Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 & 2 Overtures

Beethoven’s five piano concertos tell in their own way a piece of his life. In the previous part of this complete recording, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the members of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra devoted themselves to the beginning and the end of the story (2nd Piano Concerto, Beethoven’s Viennese “springboard”, and the 5th, also the “Emperor Concerto”). Now we come to the most personal, namely the 4th Piano Concerto, which, overshadowed by the threat of deafness, explodes the conventions of the genre – equal to orchestral works such as Coriolan or the Overture to the Creatures of Prometheus.

I have never heard this concerto sound so interesting and surprising. It is, of course, known as Beethoven’s most introspective. Here it fascinates anew for the sheer sounds it makes and for unexpected contrasts to be found within it. Heras-Casado is a perfect collaborator, eliciting growling thrust from his strings and fruity sonorities from the Freiburg winds. — Fanfare, Jan/Feb 2021