Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58: II. Andante con moto

this movement is one of the strangest second movements i can think of. it is sort of slow, but not at all in the same manner of usual slow movements.

E minor.

a solemn, declarative almost marchlike orchestral introduction by unison strings only, which leaves it sort of groundless and uncertain (the thing that keeps it from becoming a march). rather, this movement takes on the tone of a sort of recitative. the orchestra does a sort of rhythm thing at certain intervals, and the piano enters mournfully, alone, and spends the entire movement playing "against" the sternness of the strings. it's fascinating to listen to because it's so counterintuitive, the way the piano stays so calm against the austerity of the strings. gradually the strings phase out and leave the piano to soliloquize and lament on his own. 2:31.
the piano's monologue goes on for a while and eventually rises to a full cry, with dissonant intervals and an ongoing trill which heightens the tension (3:30). (imho arrau does this pretty magnificently.) eventually, this dies, though, replaced by an unmeasured, sad scale which eventually dies into a cadence in e minor. upon the cadence the orchestra reenters with its former dotted rhythm, and together they come to a quiet, sad agreement, with the piano sounding a strange afterthought on a high G before closing on e minor.

the e minor chord doesn't linger too long, though - it dovetails right into the third movement attacca, which begins with a quiet c major chord (using the E as the transition point).