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

The December 1981 concerts, with works by Beethoven and Bruckner, were predominantly romantic in character. First came Beethoven’s Second (actually first) Piano Concerto in B flat. Tennstedt supplied a "sensitively restrained accompaniment to the Argentinian pianist Bruno Leonardo Gelber" (Klaus Geitel in the Berliner Morgenpost). Gelber had played in a manner quite free from what we associate with the later Beethoven style: "nimble, gentle in tone, and in the Adagio a touching youthful reflectiveness." In the Tagesspiegel Walter Kaempfer praised Gelber’s commitment to this neglected work: "The pianist’s faultless artistry, captivating in its sonorities and delicate articulation, combined ideally well with the orchestra playing in a kind of communication rarely experienced." Gelber reminisced in an interview with the Argentinian journalist Cecilia Scalisi in 2009 : "The Second Concerto is full of contrasts, but is at the same time fresh, light, youthful. It has to be played with gallantry and assurance. Most wonderful of all is the cadenza, charming to listen to, full of energy and character like the mature Beethoven brought back into his own youth – most exciting! I always ask the conductor to give special attention to the contrasts between legato and staccato, for this articulation pervades everything that the music contains. I got to know Tennstedt in Kiel, and we performed together in Berlin. He was one of the finest conductors I have worked with, certainly a great interpreter of Beethoven." In the E flat Romantic Symphony of Bruckner that followed, Tennstedt was from the outset "as if on fire, and the flames soon spread over the whole orchestra" (Walter Kaempfer). Hans-Jörgen von Jena (Volksblatt) commented on the special characteristics of this interpretation: "The brooding Bruckner gave way to Bruckner the melodist. The Philharmonic were able to move freely and calmly on the high plateau that they have established from the beginning for all their Bruckner performances. Brass choruses and shimmering strings seemed to be well within the limits of their powers; the sound was beautiful throughout, richly expressive and lucid. Expansive phrases, broad crescendos, a firm control of formal features, all of this seemed quite natural. There was no hint of that other Bruckner – the massively structured, archaic character – than can appear in this symphony as in others."

from the booklet note © Helge Grünewald, 2010

This third volume completes the cycle initiated in 2004 by Arthur Schoonderwoerd for Alpha of Beethoven’s concertos on period instruments in historically informed performances. After having studied piano with Herman Uhlhorn and Alexander Warenberg in the Utrecht Music Academy, Arthur Schoonderwoerd received a scholarship from the Verenigde Spaarbank and from the Prins Bernhard Fonds which enabled him to study pianoforte with Jos van Immerseel in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where he won the 1er Prix. Schoonderwoerd performs regularly as a soloist and as a member of several music chamber ensembles, especially the Cristofori Ensemble, playing one to a part, with whom he has performed in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

The second release in our new series with the London Chamber Orchestra presents three more classic performances from the their home venue of St. John's, Smith Square, featuring principal conductor Christopher Warren-Green and the pianist and director Melvyn Tan. The remarkable acoustic and intimate ambience of St. John's, its London home, enable LCO - the only chamber orchestra resident in London - to give vibrant performances and establish a close rapport with its audiences.The recordings on the LCO Live label, in partnership with Signum Classics, are the result of this happy marriage of orchestra and venue.

"The concerts of Warren-Green and the London Chamber Orchestra at St John's, Smith Square aren't often noticed in the press, but their large regular audience knows that they are some of the most exciting in London." The Times

Recorded live at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr in May

2007, this DVD recording reflects both a very individual and special reading of Beethoven's music and the artist's life-long dedication to the composer.

1080i 16:9, PCM 2.0, DTS-HD Master Audio

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Running Time: 198 mins

Audiences: all audiences (FSK 0)

The third and final volume in the complete recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Concerti, by François-Frédéric Guy and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Philipe Jordan.

Following the critically-acclaimed first two volumes in this series the flourishing musical partnership between François-Frédéric Guy and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Philipe Jordan continues with Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3. Beethoven’s Piano concerto No. 2 in B flat major Op. 19 took 15 years to write and was the earliest piano concerto that Beethoven himself deemed appropriate for presentation to the public. In comparison, the creative process that to Op. 37 was relatively short. In this stunning work, the scoring of Op.19 is expanded to include clarinets, trumpets and timpani in the orchestra.

François-Frédéric Guy is now firmly established as a pianist of immense interpretative authority and superlative technique, especially admired in music of the Austro-German tradition. His recording of this last work for Näive was recently declared the best available by BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library. Currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Berlin Staatsoper and Musical Director of the Opera National de Paris starting in the 2009-10 season, Philippe Jordan has at 34 already established himself as one of the most gifted and exciting conductors of his generation.

Ronald Brautigam releases his second disc of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos – this time offering a youthfully fresh Concerto No. 2 which was actually conceived long before the First Piano Concerto.

The programme also includes two rarities: the Piano Concerto in E flat major, WoO4, sometimes referred to as Beethoven’s ‘Concerto No.0’, and the Rondo in B flat major, WoO6, composed during the long period of composition of Concerto No.2 and probably at one stage intended as the finale of this work.

The Piano Concerto in E flat major, WoO4, was composed in 1784 when Beethoven was only 13 years old. It is a fully developed three-movement work that displays much imagination, harmonic control and sense of form, as well as a striking level of virtuosity. The work has survived in a contemporary copy of the piano part, incorporating directions showing that the original orchestra consisted of two flutes, two horns, and strings. For this recording Ronald Brautigam has made his own reconstruction of the orchestral score.