Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4

This release features the and pianist in two standards of the Beethovenian repertory, the , and the . Although the is conventionally classified as an early work, its dramatic qualities point unmistakably toward the composer's middle-period. Of course, wrote an important minor-key concerto, the , and , that probably influenced 's work, but 's concerto is really not Mozartian. conceived the concerto, set it aside, and then returned to it, barely completing it before its scheduled performance (its page-turner complained that 's notation was like Egyptian hieroglyphics). It is both intense and tightly constructed, single-minded in the same way as the . The , is likewise a completely fresh work, formally free in a way that no other piece had been in the past. By now, the opening piano solo is familiar, but it is worth trying to imagine the shock with which audiences must have experienced it at its 1808 premiere. Indeed, after that performance, with in his swan song as concerto soloist, the work was not performed again until 1836, with at the piano. is better-known as a chamber music player, but her long acquaintance and collaboration with conductor has been touted as an attraction of this performance. ~ TiVo Staff