remote key of E major. (Seemingly, because some commentators have suggested a somewhat tenuous link based on the fact that E flat, of which there is an abundance in the first movement, is the enharmonic equivalent to D sharp and thus the leading note of E major.) The soloist opens the movement with the principal subject, and the music soon burgeons out in great melodic richness and subtlety of ornamentation. There is an episode in a range of darker keys and some particularly beautiful interplay between individual woodwinds above arabesques from the piano before the extended coda which more or less replaces the formal recapitulation. The movement ends in the quiet unruffled mood in which it began.

The finale is a sparkling rondo, full of wit and energy. Both main themes are heard at first on the solo instrument and between them there appears a dramatic episode which provides a very effective point of contrast; strong C minor chords on wind and percussion answered by rapid rising piano arpeggios. There is a remarkable and highly original coda, with a change of speed (presto) and key (the tonic major) in which elements of the two main themes are combined in a new and unforeseen light.