Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5

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These are invigorating performances of Beethoven’s first and last concertos, conveying an admirable sense of spontaneity…The entire performance [of No. 2] radiates energy and enjoyment… Bezuidenhout... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 31st Jan 2020
Catalogue No: HMM902411
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 63 minutes

Record Review

15th February 2020

Record of the Week
BBC Music Magazine

April 2020

Concerto Choice
Opus Klassik Awards

2020

Nominee - Conductor of the Year
Opus Klassik Awards

2020

Nominee - Instrumentalist of the Year
Gramophone Magazine

Critics' Choice 2020

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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor'

Work length36:26

Album only

Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
Freiburger Barockorchester
Pablo Heras-Casado

I. Allegro

Track length19:40

Album only

II. Adagio un poco mosso

Track length6:34

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

III. Rondo. Allegro

Track length10:12

$1.40

$1.75

$2.40

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19

Work length26:58

$3.80

$4.75

$7.20

Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
Freiburger Barockorchester
Pablo Heras-Casado

I. Allegro con brio

Track length13:38

$1.60

$2.00

$3.20

II. Adagio

Track length7:33

$1.20

$1.50

$2.40

III. Rondo. Molto allegro

Track length5:47

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

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Beethoven's five piano concertos relate, in a sense, part of the composers life: some twenty years during which a young musician from Bonn made several revised versions of the first concerto he wrote (a springboard to Viennese success that ended up being called no.2), before becoming the familiar Emperor of music embodied by the brilliant inspiration of no.5. Two hundred and fifty years after his birth, it is with these two extremes that Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester have chosen to start an exciting period-instrument trilogy of the concertos that bids fair to be a landmark!

Reviews

April 2020

These are invigorating performances of Beethoven’s first and last concertos, conveying an admirable sense of spontaneity…The entire performance [of No. 2] radiates energy and enjoyment… Bezuidenhout treats the flourishes at the beginning of the Emperor Concerto with a good deal of freedom, lending them an appropriately improvisatory feel…This really is exciting playing, and Bezuidenhout’s virtuosity is impressive.

Jul/Aug 2020

the performance of the Second Concerto is quite brilliantly conceived and executed…the finale brings a smile to the face immediately, and the overall performance is ultimately exhilarating. As it stands, I believe that this new recording is now a clear first choice for period-instrument performance.

March 2020

One of the choicest offerings thus far this celebratory Beethoven year...Bezuidenhout has a long, fruitful relationship with Freiburg...Add to the mix the lively imagination of Heras-Casado, the Freiburgers playing their hearts out, plus expert sound as clean as you’re likely to come across in 2020, and you have the makings of a hot recording.

July 2020

Thanks to his artistry – and to excellent support from the Freiburger Barockorchester and Pablo Heras-Casado – there are moments which will convince even those listeners most wedded to modern instruments.

26th January 2020

[Bezuidenhout’s] performance of the Emperor concerto is scintillatingly dramatic, heroic, deftly articulated and, above all, fresh; and the instrument he plays seems to possess plenty of power. The Second Concerto is given equally enticingly...both readings are enhanced by the brilliantly coloured playing of the Freiburgers under Pablo Heras-Casado.

20th February 2020

[Bezuidenhout] and Heras-Casado have thought deeply about how best to make these pieces sing. He plays on a copy of an 1824 Conrad Graf fortepiano, which sounds both perky and soft-edged, with a slight woodiness allied to an almost bell-like clarity...The orchestra can be almost boisterous, but the piano tempers it with a raised eyebrow, or with its sheer charm...But what marks this recording out is the way they make the music dance – as if no one is watching.

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Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5

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