[ Naxos / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 1 November 2019
Beethoven's first two piano concertos share an abundance of lyric and virtuosic qualities. Concerto No. 1 in C major is expansive and richly orchestrated with a sublime slow movement that is tender and ardent, and a finale full of inventive humour. Concerto No. 2 in B flat major marries energy with elegance, reserving poetic breadth for its slow movement and quirky wit for the finale. Also included is the jovial Rondo, WoO 6, which Beethoven originally intended to be the finale of Concerto No. 2.
"Here's a very promising start to what I assume will be a new Beethoven piano concerto cycle...Fine playing, fine conducting, fine engineering-in short, a really fine release generally." ClassicsToday
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 19
Beethoven, Czernyarranger(s):
Rondo in B-Flat Major, WoO 6