Beethoven: The Piano Concertos: The five Beethoven piano concertos on period instruments

Textures are bracingly lean, with a lightness and transparency that seems airborne...There’s nothing pompous or heavyhanded in these readings. Both Brautigam and Willens are alive to Beethoven’s... — Gramophone Magazine, February 2020 More…

Release Date: 1st Nov 2019
Catalogue No: BIS2274
Label: BIS
Length: 2 hours 37 minutes

Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2019

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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

Work length30:55

$7.00

$9.05

$12.25

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens

I. Allegro con brio

Track length13:44

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

II. Largo

Track length8:30

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

III. Rondo. Allegro

Track length8:41

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

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

Work length25:59

$5.00

$6.45

$8.75

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens

I. Allegro con brio

Track length13:24

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

II. Adagio

Track length6:37

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Rondo. Molto allegro

Track length5:58

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Work length30:57

$7.00

$9.05

$12.25

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens

I. Allegro moderato

Track length17:08

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

II. Andante con moto

Track length3:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Rondo. Vivace

Track length10:09

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Work length33:10

$8.00

$10.35

$14.00

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens

I. Allegro con brio

Track length15:22

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

II. Largo

Track length8:39

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

III. Rondo. Allegro - Presto

Track length9:09

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

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

Work length36:03

$8.00

$10.30

$14.00

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Kölner Akademie
Michael Alexander Willens

I. Allegro

Track length19:00

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

II. Adagio un poco mosso

Track length6:14

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Rondo. Allegro

Track length10:49

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

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As one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. His earliest composition, from 1782, was a set of piano variations and he continued to compose for solo piano until the last years of his life. His interest in the concerto form diminished as his deafness forced him to retire from performing. Nonetheless, with his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, Beethoven not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which remained a reference point well into the beginning of the twentieth.

Ronald Brautigam has already recorded these seminal works with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, in acclaimed performances released between 2008 and 2010. Since then he has also released all of Beethoven’s solo piano music on the fortepiano to universal praise. When Brautigam now returns to the concertos, it is in the company of conductor Michael Alexander Willens and Die Kölner Akademie playing on period instruments. The same team has previously partnered him in an 11-disc survey of Mozart’s piano concertos and it is plain to hear that all involved clearly relish the opportunity to congratulate Beethoven on the eve of his 250th anniversary.

Reviews

February 2020

Textures are bracingly lean, with a lightness and transparency that seems airborne...There’s nothing pompous or heavyhanded in these readings. Both Brautigam and Willens are alive to Beethoven’s every indication on the page, and that most precious of all commodities in music, the life of the phrase, is sacrosanct. Original, stylish and authoritative, this concerto set is a worthy and thought-provoking contribution to the recordings marking the Beethoven year.

Beethoven: The Piano Concertos

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