Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 - download (MP3 & FLAC)

These archive recordings are extremely rare and have never been issued before.

The live performances from London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1967 captures Gilels

at his best, playing in front of an audience away from the confines of the studio.

His earlier recordings were all made in the studio and date back to 1954 and 1957 (both no longer available) as well as a complete set with Szell in 1968 where the recorded sound came under some criticism.

William Mann in the Times wrote after the concert of Concerto No.3, “For all his truly Beethovenian brio in the first movement, Gilels never allowed this to get the better of the clarity and firmness of his phraseology, indeed his opening was like chiselled stone. There was immense dignity in the Largo and the Rondo, taken at what I thought to be exactly the right speed, came across with remarkable vivacity”. Every critic praised Boult’s accompaniments of both concertos.

Excellent stereo sound remastered by Paul Baily.

The Piano Concerto of Viktor Ullmann was composed during his deportation to Thereseinstadt in 1942. The concerto gives the impression of restless hectic energy and is compact in form. This is balanced with Beethoven’s third piano concerto. This release marks Schuch’s début orchestral CD on Oehms.

Alexej Gorlatch was the winner in the piano category at the 2011 ARD Music Competition. His interpretation of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto not only convinced the high-ranking jury, but also the audience, bringing him both a first prize and the audience prize.

Alexej Gorlatch was born in 1988 in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and has lived in Germany since 1991. At the age of twelve he became a junior student at the University of the Arts in Berlin where he studied with Martin Hughes; from 2002 to 2007 he studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hanover. After graduating from secondary school, he now continues his music studies there.

In 2011 the ARD Music Competition celebrated its 60th anniversary. It took place for the first time in 1952 in Munich, where it is still put on every year by Bavarian Radio. For many artists, Munich was the springboard to their international careers. Among the prize winners, we find household names as Jessye Norman, Thomas Quasthoff, Maurice André, Sol Gabetta, the Tokyo String Quartet, Yuri Bahmet, François Leleux, the Quatuor Ébène and many others.

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.

“Whenever Mackerras appears with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra he produces magical alchemy” The Scotsman

“I think that [Pizarro] would have won Beethoven's hearty applause and approval.” Gramophone

Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos are some of the most popular works in the classical repertoire. Renowned conductor Sir Charles Mackerras leads pianist Artur Pizarro and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a truly memorable performance of these great works.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s final three piano concertos are extremely vital in the transition from the classical to the romantic period.

These works demonstrate Beethoven’s move away from the classical style by challenging previous concerto models; delicate and ornamental features are replaced with powerful, rousing, and even heroic, melodies and developments

The magical partnership of Mackerras and the SCO resulted in the addition of Concerto No. 5, which was not originally in the recording plan. Concertos 3 and 4 were recorded very quickly - often in one take!

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship. Their recording ‘Mozart Symphonies 38 – 41’ was named the classical recording of 2008 by the Sunday Times and HMV Choice. It also won a 2009 Midem Award for Symphonic Works and a Choc de l’année Award from Le Monde de la Musique.

Recorded January 2008 in Bilkent Symphony Hall, Ankara, Turkey

Olli Mustonen continues his acclaimed cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos. In this second volume, the Finnish pianist and conductor turns his talent to the Third Piano Concerto and the Piano Concerto which Beethoven arranged himself from the Violin Concerto of 1806. While this is seldom played in concert, with only a handful of recordings available in the catalogue, Mustonen regularly puts it in his programmes and it has become one of his signature pieces.

As on the previous disc, Mustonen performs with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, whith whom he has maintained close artistic ties for years, accompanying this Beethoven project with acclaimed tour performances in various European countries.